I found myself in a SUV driven by an American who was touring Morocco with his girlfriend from Chezh Republic. I assumed they were married and asked how long. “They aren’t married” my tour guide whispered “that’s why he laughed when you asked the question.”

We talked as we drove towards the Merinid tombs. “Moroccans sure like their walls, don’t they?” the man asked rhetorically. “They have walls around nothing. He told me” the American said in reference to our guide “that the holes in the walls are for birds.”

Holes in the Walls

Note: if you are American, Riad D’Or doesn’t need your business…see update at the end.

It should have been perfect and for a few hours it was. Our room was large and light. We had a semi-private salon just outside our door. It felt as if we had the place to ourselves; a perfect escape from my in-laws house; a perfect place for my daughter to play and be loud; finally, a place where we would not disturb anyone. We ran around a zillij column in the main salon and pretended it was a tree. We giggled. We admired: “Mommy, it’s so beautiful!” The water was hot for our shower. So what if they forgot to leave us any soap? It was a fraction of the cost of staying at a riad in Fes.

The French Fry Fiasco