Ramadan in Morocco

It's Ramadan time again. It's the month where Moroccans, from teenagers on up, fast from sunrise to sunset. It's a time of the year when we feel more distinctly foreign. Last year at this time we lived in a house that was in a very quiet neighborhood. Now we live in a real neighborhood. We live directly across the street from a café/bakery. This is a prime spot for watching Ramadan activity. Usually (not during Ramadan) from about 7 am to 11 pm we hear a good amount of street noises. Lots of voices, motorbikes speeding by (with or without mufflers), a certain squeaky wheelbarrow that never gets oiled, roosters crowing, and donkeys "braying" (this is a nice word for it... it's hard to explain what an irritated donkey pulling a cart really sounds like).

However, since Saturday, the day Ramadan began, it is dead quiet in the morning. Activity picks up slowly and people go to work without stopping by the bakery for bread as they normally would. The bakery isn't even open. Around 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon the bakery guys start coming out and displaying all their breads. Around 4 pm, people start coming to buy bread, slowly at first. By 6pm, it's REAL busy. I tried to get a good photo of it today, it's not so busy as it gets sometimes, but here it is.



Then right before sunset, around 7 pm, all of a sudden, everyone is gone. They go home, extremely hungry, hot, and thirsty (they don't drink water either!) and partake of a LARGE dinner. Then around 9 pm the café opens up and the men (who would usually be drinking tea at all hours of the day) show up for a coffee or mint tea or two before going to bed. The café closes around 10 or 11 pm. Then it starts again the next day...

Also, a couple fun photos of our growing Nicholas Andrew. He is giggling now when we tickle his ribs or fake sneeze! So much fun.