Wild monkeys and me

     As I sit to write this, I am amazed at what a small, quiet little town I am in.  I think the population is only around 25,000 or so (about half of the Magic Kingdom attendance on any given busy day).  I am used to staying in hostels in large towns, so there is rarely a moments quiet or noise-free scenario.  The sleepiness of this village is making up for it in a way that makes me wish I actually had a little more sounds of the big city around me.

     But it makes for great sleeping these past couple nights, anyhow.  And we needed a good rest for another busy day.  More lectures and a chance to check out Hillary Clinton's office she used while she was at Al Akhawayan University.  Apparently she isn't the only US official to have made their rounds out here.  In the school's almost 20 years, there has been a large number of global leaders making the visit with their photos hanging all throughout the school.  If any of our presidents have been to IPFW, I don't think I knew it.  I suppose our governor knows where Fort Wayne is, and perhaps has been told there is a 4-year state school there.  But I wouldn't know about that either.

     I haven't met my own new chancellor at IPFW, but we had a great introduction and meeting with the president here at AUI, Driss Ouaouicha.  He reports to King Mohammed VI, so I thought that was pretty cool.  I think Chancellor Vicky (IPFW) probably reports to someone at Purdue University or something like that.  So... eh, not quite as special.  Driss Ouaouicha did his Master's work at University of Texas, so when he was walking out, I gave him a great big Hook 'Em Horns!  At that point, I think my classmates were probably aghast that I would embarrass them all like that.  Turns out, I knew best.  He absolutely loved it, as did Dr. Rachdi.  I had them both smiling and cracking up as he gave me a Hook 'Em back.  Ahmed told me that was perfect, which allowed the other 14 of my peers to relax considerably.  Probably wished they had thought to do something like that themselves.

After that, we went to find monkeys.  All the way in the wild.  I was intrigued, as I had never seen wild monkeys before.  So, why not.  It is only about 40 minutes outside of town up in the mountains (allegedly).  Dr. Rachdi swears he had seen them once before (allegedly).  We piled onto the bus.

If you look to the left of my bald spot, you will notice a cool monkey.

     After driving into the mists (note, not gorillas in the mist.  It was monkeys we were after), and hoping the rain and fog would lift, we made our way to the park.  It is a national park that I don't have the name of.  I'll have to look it up.  Inside the park, we hiked our way 20 minutes or so into the woods, and there they were.  Up in the trees, making their way down for all of the fruits we had been smuggling off the dining room tables for the past 48 hours.  I was pretty impressed and we all absolutely loved it.  Some literally tugged on your pants and looked up at you, wanting more.  It was cute and pathetic at the same time--greedy little guys.

     Definitely worth the trip up there.  I would love to go again, but I'll probably have to settle for a zoo in the near future.

Tonight, after the 3 hour dinner, I am exhausted.  And we are out the door at 7am tomorrow for an all-day trip to Meknes.  I'll keep you posted if we make it back.