A donkey ride and cooking lesson in a 200 year old cave.

A few days ago Charlotte and I woke up and we were working on our schoolwork in the courtyard of our Kasbah near Ait Ben Haddou and when we stopped for a break we found 2 really cute donkeys outside.

Mum and dad came out and told us we were going on a 3 hour donkey ride and a picnic. We called the donkeys Gwenny and Lionel. My first one that I rode on was called Gwenny, and she loved eating anything green and drinking at the streams. We stopped half way at a stream and Charlotte and I swapped. When I got on Lionel he literally jumped across the stream. He was always in a trot and never wanted to walk.

To make a donkey go you say rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr or TOCK-TOCK by suction cupping your tongue to the top of your mouth. To stop you say ssssssssssshhhhhhh and pull back on the rope.

There is no saddle, you just sit on a blanket and there are no stirrups or reins. You just hang on to a piece of rope and jiggle around. Some of the time I went side saddle and sometimes I hoped off and walked with my donkey.

Girl donkeys don’t make much noise but boy donkeys are really loud and EEEEEAAAWWWW a lot.

In Morocco the donkeys are really small and cute. The bigger ones are called mules but they are the size of normal donkeys.

Gold mine caves in the cliff face.

When we got there we saw a mountain with lots of holes and soon discovered it was a 200 year old mine for gold. We tied the donkey’s feet together and left them on the flat and then we climbed up the cliff and into the caves.

Brahim and Abdul had packed a tagine and lots of fresh vegetables and chicken. In the cave we all had a cooking lesson on how to make a tagine and it was the best one I have ever had.

I hope that one day I can go back and ride a donkey.

M@D!$oN

How to cook a tagine

Things you will need:

Salt, pepper, mixed spices, potatoes, beans, carrots, eggplant, onion, garlic, tomatoes, chicken, zucchini, bread, gas fire, clay tagine, oil.

Method:

v Clean and peel all the vegies and cut them thickly.

v Heat the Tagine on a low temperature.

v Put in oil and onions first.

v Put the garlic and potatoes in.

v Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

v Make a hole in the middle and put the chicken there.

v Put a lid on and let it cook for 10 minutes.

v Open the lid after 10 minutes and add more oil if needed.

v Then flip the chicken and add carrots and tomatoes.

v Put lid on for another 10 minutes to let it cook.

v  Then put beans and zucchini in and the mixed spices.

 v   Put the lid on to let the ingredients cook for another 10 minutes

v Now you should be able to hear it sizzling and smell the spices and you should be hungry.

You don’t need to set the table when you eat a tagine because you eat with your hands and a piece of bread.

Always use your right hand to eat.