The old man who sold water

 

Going to Morocco and living for that very short time in the country was in many ways an eye opener.

Nobody doubts that water is one of the world ́s most precious natural resources
People in Morocco gave a high value to the water, to every drop of it – not because it hadn’t rained and there was lack of it,  in fact we got rain and all the fields were nice and green and people told us that the last year has been blessed with plenty of rain. People have the correct awareness of the fact that without water, without clean water, the humankind would not survive.

The water is so precious that it cannot belong to us, to the single individuals. We are all guests of this Planet.

Items have a second life, in this case an old tire was used to give a drink to the donkeys

———————————————

For the three of us who followed the rules/principles of the sustainable tourism it was not difficult adapt ourselves, and I believe that we did all we could to respect the way of living of the locals, and contribute to the local economy. We stayed in a village, had several meals there, we bought the local products from the source, we didn’t waste food nor water in any way, etc.

the tops of old oil barrels became basins to hand wash clothes and an old tire became a great bucket

basins made from oil or paint barrels

One day (of the two and a half days we spent there), we were introduced to an old man who sold water. He had a bag, I believe it was leather or something like that, connected to a brass thing with holes, similar to a rain shower head, and two small brass bowls. You could buy water using the bowls as a water unit. He didn’t sell it by the gallon, he sold it by the bowl. EVERY SINGLE DROP WAS PRECIOUS.

the old man who sold water. Hopefully I will meet him again in October, Inshallah!

Just like for the water, we noticed that many items had a second life. I loved that. I bought a beautiful handbag made from a big old fashioned rice bag inside and jute from a coffee sac outside. I love it.

There were so many examples of that, and some were really smart looking.

We returned home with a new awareness. We see things now with different eyes. We should never take anything for granted.

More about this in a previous post: https://pauladas.wordpress.com/2015/03/22/responsible-tourism/