Returning to Fes from Volubilis we passed two women hitchhiking. “Do you mind?’ Mokhtar asked. Of course not so we stopped to pick them up. “She’s an old lady,” he added. I agreed. They both looked like old ladies though of different gradients of old. In they hopped after many smiles and handshakes, hugs and ‘chukrans.’ Beautiful women with bright faces. Their story? Mother and daughter. Mother is on her way to Fes (50km away) to have neck surgery – – or hopes to. She was a maid for some people in Dades Valley and when her neck gave her so many troubles, the family let her go. Daughter came to get her and was so surprised how bad she really is. So now she is taking care of her old mom. Mother is 49. The “old lady” is 49.