Morocco!

Imagine a sea of people. Men in big colorful hats with gold goblets strung around their necks. The haunting song of snake charmers floating through the air. The occasional monkey howl. The color of tons of stacked oranges in market stalls. The sound of men and women speaking broken English asking for anything out of the pockets of tourists. This is Marrakech.

Our tour started in Casablanca and then went to Marrakech, Essouria, Safi, and last, El Jadida. Our first stop, Marrakech, was by far the most overwhelming. We had lunch in a beautiful restaurant that was through a tiny entrance and up stairs. It room opened up into this beautiful decorated lounge sort of place. We were served Moroccan salads, an array of different cold appetizers of lentils, beets, and other things. Then we were served a beautiful plate of what looked and tasted like pot roast. Then for desert (this was my favorite part of the meal) we were served the biggest most beautiful oranges I have ever seen. They were sweet and juicy and the best oranges I have ever eaten. Then we were served a glass of the most amazing Moroccan mint tea I have ever had. Totally my deal.

Then we left for the markets. As soon as you entered the main square, you were bombarded by men putting monkeys on your shoulders, women grabbing your hands to give you henna, snake charmers hanging, what we suspected, were dead snakes around your neck. We got some pictures with snake charmers and they asked us for 300 Durham, about $35. Of course we said no and they kept harassing us. Thank goodness for our guide because he came over and saved us and we ended up giving them just some coins. I guess in Morocco looking someone in the eye can get you in trouble. I only experienced this once when I looked a Jafar-like guy in the eye on accident. He yelled after me saying that I had beautiful eyes, the eyes of a Berber woman, etc. The rest of the trip, I followed the ground with my eyes.

After exploring the square we went to a palace near by whose entrance you could have walked by without ever knowing it was a palace. Supposedly P Diddy had a birthday party there. Something interesting that we learned was the Prince or the master of the house had usually around four wives and he would hire musicians to play for him in his bedroom. Now, in order to keep the identities of the wives (or whoever else came in and out of his bedroom) he would hire blind musicians! We came to find that a lot of men in Morocco were a bit like pigs. A lot of people were really upset by it, but I guess I am so used to getting harassed when we go to Mexico, etc. that I have learned not to let it ruin my time.

So there was this group of girls in our group who were just too much for me. They wanted to stop at every shop and probably spent $50 at each place…and that’s saying a lot considering the conversion rate from dollars to Durham. They all go the University of Miami and are from long island. Jewish American Princesses if you will. They complained the entire time, pushed to the front of the lines and were just basically brats. My friend Megan and I tried our hardest to avoid them. Although they were annoying, their desire to shop did allow us to stop at a lot of cool shops. I got some great silver jewelry, an iron birdhouse, and some pottery that I absolutely love.

Once we finished exploring the castle, we hopped on the bus and headed for the hotel. We had a few hours until dinner so we set out to explore around the hotel. We happened upon this great little indoor marker filled with all sorts of treasures. I actually made a friend there who gave me deals on everything. This is where I got the birdcage FOR HALF OFF! He even offered Megan 1,000 camels for me to stay there with him. It was pretty funny. After the market we went to Zara, an H&M kind of store that is all over Europe and now the US. I got a cute top on sale and then spent a bunch of money on a beautiful satin top. Then we ate a pretty average dinner at the hotel and then went to the hotel bar for a glass of wine. The wine was awful haha!! Then I hit the sack.

The next day we ate breakfast in the hotel and then loaded up for Essouria. I really did not know what to expect of Essouria, but I can tell you that it certainly exceeded my expectations. Supposedly it was a place that Jimi Hendrix and Mick Jagger came to hang out. It’s a little beach town with incredibly murky brown ocean. Many of the buildings are bright white with vibrant blue and indigo shutters. We met a local guide there, Rashida (which means wise in Arabic), who immediately admitted that she hadn’t spoken English in a while. She was full of joy and so friendly! She really worked hard to meet the needs of the whole group. We sat with her at lunch and she told us all about Moroccan weddings, her view of American politics, and all sorts of other stuff! It was so interesting to hear her perspective! It was very grounded and well supported!! Anyways she was very sweet and helped me get something different for lunch when I didn’t care for the fried fish.

I just realized that I haven’t said anything about Latvi! Latvi was our guide for the three days and he was absolutely fabulous. He was very in tune to what we liked and disliked and made all sorts of jokes that made it clear he was familiar with American pop culture. There was a fly in the bus at one point and we were all hunting for it. He came on over the speaker in the bus and said “welcome to your Moroccan safari!”haha! He was the first to receive one of my San Francisco snow globes : )

Anyways, so after lunch we got back on the bus and headed for Safi. Safi is famous for is beautifully decorated pottery, so of course I had to get some : ) Then we went to the hotel and hung out until dinner. After another average buffet dinner, we changed to go out to the nightclub that was attached to the hotel called “Night Club”. Unfortunately, the Night Club didn’t open until 12:30 so a group of us played a brutal game of BS (brutal because I lost). Once we got the club we descended two flights of marble stairs into the dance floor and bar area. The bar didn’t take anything but cash so we went to the hotel reception to buy so much moneys worth and then take it to the bar…a bit sketchy, but we got our drinks! After two glasses of sprite and vodka (with very little vodka) we set out for the dance floor. I have to say it was a bit uncomfortable. There was a live band a live singer singing songs in Arabic that we could hardly hear the words to and there weren’t very many people on the dance floor. We also didn’t want to provoke anything so we kept things pretty basic. A couple older guys at one point tried to approach us but we quickly dodged them. Needless to say, we didn’t stay very long.

The next day we hopped on the bus again and headed up the coast to El Jadida. To be honest, I’m not really sure why we stopped in El Jadida. The only thing we really saw there was this underground fortress I guess that was lit by a big whole in the ceiling. It allowed for some cool pictures, but other than that I’m not really sure what the value of the visit was. Then we headed up the coast for Casablanca and saw the most beautiful mosque ever! We even drove past Rick’s Café. I was really happy with the time we spent in Morocco! It was beautiful and different! I can see why is has so much appeal to moviemakers!

I’m sorry it had taken me so long to post this but it is a rather long entry!
Until Namibia!