Morocco is a mess. But if you know me at all you will know that as far as countries go, I kinda love when they are crazy. India has rubbed off on me in the sense that, the more struggle you have to go through to get simple things done (and seemingly less trouble for complex things), the more I like it!
Now let me preface this with the knowledge that I was traveling with my mom, aunt, and cousin, all of whom did not really like Morocco. So the fact that I enjoyed myself the amount that I did is all on me. It might have been the week before I arrived in Marrakech when they went to Tangier, Fes, and Chev Chouin without me that colored their experience and if so, I'm glad I missed it!
I joined them in Marrakech at our Riad (hotel) in the Medina (old walled city). When I arrived the crazy man who ran the Riad let me in and gave me tea while I waited for the others return. He was extremely pleasant to me (but apparently an insane bully to the others).
We spent three nights and two days in Marrakech, touring the city before we left on our epic tour of the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara Desert.
It was a chance to get out of the city and really see the beauty of Morocco. We drove quite a bit, but compared to the amount of driving on my Africa road trip it was pretty tame. We stopped a few times each day and had tea and snacks. We also had a lot of random picture breaks. That was nice because my cousin and I were able to get some really nice shots.
Our first day through the mountains was all about the Berbers. We saw village after village nestled into the desert peaks. Our main stop that day was at an ancient Kasbah where they now film things like Prince of Persia and Game of Thrones. I wish I cared more about Game of Thrones because I seem to be doing the tour of where it was filmed.
That night our hotel was lovely (besides my mom having bed bugs and waking me up at an ungodly hour to tell me so...), it was right next to this little river in the shade of a massive canyon wall. It was like our own little Moroccan Zion.
We woke up and headed for the Sahara with a few pit stops on the way (one that included a giant, adorable herd of goats). We arrived around sunset, tied our head wraps, and mounted the camels. It was time to make the trek into the desert, to camp over night.
An hour later, through oceans of sand and cloudy skies (and only one stop, because my aunt had a bit of an up-chuck problem) we sauntered into a valley with one towering dune gaurding our camp from the elements. We left our camels and made our way to home for the night, just as the sun was disappearing for good.
It was Friday night and of course being a Muslim country, Morocco has a pretty anti-alcohol culture. For us Jews, Friday means Shabat and with Shabos comes wine. Our guide was all to happy to provide us with an outlet to practice out faith. So we said some prayers had some bread and vino and than out came dinner. Now let me preface this with a few notes on being a vegitarian in Morocco: don't. Unless you are going to camp in the Sahara and have a traditional Berber family cook you their homemade Tajine and couscous. We had all been struggling with food up until then. My cousin is gluten free (amongst many allergies) and my mom and I don't eat meat. This dinner was so good though, it made up for the lack of edible meals on the whole trip (in my personal opinion). The best part was, we could all eat it!
The problem with the desert was that we landed there on a cloudy night, (which meant no stars) full of humidity and damn was it hot! The tent left no space for any air to enter and the stuffiness was oppressive. I was alright until our guide decided to close the front flap to the tent. After he did that I had enough, grabbed my sleeping bag, and laid down on the sand outside. Eventually I got a mattress and slept comfortably until just before sunrise.
Than we climbed. My cousin and I hike the dune to watch the sun and take some pictures that I'm sure we'll cherish for years. It was beautiful, like no sunrise I've seen before.
Just after we made it back to camp it was time to pack up and head out! The camel ride back was just as beautiful as the ride there, but I was so tired I'm pretty sure I almost slid off and died...
At this point we were all exhausted of driving and just wanted to make it to our next destination (and final evening of the tour). We stayed at an Oasis hotel with palm trees everywhere and a lovely pool. It was so nice to shower for real after our desert adventure.
On our final morning, after leaving the hotel, we made a stop in the local town so our guide, Abdul, could pick up some things to take back with him to the city. As we were sitting there waiting for him to come back, some random guy opens the front door and puts a watermelon inside. We all kinda looked at each other like, 'I hope he doesn't expect us to pay for that cuz none of us ordered a watermelon'. We were still sitting there trying to figure it out when another random guy opens the door and puts in another watermelon... At this point we figure Abdul must have ordered them but my cousin and I were sitting in the back laughing our heads off at the SNL style sketch unfolding before our eyes.
Than Abdul returned with two bottles of coke and we drove off. We ended up stopping at a residence on the way where there were two camels waiting in a pen. Without any of us really knowing what was going on, Abdul gives a bottle of the coke to one of the camels, who proceeds to chug the whole thing. The other one refuses until the owner of the place shows up with a bottle of tea (we know which camel is gonna live longer, that's for sure).
We made it back to Marrakech without any other incidents out of a sketch comedy act and were dropped off at our hotels. Because my aunt and cousin were staying in Marrakech for a while and my mom and I were heading to Rabat we had different hotels. They ended up being about a five min walk away from each other, so my mom and I trekked over to the other hotel where somehow they had finagled a suite with a shower the size of my bedroom at home (no, not bathroom that size, SHOWER).
There was no way I was gonna leave that room without taking a shower in the monstrosity. The problem was I didn't have any conditioner. So we called down to ask the staff if they could bring some up. When the guy finally arrived (after the fourth call) he came in and went straight to the AC unit. "Air Conditioner?" He said. We all looked at each other and began to crack up! "No, no, HAIR Conditioner" replied my aunt. I didn't get any conditioner, but I took a shower and washed my hair, regardless.
That was the end of our little adventure with all four of us (it was also Mother's Day) so we celebrated and then said a giant 'see ya later' to my aunt and cousin. We had to be up pretty early the next morning to catch our train to Rabat, so we couldn't take the party too far into the night.
The next morning we made it onto our four hour train ride to the coast. We had a nice little compartment with three other ladies and one of their baby's. All was quite normal and relaxed, except every time another train passed us it sounded like something was exploding and I pretty much jumped out of my seat I was so startled. Turns out I should have jumped, because the third time we passed a train going the opposite direction the glass window literally fell out of the train and onto me. Luckily, it was solid enough not to shatter and it hit my arm and not my head but, the freaking train fell apart... onto me.
Once we got to Rabat, our first stop was going to be our hotel, which turned out to be quite far outside of the city, on the beach. So instead we got a cab to the Brazil consulate to try and get my visa. This visa had been stressing me out for the last few months. Since I found out I actually needed one and realized there was no way I was going to be able to get it while I was in London, (my original plan) Morocco was the only solution. Turns out it was the easiest thing. I showed up, they gave me an idea of what I needed to bring, gave me an appointment and voila! We went back that Thrusday and I had my visa.
In the meantime, a few days lounging in the sun on the beach was a great call. It was a little weird, seeing as we were in a Muslim country where the few women you did see on the beach were most definitely not even in bathing suits. There were a LOT of guys and very few women. I felt very much like a spectacle so I kept to our porch, inside our gated hotel area (it still looked right out onto the ocean and you could hear the waves).
The big events of Temara (which was the name of this beach suburb) was the massive soccer infestation that happened in the evenings. As soon as people started getting off work, the air filled with yells and the sand filled with footprints. There was almost no space to sit for a good few hours before sunset. The men all migrated there, to spend some time soaking up the sun, as they excercised and socialized to the rhythm of fútball.
We spent three days there and than two days in Salé, a city right next to Rabat. Really only two metro stops away. The place we stayed at was one of four Riads in the whole Medina. It was a walled city for the people, with very little tourist activity. The Riad was gorgeous and the people who owned it were extremely helpful. This was by far the best Riad experience I had the whole trip. It was also easy enough to get into Rabat for my visa and our final day of Sukh shopping.
Our last stop was one night in Casablanca. The hour train ride was easy, even with all of our stuff (although, I'm sure my mom would beg to differ).
Our main excursion that day (besides the grody dhaba-esque cafe we ate at) was to the main Mosque. It is the only Mosque in Morocco that non-Muslims are allowed inside of, except of course on Fridays. It just so happened that we were there on Friday. We didn't get to go inside, but this building was worth seeing just for the exterior. It was also quite interesting to see everyone there for services. The people watching nerd in me was excited beyond belief!
On our way back to our hotel from the Mosque and Medina, we got a little lost and ended up right in front of the one Synagogue in Casablanca. We knocked and they let us in. It was Shabat (again) and we probably should have gone back for services, which would have been quite different and extremely interesting (I'm sure) but after a long day in the city we just wanted to crash.
Instead of correcting our misdirection by walking all the back to our hotel, we hopped in a cab. The way they do taxis in Morocco is either you get a normal meter or you can take a shared taxi where a few different people who are going to different places, that happen to be in the same direction all take the same driver. This is what we did. We hopped in a cab that already had someone in it to drop us at our hotel. When we arrived my mom handed the cabby what it said on the meter, minus what it said when we got in. He was not too happy about this. The guy started yelling about how she had to pay a few Dirham more. My mom was all 'no, I saw what it said, that ain't how this is gonna work'. He got so pissed that he literally threw the coins at my mom and drove off. We were in shock and just kinda stood there, until some nice guy began picking the coins up for us. Than the cabbie came back. I handed him the money and we walked away, as shouts accosted us from behind.
And that was my last day in Morocco. I cannot say it isn't an exciting country, that's for sure!
The airport was easy and I even made some new friends on the flight from Casablanca to Madrid. Then I flew from Madrid to London where I had a day layover, but that's a story for another day and another post.
Sorry this was so long, but a lot happened in Morocco. So much, in fact, I couldn't even get it all in here.
