Morocco

(Originally posted July 2011)

The next segment of our trip was a five day adventure in Morocco, three days in Marrakech and two days in Essaouira. This country has opened my eyes to a place most different than my home or anywhere I have traveled. Venturing outside of our riad in Marrakech was always an intense experience whereas Essaouira, while still being very Moroccan, is a much more tranquil, relaxed beach atmosphere.

Language in Morocco

The four of us all speak English as a first language with Spanish as a second. Fortunately for us, Ellen speaks some French which we have relied on heavily to communicate since none of us speak Arabic or Berber. Most Moroccans we have met speak at least three languages, different dialects of Arabic and Berber (indigenous language) as well as French.  Many young vendors also know English, especially strange phrases from US pop culture, like “it’s all good in the hood” and “too cool for school.” Our most multilingual meal included words in English, Spanish, French and Arabic just to order a few paninis. Between code-switching and sign language, we get along just fine.  

Food in Morocco

Over the past few days we have had our fill of couscous and tagines, individual pyramid shaped pots with a meal of vegetables and meat.  The main plaza, Jemaa El-Fnaa, in Marrakech was filled with shops and food stands. Interestingly, the same stands were repeated twenty times with the same product, such as the orange juice vendors. Fresh squeezed orange juice, delicious. Similarly kabob venders follow tourists with cheesy saying like “winner, winner, chicken dinner” or to attract you to their stand “Number 117, takes you to heaven.”

Going out to eat has been a challenging experience as well. To make an extra few DHs, the waiters round up your bill by 10 or 20, even 150 DH. One waiter wrote out the bill with the correct items then purposefully added it wrong in his favor. Diners have to watch out and add up the menu prices themselves when the bill comes. In five days, we only had one acturate bill.

The mint tea is the staple beverage in Morocco, also known as “Moroccan whiskey.” We were served our first cup upon arrival at our riad and more whenever people gathered. In Essaouira, shopkeepers and other locals invited us to tea for the sake a meeting new people and sharing their culture, customs and products. We sat a long while with Zakaharia who described his life as a jewelry maker, six months as a shopkeeper in Essaouira and six months with his family, the nomadic Tuareg tribe of the Saharan desert.  

In and around Marrakech

The streets of the old city, the medina, in Marrakech are packed in tight with shops and lots of people. No cars are allowed in the medina but motor bikes are frequent, keep a close eye out as they dart between pedestrians. Pedestrians line the streets all day between running errands and the hustling of men to the mosque at the five-times daily calling to prayer. Shopkeepers sell everything from traditional pray outfits and freshly chopped meat to tourist wares and spices. The entire shopping experience in Marrakech is nothing less than intense as hawkers shout and every interaction requires an insult-style of bargaining. After a few attempts, we decided to leave most tourist shopping to Essaouira where we heard the atmosphere was more relaxed.

Marrakech is home to one of Africa’s busiest city squares, Djemaa El Fna, in the middle of the medina, the walled city built in the 11th century. The outside of the square is lined with restaurants, shops and narrow alley ways leading to an endless tangle of more shops. In the square, vendors sell orange juice and set up nightly barbeque makeshift restaurants. In addition, the square is filled with hundreds of people looking to earn a few DH coins from Moroccans and tourists alike. Women armed with henna grab hands of unsuspecting ladies and start drawing until one firmly insists against the art and pulls her arm away. Snake charmers usually draw a decent crowd and pass a hat for coins for watching their act. I witnessed an unsuspecting tourist walk by a snake charmer frustrated by lack of audience, the snake-charmer threw his cobra around a man’s neck to attempt to draw him into the festivities. It didn’t work.

In Marrakech we visited the Ben Youssef Madrasa, an Islamic boys school that was founded in the 14th century and only recently closed in 1960. At its peak, over 900 students were boarded and educated there. We walked through the ancient burial site from the 11th century and stopped by the Marrakech museum (the living history around Morocco was much more exciting). We walked around the walled city and through several gates (bab). Despite it’s desert location, Marrakech maintains several gardens, such as the outside the Koutoubia Mosque near the main square.  

On a day trip outside of Marrakech we visited a Berber home to learn about how the people traditionally lived and cooked. The woman of the house explained the process of making tea, with our guides interpretation, and served us fresh-made bread with homemade butter from the cows living in their house. Our next stop was a quick camel ride. The friendly young camel liked to give kisses but howled when her dad camel took the short journey around the side of the mountain with us. Our camel guide seemed more interested in taking pictures than a scenic camel tour, he smiled big every time he took a picture with one of our digital cameras. Next stop, a tour through a natural medicine and cosmetic cooperative to learn about the plants used in Morocco for health and beauty.  

Getting outside of the city, we took a hike up to see a waterfall. The small town, Sti Fatima, brings hikers from Morocco and abroad up a rocky stream to a chilly waterfall. Our guide suggested a break at one point, when we realized he was the one in need of a break. He said most of his tour groups don’t hike up straight to the top. Our last stop on the day trip was a fancy Moroccan meal of salad, tagines of chicken and beef, couscous, fruits and mint tea and cookies. We thoroughly enjoyed the time away from the hustle and bustle of Marrakech and a glimpse of Moroccan life outside the medina walls.  

Our guide and hosts as cultural liaisons

Being tourists with only a few days in such a new culture for us, our guide for our day-long tour and several welcoming hosts at the riad helped us to learn about the Moroccan culture and Muslim traditions. From the very beginning, Luxom, Mostafa and Farib were open to our questions and accepting of our culture, so different in many ways than their own. They openly answered questions about our misconceptions of Morocco, such as no Muslims drinking alcohol in Morocco. In fact, alcohol is even sold in a section of the supermarket for consumption at home, although most of the bars in the “new city” are aimed at tourists. And they explained that the variation of women’s veiling practices, from no head covering to full burka, doesn’t demonstrate the depth of a person’s religious belief but rather a husband’s level of involvement in the mosque or personal choice. We greatly appreciated our discussions with them about the stereotypes Moroccans hold about Americans and other tourists which account for how we are treated here, especially as women, how the April’s bombing affected tourism and local’s own sense of safety in the city and, of course, how one survives in this heat, up to 122 degrees fahrenheit during our visit, up to 140 degrees at its peak.

Essaouira

After three days in the intense city of Marrakech, we arrived in Essaouira to find a very chill atmosphere with more tourists and hippies than camels. The small beach town is on the Atlantic coast and our riad has an ocean view from the fourth floor terrace. We relaxed instantly. The people are more laid back and shopping doesn’t consist of the battle as in Marrakech.  

After settling in to our second floor apartment of the riad, we quickly moved our relaxation to the beach. Full of families, surfers and groups of friends, we laid out our towels to read, listen to music and rest. After a few minutes we were covered in a fine layer of sand from the constant ocean wind I think I still have sand in my ears after four days. The beach goes on for kilometers and kilometers down the coast.  

One night we met some tourists from Australian and shared dinner with them at a restaurant near our riad. Twice we stopped for crepes at little stand and the crepe-maker quickly fell in love with Ellen, writing “I love you” in chocolate sauce on her crepe. Then he quickly came to rearrange it as the waiter delivered it to Kelly accidentally. He joined us for a while and talked about his family and home near Essaouira and invited us for mint tea.  

Leaving Morocco

Our journey back to Spain began at 5:00 walking to the bus in order to catch a 6am back to Marrakech. Down to our last DH and not interested in haggling with taxi drivers, we hiked from the bus terminal to the airport in Marrakech. It turned out to be an hour long trek through the Moroccan heat. Our plane left midday and we arrived in Madrid to rent a car, drive 4 hours to Granada, arriving at our hostel here about midnight, exhausted. We made it. No doubt  I’m traveling with a great group of optimistic, outgoing girls up for adventure.

Morocco was an interesting, eye-opening experience for us all. We were exhausted by the intensity of Marrakech and much more in line with the style of Essaouira but all in agreeance that our time in Morocco was valuable. We appreciate the ability we have to explore other countries, ways of life and learn more about ourselves and our home culture by traveling to new places, such as Morocco.