It took me two years to get to Morocco. On my first SAS voyage, we were redirected from Morocco to the Canary Islands because of an ignorant video that a guy posted on Youtube about Mohammad, causing uproars at US Embassies throughout the Arab world. Morocco was the country that I was most excited for on our itinerary; so needless to say, I was pretty disappointed with this outcome, my friends and I vowing to return to the port together. That is precisely what happened: less than two years later, I found myself in Casablanca.
Fun/ Cool / Enlightening Stuff done:
Day 1
It actually took two years and 4 hours for me to get to Casablanca: the strict port immigration had every single person in the ship having to wait in line to have her passport stamped. Once out of the port, my friends and I had the ‘best’ haggling experience in SAS history, as one of the cab drivers tried to charge us each $20 to get to the train station, which was 5 minutes away … not even in London. The driver that we got graciously understood our desperate situation to get to Marrakech in time for the camel trek that my friend Andrea had planned. Not even him running over a few red lights help us to make our train, which we literally missed by 30 seconds.
In the meantime, I went to a small grocery store, where I asked the owner what chocolate he suggested that I have. He emphasized that the one that I was pointing to was for men, and that although I could buy it, it wasn’t for women. What did I do? I bought three, one for myself and two for my girlfriends, which we consumed in front of him at his store. Perhaps it was a bit culturally insensitive on our part, but the underlying sexism was something that really struck me.
A nice lunch and two hours later we were back at the train station, boarding the 4-hour train in the beyond-scorching-heat of the AC-less cart where we were. But it was ok. We entertained ourselves by catching each other up on the voyage – both SAS and life.
After being greeted by our tour guide and dropping our things off at the hotel, Stephanie, Andrea and I had a mini-SAS ’12 reunion, having an authentic Hammam experience, where we were taken to by three adorable young’ins.
In nothing but tiny disposable underwear, two women scrubbed us, gave us a mud bath, and then continued to massage us and give us pedicures. It is probably the cleanest my body has ever been…
Sifting thereafter through the markets of Marrakech,
we found ourselves hungry and quickly satisfying our cravings with everything Moroccan: from couscous to mint tea and delicious tanginess.
Day 2
Our second day in Morocco was filled with a lot of driving – but beautiful driving, nonetheless – through montains and valleys, streams and to where I bought way-too-much’s worth of the magical Argan oil. I thought I got an amazing deal on it: 20% off, when I got back to the bus and all of my friends claimed to have gotten the same deal…
In the middle of the desert, we had lunch, where I met a guy who called me ‘Fatima’ – his response to him calling me this being that, ‘in Morocco, when you don’t know a girl’s name, you call her Fatima, and if you don’t know a guy’s name, you call him Muhammad.’ I found this to be quite comical. He was the same guy who tried to convince me to buy a 3000 euro compass used only ‘by desert peoples in the desert’, over some tea, which he really seemed passionate about having us try.
After some more amazing sights of rose valleys and streams, we checked into a really authentically beautiful hotel, Kasbah Auberge Tifawen, etched into the side of a mountain where we saw thousands of stars from our balcony and had dinner for hours before a hookah party.
Day 3
On the following morning, we drove to where the village met the sand dunes, which we traversed on camel back for 2 hours. We were led by two nomads, who escorted us with music on their phones.
Once at the tent village where we were to stay, we dropped our bags and headed for the sand dunes on the 3 sand boards, which the camels had helped us lug in. We road them the way they were supposed to ridden, but then resorted to sitting on them – alone, and in groups of two and three – hands down one of my most memorable experiences of the voyage – that and partaking in a drum circle with the nomads and sitting under the stars atop of one of the tallest sand dunes.
Day 4
An early morning led us back out to the village, once again on camelback, beginning our journey back to Marrakech, where the group split off from Andrea, Stephanie and I to return to Casablanca. We ended up returning to the market and checking into one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to – hidden under a mound was the entrance to our riad, which was one of the most traditionally beautiful places I’ve seen. I’ll let the picture speak for itself.
We went out to a club that was too posh for our attire and for our mentality that night, so we ended up leaving the Couchsurfer that Andrea had found for us – although I was really feeling the belly dancing and violin performance before the western music started going off.
The night ended with a long and necessary catch-up session on the rooftop of our riad, which seems to be a common place to hang out in each one of them.
Day 5
An early train back to Casablanca still only granted us enough time to have a final lunch together and to tour the ship with Andrea, before parting ways from her.
Stephanie and I made our way to the 2nd largest mosque in the world, the Hassan II mosque, but we didn’t have enough time to tour it inside, so we decided to go to a market instead, where my bargaining skills were seriously tested, as I tried desperately to haggle with this guy that would absolutely not budge.
The haggling took so long that Stephanie and I had to rushhh to get back to the ship in time, but first, making a pit stop at Olivieri, which was said to have the best ice cream in Morocco – and that, in fact might be the case. This creamy deliciousness was the perfect end to an amazing port and to the official part of voyage.
Morocco definitely left me wanting – I plan to come back in November, whenever I have a break from my job in France, where I’ll be teaching during the next academic year.
Best Food Had: Vegetable Couscous
Favorite City: Marrakech
Favorite Thing Done: Staying in the desert – sand duning and watching the stars
Interesting things learned about Morocco:
On Economy:
The longest free trade treaty the US has is with Morocco
Morocco holds the largest reserve of phosphates in the world, which originate from fossils of fish and dinosaurs; they’re now used as fertilizers and detergents
Wifi is extremely pervasive and mostly open/free in cafes
Morocco has amazing infrastructure
On Religion:
The country has served as a model for ethnic and religious coexistence, Sufism beeing a source of that peace
On Society:
Immigration forms are written in Arabic, French, & Spanish before English
The tour guide did not think it was at all ok for my two guy friends to share a bed
A popular greeting is an individual having his hand over his chest, meaning ‘I greet you from my heart’
US: social distance = 3 feet; Morocco: social distance = 1-2 feet
Turning down tea at a shop is ok, but at someone’s home, it’s considered rude
Cats! Everywhere
Drinking outdoors is illegal – it’s ok in large hotels/lounges —
Inviting someone for an alcoholic drink can be offensive, unless he/she is having one
Cats are everywhere
Only 3 people are allowed in your average small taxis
Earlene at Sea 