I overheard someone describe Morocco in the perfect way, and decided to steal the quote, “Morocco is the coolest place I never want to go back to.”
That is sooo true. We arrived half a day early so as a group, Amanda, Larissa, Myself, and a group of guys all from the east coast (they aren’t all stuffy and boring… who would have thought) went to explore Casablanca. The first thing we did was probably the worst we could have as we walked straight into the Medina or the large market place. The movies do a great job showing what it is like. Small streets lined with people selling everything you can imagine. The clothes and spices are super colorful as are the dresses many of the women were wearing. It was loud and full of energy. Some places it smelled good and others it smelled awful, as Paul would say,” great another poop street”. It was a little much on the first day and we all were overwhelmed. It was definitely a culture shock. We were afraid to take out our cameras because in this culture as well as other places we will be visiting it can be seen as stealing a would if you take a picture of someone, and we were not about to be disrespectful (Amanda was already having trouble finding non California conservative clothes). We tried to stay together, but in the hustle and bustle we lost two of the guys in the group (they ended up being ok and just got stuck buying a crazy hat. It was definitely very new, cool, scary, and whatever descriptive word you can think about. We even saw neon colored chicks being strolled down the street in a cart while the guy tried to keep them all in the cart.
We were about to leave when we stopped to look at clothes and this guy came up to us speaking good English and told us he would take us to his store and give us great prices. Maybe not the best idea looking back, but we felt that we would be alright in the group. He took us to the girls store and I bought a cool shirt, then to the guys store were Amanda Larissa and I bought Allan a baby/going away gift because it was his last port as a waiter. After everyone was all done the guy demanded money from us and told us that we had promised, which no one did. We started walking and left the Medina while the guy followed us out yelling at us. One of our friends John gave him 50 dirham and told him to get lost them we quickened our pace and sped out of the area. It was kind of scary, but then again also kind of exhilarating and safe in the group. It also made us very aware and skeptical of accepting and help for the rest of the trip, which was probably a good thing.
We also visited the mosque which is the 2nd biggest (next to the one in Mecca) and vey pretty. Oh and we took pictures outside of Rick’s Café which I am sorry everyone, but is not real and only created by and American after tourists all came to see it. Sooo basically we had an eventful first day that didn’t leave the best taste in our mouths.
Marrakesh was a way different experience. We loved it!!! Amanda, Larissa, Paul, and I traveled by train (which was an hour late) and got to our Riad (like a hostel) which was very sketch from the outside, but beautiful and classic Moroccan on the inside. Apparently it is against the religion to show wealth on the outside of homes. We went sight seeing and came back to Brian, our Riad owner, making us mint tea. We asked if we could watch him make it and soon became very good friends. He had been celebrating the end of Ramadan and was drink wine (and a lot of it we later found out) and offered us some. It was fun and he told us about his family and different places in Morocco and Marrakesh. We met an Australian couple also was staying at the Riad, and they joined us for dinner. The main market was full of energy because they all wee celebrating and we ate at this outside restaurant.
One of the waiters wanted to marry Larissa and called her finger licking good Paul got offered 100 camels for her and the Sahara desert for Amanda. The people at the restaurant were very funny and kind of joked about how Americans are protective and reserved towards them due to the fear of being mugged. Which by the way a kid on the trip got mugged and ran up to us at dinner scared out of his mind. NEVER walk alone in a foreign country, for some common sense, but just a nice reminder. The food was great by the way!!!!
After dinner we went back to the Riad only to met Brian in the street and he waved us on to come to his friend Nebeal’s Riad down the street were we each got poured a glass of whiskey. They were very hospitable once we became friends and it was fun to sit and talk to the two.
Day two in Marrakesh we set out to ride camels and with the help of Brian we found these guys that gave us a 30 minute ride with unlimited pictures (they charge you if you take a picture of anything there) for like 60 dirham a person!!! That is like 7 dollars a person!!!! Afterwards we tried to medina a second time and this time had a better experience. It was fun to look around and we felt a lot more comfortable we even were pretty good at bartering. We stayed far away from the snake charmers and monkeys because they would just throw the animal around your neck and make you pay to get it off, which you all know my HUGE fear of snakes so no bueno. We grabbed the dinner in the same market and ventured back to the Riad were we again hung out and drank wine with Brian. There was also a couple fron Holland and two couples from England that were very fun to talk with. Before going to bed both Brian and Nebeal told us we were family, gave us the standard kiss on the cheek and said we could come back whenever we wanted and stay for free. They definitely made our time in Morocco as Great as it was.
The after math was not so great though. After getting back to Casablanca Larissa and Amanda got really sick which w later found out very possibly was from the pigeon pie they ate that we were told was chicken. I got a weird bug bite rash thingy, that is lucky going away and its contagious or anything bad (according to the doctor, ya I went without being forced aren’t you proud), and today Paul felt like he got hit by a train. So minus the sickness it was great.
Paul and I also ventured to Rabbat (while Amanda and Larissa were lying on their death beds). We saw the Roman ruins and tried to get into the Royal Palace, but couldn’t because we needed our passports (which we had already turned back into the ship). We think the King was at the place because security was crazy tight. So ya that is Morocco for ya very fun, but I am over it for sure and glad to be sailing again.
If you can’t tell by the stories we have found a really cool group of friends on the boat. John, Paul, Keegan, and Alan are all from the east cost and all go to school at either Bentley or Babson. So there you go mom now you know who I am hanging out with because I know how you like to know who my friends are so I beat you to it.
Love you all I will try to update before Ghana, but sleep is becoming more important by the day.
Oh and if you don't get my title that is what Brian called all three of us and also what the venders would yell as we would walk past.... Some Moroccan obsession.
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