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Published: March 23rd 2010
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Our hostel
Our hostel was a typical Riad, with an innter courtyard and rooftop terrace! Having spent nearly 2 months in Europe, and incredibly tired of the cold, I decided to head across the Mediterranean to Morocco. The chaos of the trip began the night before when Lauren called me telling me she wasn't sure if she had a ticket..for the flight out for the next day! That set the tone for the entire trip...basically chaotic, ridiculous, and so many moments where there is nothing left to do but laugh.
Going from Barcelona, Kathrin and I met up with Lauren in the Casablanca airport. (She managed to get a ticket in 24 hours!) Arriving in Marrakech, my first thought was how quiet the city was at midnight since it is one of the most touristic destinations in Morocco. Once we arrived at the hostel, I immediately discovered one of my favourite things about Morocco: Berber whiskey. Obviously it wasn't actually whiskey since Muslims can't drink alcohol, but it's green tea with mint and sooo much sugar. So sweet and so good.
In the morning, the city was completely transformed. We had woken up early to jam in sight seeing ... but we didn't even make it out of the Souks before noon. I was
far too distracted by all the shiny things - lamps, jewelery, mirrors - and the liveliness of tourists haggling with shopkeepers. After meandering around the medina, we wandered to the pink-ish red walls that divided the medina (the old city) from the new parts of Marrakech. We made it all the way to outside of Jardin Majorelle (which was created by Yves St. Laurent!) before our stomachs got the most of us and we headed back to Djemma el Fna, the main square in the medina, for some delicious tangine. During my stay, I also tried snails, which they essentially just boiled and you dip them in salt. I had one and that was one too many. Another "interesting" food was sheep's brain...which was also not too great. Though there are some amazing Moroccan cuisine like tanjia (sort of like a beef stew), galettes (a cross between a pancake and crepe that can be savoury or sweet) and of course, cous cous!
The Souks, or the markets, in Marrakech are amazing. They are exactly like how you would imagine a bazaar...noisy, crowded and full of life! (and tourists) They are twisty and incredibly complicated to navigate, which we (unfortunately)
experienced first hand when we got lost. Not a good idea. We ended up being followed by a group of guys who clearly knew we were lost and wanted to charge us an exorbitant amount to be led by to Djemma El Fna. Luckily we ran into an incredibly nice old couple that walked us all the way back because we couldn't understand their directions in French.
Although many beggers, kids (we had a 5 year old boy yell "fuck you" to us for refusing to give him money), and random men harass tourists like no other, we also met incredibly nice and helpful people in Morocco - from the taxi driver who tried explain world philosophy to us ("tout le monde son freres!") in French, to the waiter who insisted we have at least 5 cups of mint tea for free before we finished our meal.
Truthfully, the sights that we saw in my two days in Marrakech were a bit disappointing...and the best part of the city you can experience simply walking around the medina (the old city).
One thing I knew I wanted to do in Morocco, was to ride a camel, so we
decided to take a trip to the desert! It took 8 hours by car, crossing the Atlas mountains (where there is snow!!!), and we finally reached the desert by Zargora. The desert is amazing. Saying it's amazing doesn't even begin to describe it. We slept in a traditional tent, ate tangine, and danced around a bonfire with local musicians. Then proceeded to do cartwheels in the sand dune.
On the way back from the desert, we went to an old fortress/village in Ouzazarte. The casbah is the typical image everyone has of Morocco...probably because they filmed so many movies there! After crossing the river by a donkey, we got to go inside the "gladiator's cave" where Russell Crowe was held in "The Gladiator" and sat where infamous characters like Ridley Scott, Jackie Chan, and yes, Barack Obama have been.
The most memorable part though has to be the hammam. A hammam is a traditional bath, and most tourists experience them in hotels, where it's a relaxing massage. That's what I thought we were getting us well. Along with another girl from the hostel, the four of us were led to the hammam by two ladies that worked at
Tangine!
Tangines are always made in a triangular clay(?) ware the hostel. Touristy it was not. Dark and steamy, the hammam was full of local women, young and old. At first I thought the ladies were just showing us the way, but they turned out to be our masseuse, hair washer and skin ripper-offer as well. The scrub is infamous, and now I know why. It hurts like hell. Mind you though, I actually really enjoyed the experience and having super soft skin after.
Even though it was only a four and a half day trip, it seemed like so much longer. Everyday was filled with so many ups and downs (up: getting an awesome real leather purse for 200 Dirhams, about 20 Euros. down: getting harassed and having random guys screaming "konichiwa" or "fish and chips" at us once they heard we spoke english.) It was sometimes chaotic, serene, beautiful, annoying and everything in between.
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