An Eye-Opening Moroccan Experience!

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As you may know, I visited Morocco this past weekend and all I can say is -- Wow! What an eye opening experience. It was the first truly third world country I've ever been to, and it was definitely unlike anything I've ever seen before. On top of it being a third world country, it is also an Islamic dominated country as well, so seeing all the Muslims was also an interesting experience.

I just want to say first of all that the travel agency, WeLoveSpain (which I went to Morocco through, and will be going to Lagos through) is completely legitimate, and I would highly recommend going on trips through them. It was $250.00 to go for the weekend, but it was totally worth it. This may sound a little expensive for a 3 day vacation, but the cost included everything, even meals. I could have gone and spent only 2 euros on a bottle of water. As it was, I only spent 25 euros total on souveniers. In addition, after going to Morocco I would NOT recommend going on your own (or without some sort of guide). It's just not safe. I'm mentioning this because our program director has told us multiple times that these travel agencies are not legit and are just trying to rip you off, and I found this to be the opposite of the truth. Just to clear the air.

We started out by taking a bus to Gibralter. The cost of the tour to go to the top of the rock was an extra 20 euros, but since my friends and I have already gone to Gibraltar we decided to save our money and hung out in the square for a couple hours instead. On the bus I sat by a girl named Sarah who I had not known previously and got to know her. She was basically doing this Morocco trip without any of her friends, so I invited her into our group of friends and we ended up hanging out with her all weekend. She's pretty cool.

After Gibralter we took a ferry to Morocco! The ferry was very comfortable, and it only takes about 45 minutes to cross the straight. Once in the city of Ceuta (which is actually a Spanish city) we boarded our bus, which the ferry had also taken over from Gibralter, and made our way to the next city of Tetuan. By the time we got to the hotel in Tetuan, it was already about 8 p.m. We had a little free time and then met downstairs in the lobby for dinner. Dinner was very good. The main entre was fish, but since I don't eat fish they gave me an Omelette and vegetables instead, which were delicious. Our hotel was a 4 star hotel and was right on the Mediterranean. The restaurant in the hotel was very nice and modern looking and the waiters were relatively polite and friendly. However, I would say that a 4 star Moroccan hotel was more like a 2 star American hotel. It was definitely older, and it was the kind of Hotel that gives you an actual key instead of a key that looks like a credit card like they do in the U.S. However, no complaints. It was clean and safe, and that's all that really matters to me. That night we were all pretty tired, and I ended up just watching a movie in the hotel room with friends and passing out.

The next day was packed. We first made our way to the city of ChefChauen. ChefChauen is a Moroccan city which was built basically on the side of a mountain. While we were touring it I felt like I was just climbing uphill the entire time. Most of the walls and doors in the city are painted blue (I think he said to help keep mosquitos away and possibly for religious reasons) so I felt like I was under the sea most of the time. It was here that I also tried my hand at bargaining, which is customary in Morocco. A man tried to sell me a little magnet for 7 euros but I was able to bargain down to 2. It was scary at first, since obviously I've never bartered for anything in my life, but the agency guide told us just to be firm and keep arguing so I did, even though I still felt rather impolite doing so.

After ChefChauen we took the bus to the city of Tetuan. Oh, I forgot to mention, Morocco (at least where we were) is mostly mountains and desert. It wasn't hot, but it wasn't cold. It was very beautiful along the coast, especially with the mountains, but there weren't many trees and it definitely made me miss the green foliage of Wisconsin. I saw maybe one lake and one little stream the whole time we were there.

Tetuan was also interesting. We had a delicious lunch in a really really nice restaurant, which even had live music and a show for us. The food was once again very good. I wish I know what I ate but it wasn't like anything I've ever had before and I didn't catch the name of it. The main entre was kind of like a hard bread stuffed with I don't know what, but like I said, I didn't catch the name.

After lunch we went walking through the city with the rest of the group. The city was very crowded with Muslim men and women, and wasn't espeically clean. The roads where peole walk are mostly dirt, and there are vendors selling their wares and food everwhere. It didn't smell, at least not awfully. I'm a big animal person, so the low for me was seeing a little gaggle of kittens curled up together on the street. It looked like their mom had abandoned them as they all seemed rather sickly and underfed. One of the kittens especially looked like it was about to die any second. I know stuff like this happens all the time, even in the U.S., but if I had been home I definitely would have taken them to a shelter immediately.

Anyway, our guide took us to a pharmacy where a man did a demo of different Moroccan spices, oils, creams, etc. He let us try them out, and I was very tempted to buy them all since most of them are expensive to buy outside of Morocco. They sold Safran for 8 euros/4 grams, which I hear is a very good deal as Safran is supposedly a pain in the ass to collect. I was able to pass this up, but I couldn't resist getting some Argan oil for my hair. He was selling them for 8 euros a bottle, but the pharmacist gave my friend and I a deal and we got 4 bottles for only 16 euros. I've actually used Argan oil before (my shampoo from home had it in it) so I was pretty excited about this.

After the pharmacy, we walked around some more and were set free for a little while in this store where men try their damndest to sell you things. I was able to resist, but my friend Alina was not. She ended up buying a red purse that she didn't really want. It was pretty funny, he was just hustling her around and talking really fast and all of a sudden she was handing him money, after she had just told me she didn't think she was going to buy anything. Afterwards, she was rather startled and confused that she had bought this purse, she said that it just all happened so quickly and before she knew it she was out 10 euros! Poor girl, that's how they get you!

Once we finished in the store, we loaded back onto the bus and took it an hour and a half to the city of Tangier. We first went to what was basically a Moroccan Wal-Mart, which was across the street from our hotel, in order to buy alcohol. The store was packed, and to our dismay the store wasn't accepting euros or our credit cards, which we had had no problem with anywhere else. We were holding up the line, the Moroccans were all getting pretty annoyed with us, and to top it off, Jon and Josh decided earlier to buy the hats that Moroccan men wear and we standing in the front of the line holding everyone up. We couldn't have looked anymore out of place, and I just wanted to get out of there. Fortunately, we were able to exchange our euros for Dirhams in the store, so everything wound up alright eventually.

Next up came dinner and a show in a big tent next to our hotel. There was a man outside the hotel giving camel rides to people. However, the camel had a baby and the baby was also tied very closely to the mom. The camel owner seemed very abusive to both the mom and the baby, hitting them roughly with a cane and pulling them harshly by the rope. Both the mom camel and the baby camel seemed rather distressed. Needless to say I passed on that camel ride. It's very hard for me to see people abusing animals and not be able to do or say anything about, because it seems like that's just how they do things in Morocco.

Anyway, the dinner was once again very good. We had a huge salad and a huge plate of cuscuz and cabbage. Cuscuz is something that I didn't really eat a lot of at home, but I eat it here all the time and I love it. I will definitely start eating more of it when I return home. The show was just okay. The dancers and performers were a bit below par compared to other shows I've seen, but it was entertaining nevertheless.

Discotecos (nightclubs) are not customary in Morocco, but luckily for us so many Americans and Europeans stay at the hotel we stayed at that they built a nightclub right next door for us. So after dinner and drinking in the hotel room a bit, we headed over. My friends and I were dancing and having a jolly good time when all of a sudden we looked over and noticed this girl. She was a cute girl, but she was dancing like a crazy person! She was shaking and flipping her hair everywhere and dancing in big circles with her arms out, and then when she got bored she just would just do something that looked like convulsions. My friend Alex and I thought this was hilarious and started imitating her. We managed to keep our other friends entertained, but then an American guy from our program started dancing with her. Now they were both dancing like crazy people. We laughed at them, and then laughed even harder when they laid down on the floor and started making out. At this point one of the club workers asked them to leave. The American guy was about to go with her, but luckily our agency guide noticed them and told us to tell the guy that the crazy dance girl was a prostitute and that he probably shouldn't go with her! Wow, we just imitated a prostitute all night! Not something I can say I've done before.

The next morning we went to the Caves of Hercules, where you can see the Sea from inside the cave, and to the point near Tangier where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic. We also got to take camel rides from a man who wasn't nearly as abusive to his camels. That was definitely something I won't forget, being up on that camel as we walked along the ocean. Pretty exciting, I must say!

After the camel ride we essentially started heading back to Seville. It took most of the rest of the day to get back as we had to go all the way back to Ceuta, then take the ferry, and then head back to Sevilla from Gibralter. Luckily I was able to sleep a lot of the time.

Overall, Morocco was a truly amazing and eye-opening experience. Morocco has little to no industry, and most people look as though they are dirt poor, although there are of course rich Moroccans as well as poor ones. The difference is that there is no middle class, as there is in the U.S. So if you are not part of the elite few, you are dirt poor. I have seen bad parts of cities in the U.S. If you've ever been to inner-city Milwaukee, I would say that's just a little worse than what most of Morocco is like. Everything is just very run down, poor, and old. Yet this doesn't seem to bring the people down. Most Moroccans were very friendly and polite, or at least tolerant of us. This could be because they want our American dollars, but I think that Moroccans are also very nice people. Our tour guide espeically was hilarious, and he taught us a lot about the Moroccan way of life.

But still, Morocco is a place that I don't think I feel the need to return to, and I would say that 3 days there was plenty for me. It's very hard for an American to adjust to, and I think being there for more than a few days might have been too much for me.

Nevertheless, it was an experience I'll never forget. I hope you enjoyed my ramblings about Morocco. It was probably my favorite trip thus far!

Next weekend, it's off to Barcelona with Jenny! But now, it's time for some homework!

Ciao!

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Comments

[we manage for you]

Beautiful haven
Outstanding!! it is . i impressed with all your Morocco eye-opening experience. . i recommended me or my friend also to visit Morocco. Thanks for this useful and good travel tips post!