Morocco, January 10, 2011

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January 10th: Morocco

We took the 3-hour bus ride to Marrakech. “A 3 hour tour” At first driving through Casablanca, it looked like any large city that you could find anywhere in the world. Big buildings, large signs, restaurants, shops, people walking everywhere. We drove through the center near the University and saw a Hilton. It was a large bustling city. I guess I was expecting to get off the boat and see sand everywhere- I was thinking the building would look like the buildings in Aladdin. But it was just a city. Continuing on the drive was interesting. You would see newly built homes that could belong in Boca and next to it was a house with no windows, dirt on the floor, holes in the roof. The separation between classes is almost non-existent. Then we drove through farm country and it looked like anything you would see in the farm countryside of Pennsylvania, Kansas, Indiana, West Virginia, etc. The grass was so green. I don’t know if I have ever seen grass as green as in Morocco. The difference however is that the houses are not beautiful farmhouses. Instead they are very poor and lower class. The labor is hand done; there are no large machines.

The tour guide told us that these people live as a village. If there is smoke coming from the top of one of the houses that is a good sign and the neighbors know everything is good in the home. If there is smoke it means the mother is cooking, there is food to be eaten and no one is sick. When the smoke is not coming then the neighbors come to help out. After farm country you drive through an area where we start to see the sand, there are still farms, lots of sheep, cows, horses, wild dogs and the sand is very dark. The closer you get to Marrakech the sand becomes red, it is a beautiful sight, the red sand, but within it are very poor homes. Then the sand gets dark, a dark brown.

We stopped to eat lunch at a hotel and restaurant named Chez Alverez. It was the tourist Morocco and was the type of Morocco we were expecting. It looked like a building one would find in Aladdin. When we got out of the busses there were men on horses facing each other and we walked through the horses where people were playing music, dancing, we were immersed into the culture we were expecting, but in a safe way, geared very much so for tourists. We went into a tent and sat for lunch. The food was served family style and the presentation was wonderful. First was a dish of potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, sweet potatoes, and squash. Then was the chicken dish, which I did not take any, as I was slightly scared but I did taste, and it did taste like chicken! Then was couscous, which was tasty as well. I was expecting it to be very spicy but it was not. Some of the students thought the food here was better than the food on the boat.

Next we went to the Hassan II Mosque. We got off the bus, stood outside and looked at it, then got back on the bus. It was a quick stop and I wasn’t quite sure why we didn’t go in, but apparently the building we were looking at used to be an old library. Then we got back on the bus and went to the other side of the Mosque and got out to walk to the inside. I must have missed that instruction. Even though there are streetlights and signs they mean nothing in Morocco. Driving is a free for all; at many times I would see two cars in the same lane. Horns are always honking and people, the old, and the young, even children walk through the traffic. We went into the Mosque and it was such a fast and furious stop that I don’t think I really looked at much or took any of it in. I was just constantly counting to make sure I had all 15 of my people. It wasn’t as grand as I expected it to be at all. Then we got back on the bus and rode to the Bahia House, it was a house of a sultan and we went through it. First we had to walk through the streets and the traffic and the people trying to get us to buy everything. It was a mess, walking in a single file line; again all I was doing was counting numbers. We went into the house and the ceilings were interesting as they were hand painted but hard to see. We learned the Sultan had 4 wives and 22 concubines. Each of the wives and concubines had their own rooms. It was nice, again not as beautiful as expected.

Then we went to the Market. They took us to “the pharmacy” or what I called “the apothecary. The room was walled with spices, lotions, and oils. We did not know we were going here, but the tour guide from MSC Cruises told us there were long lines where we were supposed to go so they re-routed us. We all think the owners of the pharmacy were friends of the tour guide (the one who lives in Morocco, not the MSC one and he hooks them up with business.) We sat there for an hour as this guy explained all the spices and their use for a remedy. It was long and then all the students wanted buy stuff and more stuff and more stuff. One of the things they sold was herpes cream. This lady from Minnesota bought it and her husband said to her, “Honey, what do you want that for?” She replied, “It’s for you.” Hahaha! (side note, he had something on his lip and as the days go by whatever it is, is getting better!) We were in this place way too long, and then the line to buy was so long. Some of the boys were downstairs and the tour guide made them walk to the next place. They thought we were right behind and we were not. So when we walked down and realized the boys were gone some of the females went into what I would call panic mode.

We walked to the center with the guide and he told us to meet him here in 20 minutes. We decided to just stay as a group. There were what seemed to be over a thousand people, people coming up putting monkeys and snakes on students, old people, middle aged, even children asking for money trying to sell us stuff, handing people trinkets and then making them pay for them. We stayed in a big circle and didn’t leave each other’s side. Adam on the other hand went into the market to look for the boys. When he walked away it was like the movie the Field of Dreams, instead of disappearing into the cornfield he disappeared into a sea of people, many, many, many people.

Yoga breathing is a great skill to use when trying to avoid having a panic attack. Some of the students were scared of animals; some were worried about the boys. After what felt like an hour but it was probably only 15 minutes I saw Adam in his newly bright white tee shirt walking towards us.

Meanwhile I had spoken to one of the tour guides and he told me that he had sent the guys shopping. Both Mike and Daniel had been there before on Semester at Sea and they had stayed in town for a few days so I knew they knew their way around, this just wasn’t the place we were supposed to have “free time” and the female students just wanted the males back. But I also knew it wasn’t the boys fault, the tour guide made them go, so they went, they thought we were going to be right behind, but we weren’t. About 2 minutes after Adam returned there came Tully, Jake, Mike and Daniel. HALLELUIGAH! What a stressful hour. But, we all gathered together, got on the boat and made it to the boat safely.

So was it what I expected, yes and no. I expected to have fear and stress; I expected to be counting students all day long and worried about them. I expected something to happen that we didn’t expect. I expected there to be a lot of people and for them to try to get us to buy crap and hold monkeys and snakes. I didn’t expect for our group to get separated and have all that stress. Would I go back? Not just no, but hell’s no! At dinner we were all tired, slightly delirious, conversation turned to “poo poo” humor, lots of laughter filled the dinner table. Shortly after all went to shower and sleep. It was a 13 hour excursion; one that I would never like to have again.

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