Backpacking Through Morocco

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Hey everyone! I'm finally back from my two week vacation from vacation in Morocco. Before I start I just want to say that the families of the victims of the bombing at Argana Cafe in Marrakesh are in my thoughts. We had been there the night before and the staff, in true Moroccan fashion, was welcoming and friendly. The attack was not only shocking but appalling.

Our trip began in Fez and right away we knew it was going to be a unique experience. Let’s begin with the fact that upon arriving at our riad we were forced to haggle with the owner who attempted to over charge us. After what felt like an hour of arguing we managed to get our room for the price listed online, not the 79euros he tried to charge us. After settling in a freshening up we headed out into the old medina for dinner with one of our Moroccan friends. There are no street signs and twists and turns everywhere so getting lost if you are on your own is inevitable. It is also the only place in all of Morocco where I didn't feel safe once the sun began to set. During the day it's a completely different world but at night the streets are empty except for groups of men scattered about. After dinner he was kind enough to invite us to tea and cookies with his family. It was a wonderful treat to get our first taste of how Moroccans live on our first night in the country. The next day we met with our friend again who showed us through the maze known as the old medina. First we visited the tanneries, the smell of which I will never forget. The best way I can describe the "fragrance" we encountered here is death. The tanneries reeked of death. After recovering from the initial shock of the smell we were lead to the top balcony of one of the leather shops where we could see the famous pots of dye. It was definitely an impressive view. After taking in the view naturally we were brought back into the shop where a battle of prices began. Apparently "no" doesn't exist in the tanneries because the more we resisted the harder they tried. All three of us left confused as to how we ended up with our purchases. From the tanneries we headed back into the streets where we visited a mosque and bought Djellabas. At lunch we left our friend and went to visit a park and the palace in the new medina. It was a world apart from everything we had seen in the old medina. The streets were open and easy to navigate, there were more tourists, and we were hassled less. The following day we embarked on a tour of the Atlas Mountains with our taxi driver Faoud. Luckily Faoud was young and even though he didn't speak much English the four of us managed to have a great time talking and hanging out during the trek. We began in Bahlil where we met an old woman, a friend of Faoud's, who welcomed us for tea after which we continued on to the cascades. The cascades were by far my favorite part of the trek; unfortunately I didn't get the opportunity to hike to the top of them. Honestly the trip mostly consisted of beautiful scenery. There were two highlights though. The first being that Faoud, in a mix of Arabic & French, attempted to teach me how to drive a manual car. While I wasn't the best at it, it was still a fun experience. The second highlight would have to be the hookah bar we went to with Faoud in Fez after the trek finished. It was the only place in the entire city where I saw women my age dressed in tight clothing and not covering their shoulders.

After Fez it was time for us to head to Rabat to meet our friend Simmo who was hosting us at his family's home. The bus ride was the shortest one we would take the entire trip, lasting only 3 hours. Simmo & his friend Abs quickly found us at the bus station thanks to my "unusual" (aka blonde) hair and led us to our Moroccan "home". His mother greeted us immediately with a table full of home cooked food and tea for lunch. Everything, even the bread, was home made. We would get three meals like this a day and they were some of the best I would experience in Morocco. I hope that one day I’ll have a chance to show Simmo the same hospitality that he and his family showed me. After making sure we had eaten enough Simmo took us out to site see. We visited the main Mosque, the palace, souks, & beach. According to Simmo the beach is one of the worst in the country which for us was hard to believe. I did notice that most women don't swim at this beach and those that do swim FULLY clothed. This means shirt, long pants, and even shoes. After touring most of the city we settled at Simmo's favorite cafe and indulged in milkshakes. It was the first time that we really got to sit down and chat with our new friends. We discussed everything from talking parrots to the revolutions in the region. No topic was off limits. We never did get a straight answer about their opinion on the king. Later another of Simmo's friends joined us before heading back to our "home" for a giant sleepover. The next day was similar to the first with home cooked meals and site seeing. The only difference was that later that evening another American, who was teaching English during her spring break, joined us for ice cream. The following day is when we mixed things up by taking a quick trip to Casablanca and I mean quick. I have to say I wasn't a fan of the city especially having visited while being based in Rabat. I'm glad that we didn't do an overnight there; a couple of hours were more than enough for me. I will admit that the mosque in Casablanca is the most beautiful out of all the mosques we saw on our trip. I was relieved to return to our home base in Rabat.

The next stop on our list was Essaouira, an old beach town in between Casablanca and Agadir. Now since it was so simple to get to Casablanca you would assume the same thing would apply for Essaouira right? Nope. First we had to travel to Marrakesh by train then transfer to a bus, a process which took seven hours. We also had an interesting hostel experience here. We were forced to leave our first hostel due to the fact that there were numerous dead bugs under the sheets and there were flies all over the room. It was DISGUSTING to say the least. Luckily the second hostel was clean and full of fellow backpackers hanging out in the common area. Since, at this point, we had spent the majority of our day travelling we decided to have a quiet evening and wandered the city before enjoying a drink on the beach front during sunset. The souks at night were incredible. Everything was lit up in a festive manner and the streets were twice as busy as they were during the day. It wouldn't have been our kind of trip if it didn't rain the following day and when it rains in Essaouira it rains. Despite the weather I stuck to my plans to surf and signed up for a 2hours session. Surprisingly I was able to get up on the board. That's the second skill I semi-learning in Morocco.

Our final city was Marrakesh. It was by far the most modern out of all the ones we visited. Everyone was dressed in western garb and the majority of people we encountered spoke English. Upon arriving at our hostel we booked a 3 day/2 night desert trek. We then headed to the square to have dinner at make-shift tent restaurants that fill it every night. Prior to this we believed that it would impossible for someone to try to hassle you by telling you that you were hungry. We couldn't have been more wrong. After leaving the tent where we ate the man at the place across from it tried to convince us to come eat. Even later that night when we were walking around EATING ice cream people tried to convince us that no, we were indeed hungry. Though something good did come out of this. Sarah & I learned that we are equal to a Sahara's worth of camels due to our beauty. While some may find this offensive but we took it as one of the most flattering compliments. Our dinner was followed by a trip to a Moroccan discotech called African Chic with a pair of Australian cousins and a British boy. I have to say this was an interesting experience and I'm glad we did this. First off the club was a mix of Moroccan men, old white men, and hookers. To say these hookers were blatant would be an understatement. The only way that they could have been more obvious is if they had it tattooed on their foreheads. The second thing that made it such a great experience was the live music. Whether there was Arab, African, or hip hop coming out of the speakers the live band played along with it. The music at African Chic was better than anything I've heard in Paceville. After the club we all sat by the pool at the hostel and chatted until the early morning leaving us with only 2-3 hours to sleep before the trek. Luckily the trek involved a lot of driving. It took nearly 12 hours to reach our hostel, granted we did stop a couple of times to site see. The only problem was that everyone in our van was from Spain which left the three of us very outside of the lope. The second day of the trip, once again, involved an insane amount of car time. We did get to visit a Berber village in the mountains as well as Ouzerate which is a town built by Hollywood. This is where they filmed everything from Star Wars to Gladiator. Eventually we reached the Sahara where we spent our Easter riding camels through a rain storm followed by a night in a traditional Berber tent. It was definitely an Easter to remember. How many can say that their Easter dinner was followed by live Berber music? The next morning we woke up in time to witness the sunrise followed by a rain-free camel ride back to the car. The ride to Marrakesh was a hellish 11 hours. We skipped dinner completely and went right to bed. With only one day to see the entire city we spent all of the following day out and about. We visited tombs, a mosque and Baha Palace. We even walked 3miles to a garden that wasn't open. At least we can say we earned our dinner. Even though we chose to have Italian for our final meal it was one of the best of the trip. By the end I couldn't eat another bite of Moroccan food...I didn't even want to see the words tangine or cous cous. We finished our evening in the ill-fated Argana Cafe where we enjoyed the view of the square while filling ourselves with ice cream.

The next day we were off to Barcelona for a layover turned mini USF reunion. After an all nighter with two fellow USFers we finally made it back to Malta where we all locked ourselves in our rooms to recover from our two hectic and amazing weeks.

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Photos

Faoud
Sarah's Moroccan boyfriend

Simmo!
This is obviously what you do while at a mosque