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Published: March 30th 2012
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The Group: Strangely, our group consisted of mainly Canadians! There was Julie (Halifax) who works for the CBC, Patty (Calgary) who jokes that she's the oldest letter carrier for Canada Post, Laurrie and Russell (Northern BC) who've both been teachers for many years and myself! Patrick and Margaret are from Chicago and they both work in an animal shelter that Margaret owns. Birgut is originally from Germany but now works for a hotel in NY. Marilyn is from Holland and has just graduated from medical school. Lisle (an accountant) and Annette (retired) are a daughter and mother from South Africa. And finally, Ismail was a guide in training on our trip under Mohammed's tutelage.
Food: I don’t know what’s up with Moroccan food but it totally agrees with me. I’ve had a few drinks I normally wouldn't touch and found them to be delicious. For example, mint tea. It’s Moroccan custom to serve guests mint tea. That means that at the hotels I’ve checked into you get a glass of free tea. At first I accepted the glass just to be courteous but when I drank it I actually discovered I _liked_ it. It’s very mild, nice and sweet (after
you add two sugars) and quite refreshing. This was astonishing to me because I don’t like the taste of mint. Another thing was café au lait. Again, amazed to find out that (after another two sugars) I _liked_ it. And I don’t like coffee!
My first authentically Moroccan dish was Tajine. The first one I had was probably the best. It was mildly spiced slow cooked beef with almonds, apricots and dates. After that I had veggie and chicken ones and even one I made myself (which was probably the worst) but by the end of the trip I think I was tajine'd out.
Second authentic dish was couscous. I had a few veggie ones and a few beef/chicken ones and they were never very heavily spiced and maybe a bit bland for me.
Third was camel. Yeah, I wanted to try it because I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to very many other places. It was only a small portion and it was so heavily spiced that I didn't really taste the meat at all. I do remember that it was very moist though.
Fourth was oranges. The oranges I had in Morocco were
the best ones I've ever had in my whole life. They’re delicious and sweet and so cheap. They also have lots of freshly squeezed orange juice for about a $1.50 and I’ve resolved to look into getting an orange press when I get back home.
Expectations: I came into Morocco expecting Egypt. First, I was surprised when I saw Morocco is actually a relatively green country. There’s forests, farms, lakes, and an abundance of small bright orange and yellow flowers along the roads and in the fields and hills. Second is that the country is much cleaner than Egypt was. Third is that Morocco was a lot more western thinking in terms of women and what jobs they can have and their rights. It was very nice to see.
Activities: Well, I did a lot. It's probably better if I just use the pictures to explain my adventures. So the first picture is of the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. It seemed really close to my hotel at first but it just kept getting begger and bigger and bigger. That place is ENORMOUS. It can hold up to 25 000 people inside and then another 80 000 in
the square outisde. You can get a tour but I was unlucky and it didn't run on the day I went.
Some of the storefronts in Morocco were very colourful. There were many spice pyramids on postcards and it seems like it's very traditional. However, it was purely for looks. If you want that spice they'll get it for you from a basket or box elsewhere, not from the pyramid itself.
It was interesting going into the old mosque and school because you got to see the incredible amount of detailed tilework that went into these places. I do not envy the people who had to do this.
The roman ruins at Volubilis are a UNESCO World Heritage site. It's on the way to Fez from Meknes and is supposed to be the most southern point that the Roman Enpire reached. There were quite a few lovely mosaics that were still intact and depicted scenes that usually had to do with one or more of the myths and/or gods. The weather here doesn't get cold enough to freeze the ground so that's why many of the mosaics are still in good condition.
In Fez we went
An Ancient Grainery
With an olive tree ontop. to the largest tannery in Northern Africa. From the terrace on the third floor you could see the various pools they used to dye the leather different colours. It smelled...not too bad, but they gave you a sprig of mint just in case. The view from up there is one you can see in almost all guidebooks on Morocco.
On the way across the mountains we stopped at a forest famous for the Barbary Apes that lived there. I'm fairly certain you're not supposed to feed them but our guide brought some bread and I wasn't going to waste a good photo oppourtunity. Thankfully none of the moneys touched me but I did get some nice photos.
We had an optional excursion into the Sahara desert on 4x4s. On that drive we stopped by a place that had all sorts of fossils in the rocks. We tried to get a few of our own to take home. It wasn't a matter of finding a rock with a fossil, it was finding a rock small enough to take with you. I wasn't able to find one I liked but that was OK because we went to a fossil factory
Inside what used to be a Mosque
But isn't anymore so that's why were were ok to go in and take pictures and stuff. a few days later and I got three small ones.
We also went on a camel ride into the sand dunes! The part of the Sahara we saw was mostly rocky but there was this one streach of a few square kilometers that was just sand dunes. The ride itself was fun but I think we were all a little sore afterwards. I was wearing my sunglasses and so the contrast between the orange sand and the blue sky was very striking.
But of course, Morocco wasn't all sand and desert. There was a lot of fertile land. We got to walk through one such valley that was used by the locals to grow their own vegetables. There were little dirt paths that connected each of the fields and it vaguely reminded me of terraced rice paddys.
The next entry in the 'various landscapes of Morocco' is Todra Gorge. The landscape reminded me, unsurprisingly, of being in the Grand Canyon. Only smaller. There were a few crazrock climbers making their way up but the photo may night be a high enough resolution for you to see them.
Ait Benhaddou is famous for being the set of
many a Hollywood movie. Most recently it was used in Prince of Persia and Gladiator. It's an old fortified city made of mud/clay and it washes away little by little with every rainstorm. It's most famous for the many kasbahs located inside. (What is a kasbah? see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasbah)
The other pictures are a little more self explanatory. The last four were taken in Marrakech at night. Of all the cities I've been to I probably liked Marrakech the least. It was too touristy and the people trying to get you to come into their restaurants at night were way too pushy and by then I'd been souk'd out.
If you want me to explain the photos more then you'll have to e-mail me.
Weather: Even though it seems that Guelph was having a heat wave in the middle of March Morocco was still hotter. Usually about 30ish degrees in the day but almost nothing in the way of humidity. Though it wasn't quite that warm in the mountains. Sunny most days and rain on only the last day.
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