Maroc

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Port 2: Maroc

Wow this is a totally different world, more like continent. It’s weird to think yesterday, not even 12 hours ago we were in Spain (Europe) and today we are in Morocco (Africa). It was nothing like I expected. When we first arrived we saw a bunch of hotels and high sky rises. It was unbelievably dusty. The air didn’t look to clean and it smelt a little. We had the ambassadors get on the ship and they talked to us about an hour and gave us tips of advice. By 2 o’clock we were able to get off the boat. We were super excited. First thing we did was walk to an ATM, there were so many semester at sea people there so we just moved on. We got the mosque and it was amazing. It was the second biggest one in the world. The biggest is in Mecca. It was breath taking. But the culture was way different. A few of us semester at sea girls didn’t have shawls to wrap around our head, and a prayer was going on so we couldn’t go in. It is very different seeing all the ladies covered up in such hot weather. I walked around in jeans and a t-shirt. I plan on buying poufy Aladdin linen pants! Make things much cooler. Our way to the mosque we saw ricks café, from the movie Casablanca. I learned they actually built that after the movie. At the mosque there was a place you could jump out into the ocean. A few of my friends jumped off and Tristan did a back flip. However he over rotated did a 1 ½ and landed on his back. Causing it to be so red and break a few blood vessels. I said I would have joined him jumping off, but no girls were doing it and I didn’t think it was allowed in the culture. After that we split our group up because walking around with 17 people made us just stand out. So instead about 7 of us went out on our own. Colin, Brad, Tristan, Newman, Brian, Rachael and I went into this little area with shops. Being a girl I wanted to do a little shopping, I told the guys let’s just meet up at this place at this time. But Tristan and Brad were like no way we are letting you two girls walk off alone that is very unsafe. So we decided that it was smarter to stay. While walking around I found an ice-cream place, so I got my ice-cream from our third port. Pistachio flavored! After the ice-cream we walked to another street with more vendors. They spent lots of time trying to bargain but none of us bought anything because we are waiting for Marrakesh tomorrow. By the time we got back to the boat we had dinner and were very tired. Some people went out to smoke hookah, but since I had to be up at seven in the morning I knew I should stay in. Instead Emi and I just talked wrote on our blogs and did a lot of emailing. It was a great first day in morocco and I can’t wait for my 4 day trip to start. The itinerary goes as followed.

Day 1: Transfer to the Casablanca train station for your journey (approximately 3 hours) to Marrakech. Discover the city during free time in the late afternoon. In the evening, enjoy a Moroccan dinner in the medina with an Arabo-andalucian orchestra and a belly dancer show. (Box L, D; hotel in Marrakech)
Day 2: After breakfast, travel from Marrakech (about 1½ hours) to Tachbibt where you begin a moderate three-hour trek through the dry but cultivated landscape to the village of Aït Zitoun.
Day 3: A full day's trek to Ait Hamed (4-5 hours) takes you down valleys and up mountains, offering fabulous views of the magnificent Haouz plain and Lake Lalla Tazerkount. The day is spent walking through pine forests and following rivers that are bordered by oleander bushes. End today's walk at Ait Hamed. Enjoy dinner and overnight in a gîte.
Day 4: Enjoy a morning walk through the traditional villages in the valley of Amizmiz with their well-tended, precariously labored garden patches, luxuriously verdant wherever water is available, arid where not. View mountainsides in ever changing colors due to the rich and varied mineral contents. Travel to Marrakech for a sandwich lunch and the return journey to Casablanca.



Friday
After a great night sleep and a wonderful breakfast of pancakes and sausage a group of about sixty semester at sea kids set way to Marrakech then to the Berber Villages. This was a big day for all the Muslims that live Morocco because Ramadan is now over, so a huge feast will go on tonight. On the way to the train station we passed about 500 people just praying in the road. They all got out of their cars and just sat there. It was very interesting to watch. We then took the three hour train from Casablanca to Marrakech. We checked into a hotel that SAS (Semester at Sea) put us up in and went to the medina (street vendors). We took a taxi there. The taxi issue here is funny because you negotiate a price instead of having a rate. Brad, Kristin and I went about 7 miles for 10 Durham, while most groups paid 30. The first thing we see at the medina is a snake charmer. We went up to them to watch; they grabbed Brad and put a snake around his neck. They placed him around four bigger cobras and pythons. Before I had time to take a picture a snake was draped around my neck too! I didn’t freak out at the tiny snake, but once they started dragging me to the bigger it was not ok and I told them to stop. After that we went and had the orange juice because everyone told us it was going to be amazing. It was actually pretty good, a little too pulpy for me though. At the medina I bought a pair of Aladdin pants and a bracelet. After the medina we went back to the hotel. We had to be back by 7 anyways because of dinner. We went to the coolest place ever! It was reserved all for us. They had a guy playing Moroccan music and it was dark with only candles and red lights. Then incents burned everywhere. For appetizers they brought out bread and some thinly sliced vegetables, we had to guess what they were. It was fun because the flavoring caused some to be spice and some not to be. We came to the conclusion there were beets, carrots, squash, cucumber, celery, and 2 others. We talked some more then dinner came out. It was lemon chicken. It had lemon peels and olives all mixed in. (Yes dad, I tried the olives…GROSS, but I am experimenting with new foods!) After we ate that belly dancers came! They pulled my friend Brad up first to dance then they pulled a few other guys. After that it was dessert time. I was really hoping for chocolate cake, but they brought out this flakey layer dish with yogurt in-between the layers. It tasted like frosted flakes… NOT A DESSERT! I was a little sad. After dinner we got back to the hotel. Kristin, Colin and I walked to the gas station to get water for our next few days and I noticed a chocolate magnum ice-cream. So I got that to settle over my chocolate fix. After that we went back to the hotel to pass out. We had to be up at 7:15 the next morning.

Saturday
I woke up and showered right before breakfast in the hotel. I had to be careful not to get the water in my mouth because it tends to make people sick. So after showering I went to breakfast. They had these flat bread almost crepe like breads. I got that and put jelly, honey and butter on it. I also had an egg. After breakfast we were ready to go. We got on the bus and drove for two hours. It was a very windy road. I almost got car sick, but thankfully I fell asleep. After I woke up we had a 10 minute drive and were at our destination. We saw about 10 donkeys and found out they got to carry our bags. We were so happy we didn’t have to hike with them. So after they were loaded up the first part of our hike started. Unlike the itinerary, we only had to hike 3 hours the first day. We hiked about an hour and half, and then stopped for lunch under a bunch of olive trees. They set out tuna, bread, a bunch of vegetables, rice and what the Berbers call whiskey. It’s actually mint tea. We then finished the last hour and a half. By the time we arrived at the village we were really tired. But Brad, Kristin and I went exploring. We found the place where they kept all the animals. We saw cows, chickens, roosters and sheep. We were having the time of our life. We came to the main area of the village and some of the locals were drumming and dancing. We got to dance with them and attempt to learn their songs they sang. It was very hard. After dancing a lot of people tried the hummom. It’s basically a sauna. I used the showers instead; I figured use the hummom in the other village we were going to stay at the next day. After the shower snack was ready. We had fried donuts and crackers with mint tea. It was very good. It was very hard to have the weather be about 100 degrees and drinking warm tea. After that a few of us got together and played phase 10. Reminded me a lot of Bucks Lake and camping when I was younger. By the time dinner rolled around we had more veggies, pork, and bread. To drink was more mint tea, go figure. After dinner they had more tea. I was over it and ready for bed. So me and Kristin went to lay down. We waited for brad so we could all star gaze. We were super tired but couldn’t go to bed because none of us got pillows. We were sad but at least we had blankets. Last thing I said before I went to bed was I hope the roosters wake us up in the morning.

Sunday
YAY! We woke up to roosters and donkeys! Also to the sunrise, I was so happy. It was around 6 o’clock because our plan was to be out and start hiking by 7:30. So we got up and ate breakfast. Bread with cheese or butter and mint tea or hot chocolate yummy. We hiked for about four and half hours but taking little breaks in between. One break we got to eat nuts, dates and figs. Then we continued on. We were in group 2 and got there 15 minutes after group 1. However group 3 didn’t arrive for around hour, so I took a nap while I waited. Once they got there we had veggies, pasta with sautéed onions and more tuna. To drink it was more mint tea. By this point I was so mint tea-ed out. All I drank was my water for my hike. After that we had an hour before we continued with the last part of the hike for the day. So brad set up slack lining. Slack-lining is like tightrope walking between two points. It was a lot of fun, our tour guides even tried to do it. They were really funny; two of the three were named Muhammad. Before we knew it, it was time to go. We only had an hour or so left we tried to hurry. I was right behind Muhammad and they were singing their Berber songs. We eventually got to the village. I was ready for the hummom but decided to wait till before dinner. So we had snack again, fried donuts and more cookies with tea. A few of us walked around and passed out candy to the little village kids. They were so thankful for just receiving once piece. It was really cool to make a little kid so happy. After going through that bag of candy we played more phase 10. I got to phase 4 before I called quits to go get washed off and ready for dinner. The hummom was really weird. I didn’t like it at all. You had to dump water on yourself, and exfoliate with a rock. By the time I was dressed and out dinner was ready. I wasn’t super hungry at this time. I almost felt sick to my stomach, so I didn’t eat much. But dinner was lemon chicken, squash, potatoes, cooked carrots, and more tea. After dinner more tea was being served. We then played mafia and cards. By the end of the night I was tired and ready for bed. My friend had an app on his iphone and we looked at the constellations and all the stars. It was hard to try and find them. We then thought about how we are soon crossing the southern hemisphere and we will be seeing a whole new sky!
Monday
Once again, on Monday we woke up to donkeys and roosters. It was so cool! We hiked for another two hours and saw our busses to take us home. Before we got on the busses Muhammad let us ride the donkeys! I attempted to ride side saddle like everyone we saw, but my balance was way off so I just straddled the donkey instead. After we took the buses we got back to Marrakech. We had an hour till our train came so we played more cards and wandered around. I bought some blueberry gelato. It reminded me of a smurf. After the 3 hour train ride and a short 20 minute nap a bunch of us were ready to go out in Casablanca again. We went to a hookah bar and my friends smoked hookah, I drank more mint tea! Some boys then grabbed dinner pitas. They were good. After that I called my parents and talked to them for the first time in a long time. I miss them and especially at this point in time when my mom’s got her hip surgery and her birthday. She will pull through and do great though. By the time we got back to the boat we watched shooter and then fell asleep.

Tuesday
Our last day in Morocco and all I want to do is be back in the mountains. That was the best thing I have ever done. It was amazing. I could do it every day and love it, minus the bathroom situations. But a few of my friends and I got up got breakfast and went out. I was super excited because it was French toast and sausage! My favorite on the ship, typically its only one of the other. After breakfast we went out to the medina again to bargain. I hate bargaining because I don’t know if I get ripped off or what, so I try not to buy too many things. After that we came back to the ship. We didn’t have to be back till 6 because we were leaving by 8. We got back at 12 and planned to go out again, but we ate lunch and all took a nap. At that point there was no need to go out. It didn’t seem worth it just to use internet to check face book.



All in all Morocco was awesome. It was a very different culture and area that I expected. Trash was all over the place, it smelt bad and people were very rude. They would say things to girls and try to buy them; they would get in fights with each other. But I had a great time in the villages where everyone was so nice. It was definitely a way better trip than Spain for me.

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Comments

[Jan]

Moroc Trip
Hhhmmm....sounds like you are experiencing so much. I bet it is hard to take it all in. Will I even know you when you arrive in San Diego at port? Again, it is great to read about your trips and thoughts about the places and people you are visiting. Take care of yourself sweet p! We think about you and keep you in our prayers each night. Stay safe and smart. oxxo

[Lindsay Bender]

Sounds Amazing
Hey Ash! Sounds like you are having a great time!!! I totally forgot all about Phase 10, that is so funny!! Love ya:)