Fez, last day in Morocco

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This is our last day in morocco....

We wake up and meet up with our tour guide Momo who plans to take us around Fes. First he takes us to the royal palace and around there. It was a totally different scene than what we had experienced before this. It was a big city. He took us up to a mountain to get an aerial view of the city and that was cool to look at, because it seemed much more condensed than say looking at NY and it's big streets. This was a city that he also called a labyrinth. It was composed of small alleyways which twisted and turned and contorted into all different directions. It was a sight.

He then took us around to see different ways of life here. But it seemed more like a scam almost, of him bringing us to his friends' workshops so that they can sell us things. Tourism is definitely a huge if not the biggest economic factor here.

First we went to a ceramics factory. He took us to all the different stations where people were working within it and saw things created step by step. It was really interesting to see the mosaics being made and just how much work is put into them. I loved them.

Momo was Miguel’s friend, therefore I didn’t want to think of it as a scam, but just couldn’t help it. After we saw all different steps to making these beautiful ceramics, we were brought into a huge showroom. If it was a scam, I’m a sucker. I bought a gift for my senora, and some people back home. (Not mentioning names 😉 )

After that he took us to a restaurant which was someone’s house, turned into a restaurant. He said it was a few women who wanted people to experience real home Moroccan cooking. This was my absolute favorite meal. It was delicious. We had appetizers of seasoned olives, flat bread, seasoned peppers, eggplant, potatoes, and beans. It was insanely tasteful. We savored every bite. Then we had our entrée of Cous-Cous, as usual, and that was also good. Not as good as the appetizers though.

After our meal we went to a tapestry, scarf, and rug making factory. When I say factory I don’t actually mean a factory. It was more like a gathering of people working together to make beautiful things by hand. This specific “factory”, had looms which they worked by hand. It was a sight to see about 6 of these looms each with a worker stationed at it, in such a concentration to make these gorgeous threaded arts. Of course there were a few workers who were obnoxiously hitting on the girls, but, we were still in Morocco…

After that, and a few more dirhams spent, we headed to a tannery. This was by far the most impressive factory we saw in Fes. It was a few floors high, and smelled like absolute shit. More like rotting and old animal skins to be exact. GROSS. They actually gave everyone some mint leaves to smell while inside, because the smell is so horrid. He gave me an entire bouquet of leaves. I wasn’t sure if he was more hitting on me or just saw my face when I smelled the shop and took it upon himself to be my savior. Anyways, while inside there were rooms upon rooms. One room was for leather purses, another for shoes, and etc… The outside, there were these huge barrels of dye. At least a hundred of them. It was to dye the leather. There were people inside the barrels as well, the same color as that specific dye. Talk about another day in the office.

It was impossible to just browse because there is constantly a man in your face saying “You like? I give you good price. How much can you pay?” Meanwhile they didn’t seem to understand, I’m not interested, I’m only looking. It was practically impossible to not buy something. Just to get them off your back you’ll buy something. Even after that, it can be difficult. I remember one of my friends claimed that she didn’t have enough money so the seller literally looked in her wallet to see if she was telling the truth. She had the money. That was a confrontation that was quite livid. She used me as an excuse saying she was holding my money for dinner later. He gave her a dirty look and moved on to trying to get me to buy something. Thanks Nadine.

I got manipulated. I put myself to shame after the Marrakech market; I thought I was more on top of my game. But apparently not. I was looking at these little leather poofs that you can fill up with anything to have as a seat. I was looking for the smallest one, but Momo came over to me and say, don’t go above 300. So I responded with “300?”, only to clarify that I heard him correctly. And the man trying to sell it to me said yes we can do that. And took the poof that he was holding and brought it to the cashier and said, “300 she agreed to.” Meanwhile it took me about a second to realize what was going on. When I tried to explain myself they didn’t understand and just said “You agreed. 300.” Luckily I liked what I was buying, but felt completely overwhelmed and intimidated. Oh well, next time I’ll know better.

Then we went to a “pharmacy.” Here they were a little less friendly, but had the natural cure for anything that may be bothering you. For instance, he had oils and perfumes up the wall. They were covered in mysterious jars. I felt like I was in a witch doctor’s house. He had the cure for snoring and sinus problems. (I bought some for you Mom.) It’s this herb that you rub to heat it up and sniff through a cloth. You’re not literally sniffing it up though. You can reuse it and reuse it. This also happened to be the astounding cure for a hangover as well. He let us all try it and it opens up all passageways. Similar to Vick’s maybe? They also had makeup for all the girls, which was coal and you grind it up and use it on your eyes for color. Bought that too. It was relatively cheap, and supposedly the best kind of makeup you can ever possibly get in the entire world, hands down. It was an interesting experience nonetheless.

After that, we went to a clothes store that sold fashions worn by all the people of Morocco. They let us all try on different outfits and model for pictures. Of course they wanted us to buy them after we tried them on, but they we really expensive. It was fun though.

After that shop we stopped in a few more little places, a bakery, a jewelry store, and some others. They were the same deal. Lecturing on how much effort goes into one piece of work and etc… Then what would you like to buy from me? I appreciated their hard work and their work very much, but was just exhausted from the entire day consisting only of that. The streets and lunch were intriguing, and so was learning about jobs in Fes, but I was just tired.

After everything we were waiting for our vans to come get us. It was a parking lot with a bunch of shady people. There were these boys there also acting reallllly inappropriate to all the girls. It was kind of sad to see that. That’s how men just must be raised, with little respect for females.

There was also a guy with a pet monkey on a chain, and we were all playing with it. That was fun, and not something you’d see in America or Europe on a regular basis by any means.

We went back to our hotel, slept, and left early for Casablanca in the morning to catch our flight back to Barcelona, then our bus back to Valencia.

Morocco was an incredible experience. I wouldn’t have changed anything about this trip. It opened up my world even more than it has been already. It motivated me to see more and more and more. I just don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied with what I have seen. I’ll always want to experience something else and see something new. It’s so invigorating. Even just the travel part is fun for me. Unlike most other people, I enjoy being en route like on the bus or on the plane. It means you’re going somewhere, no matter where it’s to. I love it. This was an incredible culture with great spices, tea, bread, music, people, art, and scarves too. I will never forget this trip. I would like to go back to Morocco again someday.

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