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Published: October 20th 2010
Morocco had been one of the trips that I was most looking forward to. Not only was it going to be my first time to Africa, but I had heard so many great things about the country that I was excited to see what made everyone speak so positively of it.
I went with an organization that our school works with called Morocco Exchange (http://moroccoexchange.org/) whose program is run very similarly to the multiple immersion trips that I have done while at Santa Clara with a focus on educating through solidarity and dialogue and with lots of reflection times. There was about 40 people altogether from my program that went but we were divided into groups of about 15 or so once we got there and each group had their entirely own agenda and schedule which made the experience more intimate and personal.
Morocco is a Arab nation with about 99% of the population being Muslim. Yet, they speak a special dialect of Arabic that most other Arab speakers do not understand and they are the Muslim country farthest away from Mecca to the west. This makes it a very interesting country that is rather progressive in its Muslim
practices and is heavily influenced by Europe and the West and also has a very good relationship with the Western nations. Because of this, you will find a huge spectrum of dress and people in Morocco, especially in the more modern cities (especially with women). Everything from the full traditional dress and head scarf to women wearing latest Europe fashions. It is a fascinating mix of culture that exists without contention and with general acceptance of whatever one chooses to wear or how they choose to practice their faith. Morocco is classified as a developing nation but has recently experienced a huge amount of foreign investment, especially from Europe. Therefore, in the big cities, there are large amounts of construction going on and lots of time share projects going on outside the cities along the beaches.
We started our four day adventure in Tangier where we meet our program leaders and split into groups. My program leader happened to be from just outside of Great Falls, Montana and she had come to work in Morocco with the Peace Corps after college and ended up marrying a Morocco man and they live now down in the way south of Morocco
in a small village. Needless to say, she was pretty cool and was fascinating to talk to as she was so immersed in the culture and I got to spend lots of time talking with her because I had to share the front seat of our van with her (this is what happens when you are the last person on the van because you decided to do a quick restroom run...).
We did not get to spend a but a few hours in Tangier where we meet with some students and professors from a local school and had a fantastic lunch with them, before we were off driving down the coast to Rabat, the capital of the country. Along the way, they broke up the 3 hour drive with a stop in the tourist beach town of Asilah where we roamed the narrow little streets and got to ride Camels on the beach (it really was only a 5 minute jaunt up and down the beach - but I can say I have rode a Camel!) Once we got to Rabat, we immediately met with our host families that we would stay with for two days and nights. I
Ride along the beach
Camels have to be the most uncomfortable animal to ride ever!stayed with a incredibly nice family consisting of four grown children and their mother as well as the other three foreign exchange students that were staying with them for the semester. Thankfully, the kids spoke really good English and we were able to talk a lot with them about their life and Morocco in general. The hospitality and generosity they had towards us (all the Moroccans we met for that matter) was overwhelming and was something I wasn't quite ready for. The Moroccan family usually live all together and often when a son gets married, the wife will come to move in with his family. Meals are really important to the families and most all meals are eaten together. Additionally, they don't really have the idea of having your own room. Everybody sleeps on what we would call couches in different dens that extend off the main living area and personal space and privacy isn't really worried about.
With that as well, most meals are all eaten with your hands (only your right hand that is and the left is supposed to be used to hygiene purposes). I had some delicious food while there. Couscous with lots of vegetables
and meat, Harira (a lentil like soup with lots of 'stuff' in it, Pastilla (like a meat pie), and LOTS of mint tea. The mint tea was really good usually packed with mint leaves and loaded with a pound of sugar and was served with every meal and in between meals. Additionally, every meal had lots of bread (though their bread was a little different... I would describe it like the circular looking bread a priest cuts at the alter during the Eucharist except really thick) and it was usually used to pinch the food in between with your fingers.
Two of my favorite experiences in Rabat were the following: First was the chance we had to meet with Moroccan's more or less our age to talk about the often taboo subject of stereotypes that the west has of the Muslim world and that the Muslim world has of the west. It was a great conversation and really revealed some new truths as well as commonalities that I think we often forget all people share. Later in the afternoon, we got to hang out with these guys again (both named Mohamed) as well as their friends as they took
The Streets of Asilah
This is a peaceful beach / tourist town we stopped at on our way down to Rabat us around to explore the city and talk some more about life in Morocco. They were really cool guys and lots of fun to be around. I think the Moroccan's have one of the best senses of humor I have ever encountered as everyone we met would also be cracking jokes even through translators. These guys were no exception and they especially like joking with the more gullible ones in the group. An interesting thing you notice while here, is that guys and girls don't usually intermix a lot (men are only with men, women only with women) though this is changing. But, as a result of that, men and women develop very close and intense relationships with group of friends. It was somewhat common for example to see women walking down the street holding hands and men usually greet each other with kisses on the cheek. This is completely normal for them, though slightly weird for us Americans to observe while at the same time really cool to see such close bonds between one another.
My other favorite experience was going to the hammam (Turkish Baths) for the ultimate clean! The hammam's are basically like saunas and are
The Art of Asilah
The town is known for it's art displays painted on the walls. They change multiple times a year during big festivals during which they bring in some of the biggest painters in the world. where Moroccans go once or twice a week to bath and clean themselves. Often they will go for upwards of two hours. I am not going to take the time to explain the whole process, but there are lots of steps and etiquette that must be followed (we had someone go with us to make sure we didn't do something offensively wrong). The main thing is the ruff scrubber that is used to clean yourself with. For 3 euros, we all hired a someone to scrub us down with this 'thing' (guys and girls go to separate placed by the way) and they literally rub layers upon layers of dead skin off. It was slightly awkward for me as this sumo-sized guy came to scrub me down as I lay down on the hard tile floor, but we all couldn't believe how clean and refreshed we felt afterward. It was a really new experience for me, but one I quite enjoyed.
After Rabat, we visited a small mountain village where we stopped and had lunch to talk with a rural family on our way to Chefchaouen. Chefchauen is a beautiful town in the mountains that has boomed with tourism
Tangier - looking over the old town
If you look in the distance, over the water, you can see Spain (it is kind of in the haze) in the past 10 years mostly due to its famous blue walls and doors. The city is actually quite old, but was all but forgotten for many centuries before being founded again in the early 1900's. This region had been conquered by Spain and thus, many of the people knew a decent amount of Spanish which made bargaining for the many gifts and souvenirs much easier. We stayed here the last night before heading back to Tangier to fly back to Madrid. One funny little hostel story (I feel like every hostel I stay in ends with some story): when we got up in the morning to leave to go on a short hike, we found ourselves stuck in our room. The key that locks from the inside was jammed and would not turn. When we asked for someone next door to get the front desk, they came up and told us to "be quiet" (because it was still rather early) and then let us know that he didn't have an extra key. So, using my house key from Madrid, we had to unscrew the lock, and then tear it out of the wall to get free (thank goodness there
wasn't a fire!).
There is so much more I would love to share, but this is already a very long post, so I will just have to share another time. This short four day trip, however, showed me a glimpse of a country I knew nothing about, and came away with a much greater understanding of the Muslim world, a incredible wealth of hospitality and generosity, and a longing to go back. Of course... that is always what I say: "I need to go back one day..."
INTERESTING FACT: While the food there was amazing, little did we all know the nasty side affects it would bestow on us. Most everyone since we have come back, has been sicker than dogs. I have had some pretty bad travel bugs / food sicknesses before (I vividly remember a terrible two days in Australia) but I never have experienced something this bad for so long. I have been on a all liquid diet for the last or so and am really hoping things clear up for me before I leave for Rome tomorrow.
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