Friday, February 6, 2009

Morroco was.... Authentic!

Morocco!!

First off, the weather in Gibraltar was so intense that we had to dock in the harbor overnight to ensure we got the fuel on the ship. This took much longer than expected and it took away a day we had in Morocco. My trip was booked independently through a kid (who went through a Travel agency called “Authentic Morocco”) named Ryan. Ryan has organized several trips for various countries and I checked out the place and it seemed pretty legit as well as an itinerary very similar to what Semester at Sea was doing only like $200 less. When we found out that we were losing a day we flipped out and Ryan called the Company from the ship. They handled it well and we had our own driver so we were basically free to choose how we wanted to re-arrange our trip. We thought we were pretty lucky compared to the SAS people who’s entire trip was cancelled.

We get to the port after an INTENSE night were the ship had to turn off the stabilizers to make a sharp enough turn in VERY rough waters to make it into the harbor alright (I was in the dining hall and plates flew off the counters and crashed and people where falling out of chairs…the skyline would disappear on both the top and bottom of the large windows, which from the 5th deck perspective was a measure of how much the ship was rolling). The next morning a group of 23 gathered together and made the mile trek out of the mostly industrial and quite battered looking dock to find our bus driver, Yunnis. Yunnis turned out to be very cool but we had enough people that we had to split up into a small bus and the Toyota 4x4 Yunnis drove. The bus driver looked like a small squat man made out of leather and drove like a bat out of hell.

The drive to Marrakech from Casablanca took us about 2 hours on the way down and I was very surprised at how green everything was. With the storms and overcast sky we had it looked like we were driving through Scotland. It was absolutely incredible. You could see for miles and everywhere the landscape was dotted with Shepards, their flocks and little villages. There didn’t seem to be anything very modern until you pulled into Marrakech. The main street we drove down was pretty and had a lot of cafĂ©’s and restaurants but the further we went though, the meaner the streets looked and the more haggard the people were. We eventually pulled over in a not-so-nice looking turn about and Yunnis asks us for lunch or the hotel first. We decided to drop our stuff off and then we could walk around easier. Here is where the “Authentic”in Authentic Morocco comes in. Our hotel (“one of the only ones in the old Media”-which is old Marrakech “with hot water!”–and it wasn’t hot at all) was worse than most of the hostels we wouldn’t even go into in Spain. The entire place had “sketchy”written all over it. Some people turned down their sheets to find they had pubic hairs and stains in their sheets (many of us didn’t have top sheets) and a select lucky few had bathrooms in their rooms. The rest of us had to make do with the Public wash rooms on each floor. There was one stall with an actual toilet, but no toilet paper, and two squatting holes. There was one sink for all three stalls and no soap. Most of the rooms with bathrooms also came with a rancid odor emitting from the shower drains. Take your pick I guess, public pee-hole or smelly drains.  

We were taken to a plush open-air lunch place to have a 150 Durham (the currency exchange while there was 8.77DH per 1 USD) lunch of traditional Salad, couscous, chicken, veggies, lentils and beans. The dessert was one of my favorite parts because it was just peeled, sliced oranges  with lines of alternating cinnamon and sugar over the top. The oranges in Morocco were absolutely superb and tasted like heaven. There were stands in the square by our hotel which made fresh squeezed OJ and it was the best I’ve ever had. Water, beer, wine and cokes were between 20-50 DH extra at the lunch. We knew we would have to pay for our meals but they took us to very specific places and we had no choice but to pay, which was annoying since we already had paid a good amount for our trip. They also required tips EVERYWHERE you go. We got had by this place. They made bank off of us.

A zippy tour guide of Medina named Muhammad met us after lunch and took us through sketchy back allies to a Saudi Royal Tomb, a crumbling palace (where many scenes of Gladiator and other famous movies were filmed) and a fixed price market with rooms upon rooms of stuff on thousands of shelves. This place is a gigantic tourist trap. We also went to a sort of apothecary where we learned about traditional Moroccan spices, rubs, teas and herbal remedies. They slathered us with samples and had us sniff “black seeds”which give off a very pungent odor that clears the head/chest/anything in between. He left us in the Souks market where our group of 17 girls and like 6 guys where the subject prey of all the shop keepers. Everywhere you went men would call out to you: “You have diamond eyes!”“Oh! American!”“Fish and Chips!”(this was a popular one and we still can’t figure out what they meant by it other than maybe they thought we were British) and all manner of derogatory terms for girls. We finally made our way back to our hotel, which we were trying to avoid like the plague around 10. I slept onto of my “comforter”in my clothes from the day before choosing it safe only to remove my shoes. The room was freezing and they had given us a top sheet and two very heavy blankets. I slept under those and still was freezing all night. Not many slept well and we had to be up and ready for Yunnis by 7:15. We grabbed a delicious breakfast from a woman making fresh naan (a flatbread) on the street corner with a honey liquid wrapped up. 5 DH for one of the most delicious things we’d had yet.

This day was prepared to make up for the indescribable sketchi-ness of the first day, however it didn’t start off well because it was raining and we were to ride camels. We were all so slap happy, tired and haggard already that when Yunnis and leather-man dropped us off for the Camels, the mangy, pathetic and dripping wet animals only made the experience that much more ridiculous. We laughed for most of the time and joked with the guys herding us around. Many of the camels were mad they had to be there and let’s just say their treatment wasn’t kind. One was pregnant and grumpy a many were very small and for our group of 23 they had brought 14 so we had to double up. We were lead around for 45 minutes through a small palm grove and my camel’s name was, I kid you not, Michael Jackson. We were soaked by the end and we didn’t have time to change before Yunnis whisked us away to our Atlas Mountain Authentic Berber Village. (There was no heat in either the bus or the car. The bus driver drove with the window down the entire time to try to de-fog the windows. It didn’t work. And we were all freezing.) We drove up into the mountains stopping at various elevations to take pictures, go to the bathroom and get snacks. We kept going up, and up, and eventually got into the snow, went further up and then over the top of the mts where the clouds stop. We drove, and when I say drove I mean we held on for our lives because the bus driver was taking turns with immediate drops and no railings and a pace which would not have been legal in the states, for another hour. We got to our destination after a 3 hour ride and it was breath taking. We didn’t interact with the people in the villages like the Semester at Sea groups got to do but we got to see the (supposedly) first castle of Africa and the place where the last Berber Prince resided. It was amazing and the sun was shining and the clouds were gone so we were finally drying off and warming up.

We then had a lunch made by a family in an offshoot of the palace of the same thing we had the day before; Chicken, salad, veggies and oranges for dessert. The place had a space heater and all took our turns in front of it. Another 3 hour car ride out of the mts, more incredibly views and more scary driving lead us back to Marrakech to be dropped off. We went back into the Bazaar (known as Souks) market which was literally down the ally from our hotel, to barter with the people, buy stamps, eat dinner and then go in search of a hookah bar. 5 girls and 1 guy left after getting back to the hotel to go back to the ship in Casablanca because they were so worn out and wouldn’t sleep in the hotel. The rest of us were mostly over it and had some good bonding experiences. (Some went clubbing and bar hopping in New Marrakech and a few of us stayed behind and hung out.) More frigid night temperatures and stiff joint upon waking the next morning too. Also, the only thing that made the call to prayer that woke you up at 4:45 and again around 5:30 from the mosque down the street bearable was the fresh Naan with honey and squeezed OJ in the morning.

Yunnis and leatherman drove us back to Casablanca because we were supposed to be visiting the King Hussein II mosque, one of the largest in the world and one of 2 open to non-muslims in Morocco. I say supposed because while we made it there and to the outside, we weren’t let in because it was past the VERY small window we had to visit. A girl named Sahar (pronounced like “Sahara”without the “a”) who is Muslim was the only one that got to go in and I’m glad she was able to. The guards told us to come back at 2 and so we got Yunnis to take us to a place for something to eat and then our plan was to go back to the Mosque around 2. We met up with the driver but Yunnis told us he wouldn’t take us back for 20 minutes because we only had him until 4. This was infuriating because earlier that morning it took us over 3 hours to get from Marrakech to Casablanca and before it had taken 2. We couldn’t figure out why they were driving so slow until we realized they were taking their sweet time so we couldn’t go into the mosque and they wouldn’t have to pay our entrance fees. We were livid. Eventually Ryan got Yunnis to take him, another boy and Sahar back to the mosque where they were refused entrance so Sahar ran around for 15 minutes inside and took pictures. The rest of us walked to the boat, got on early and got to wash our faces, feet and some took hot showers (even though we’re supposed to conserve water in port) and change our stinky clothes (which we all slept in again the previous night).

Despite the facts that the tour was a rip-off I met some incredible people and did have selectively good times. I don’t know if I was given the chance to return to Morocco again soon that I would take it but I think it probably deserves a second chance. Many of the people I talked to who did independent and SAS organized trips had amazing times and some had some questionable experiences too. I think it was a crap shoot. I think had our hotel been nicer, we would have had a much more enjoyable experience but the residing feeling of the entire tour was that we were getting as little quality as possible for how much we paid. Oh well, lesson learned right?

We now have about a week of school before we hit Namibia. We cross the equator and will be celebrating Neptune Day. I’ll keep you posted on what my plans are to do there and what all is happening on the ship. Sorry this post was so long! I’m impressed if you got all the way through it.

 

Love you ALL.

 

Em

2 comments:

  1. well..i have started my research for the countries and whether i would do SAS trips or independent and i was like oh Authentic Morocco okay..wrote it down in my SAS binder (yes I created a binder). and then i started reading more...and put ...maybe not. lol. and then wrote try the oranges...because I LOVE ORANGES. thanks emily...for writing i enjoying hearing and getting excited!!!

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  2. Oh my, what an adventure! Reading this reminded me so much of India... we got ripped off SO bad. And India can be Sketchville if you're not too careful. But it already sounds as if you're learning what I had to learn by India: it's not bad experiences-- just good stories! And as you'll find out soon (if not already), even the worst stories are fun to retell and live again.
    Oh I'm so jealous of you right now. =)
    Keep making some good stories!!
    <3 Katey Wade

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