Hello! Maroc

Hello! My first blog post. Hopefully with this humble attempt at writing a blog entry I will be able to offer a 4th perspective on our travels.

Here are some highlights from our 5 days 4 nights spent in Maroc:

After arriving in Casablanca (where the film Casablanca was not filmed) at around 1am, we subsequently peaced out of that semi to very medicore city taking the 4:50am train to Marakesh. After dodging the degenerates and crazies at the train station we managed to grab seats on the train, only to take notice that train cars in Morocco double as meat freezers. Shivering ourselves to sleep is the only way to do it.

Marakesh is what you would expect from a tourist-favorite Moroccan destination. Exotic, congested and an incredibly lively atmosphere. Basically the opposite of 1st world European life (which is probably why so many Europeans make the RV trip over to Morocco to escape the banality and comforts of civilized society) Marakesh certainly has its charm, and the people are generally endearing. Phil and I managed to try the pride of Moroccan cuisine: snail soup and sheep's head. Both, quite bland and the sheep's head def initely gave off a strange aroma. Another food staple that is practically ubiquitous (not in a good way) throughout the country are tagines. Vegetable tagines, beef tagines, poulet tagines, big tagines, small tagines, tagines for two people. I think you catch my drift. Basically, tagine is a fancy word for stew that is cooked using quite the unique cone-shaped cover with a hole on the top acting as sort of a chimney. Anyways, tagine is grea t maybe the first few times but after 8-10 tagines, I can confidently say I'm quite over them.

Moroccan nights were also culturally different and we were quickly forced to grow accustomed to them. Beer and alcohol are only served at restaurants and bars and are relatively expensive. After some investigating we found out you can certainly buy alcohol at stores but they close at 8 and by stores they mean one store in the new French development, a cab ride away. Being the alcoholics that we are we made the trip not just once but twice, two separate nights (so that's ok).

Marakesh during the day, we made use of our time getting lost in the many souks, taking in the activity at the famed Jamaal El Efna square right next to our hotel. The square is the heart of Marakesh were orange juice peddlers, street food stalls, witch doctors, teeth sellers and snake charmers all congregate to push their respective goods and services.

After the second night in Marakesh we decided to escape the intensity and congestion and take a day trek to Setti Fatma, the High Atlas Mountains and waterfalls near the Ourika Valley. We purchased a formal tour from a dubious tour operator in Marakesh for 200 derhams each (under 25 usd). They claimed we would leave Marakesh at 9 and hike and see the waterfalls for 5 hrs from 10-3. Obviously we were somewhat skeptical when everytime we asked what we were doing the answer was always yes (regardless of whether or not the question was a yes or no question), but no way did we imagine we would be going to each of their relatives' shops for the first three hours of the trip before even reaching our point of interest. Given we were quite upset, once we did reach the mountains and undertook the picturesque hike, it definitely ameliorated our anger towards Morocco. Met two new friends on our tour who we chilled with later that night. Unimpressive, not worth indulging about in the blog.

Our last full day in Maroc was spent at the great little beach town of Essouria. We were spoiled by the Suprabus that took us there under 3 hrs (without picking up hitchikers or the driver stopping to buy meat: something we found out was the norm on our bus trip back to Casablanca) Essouria was great, very relaxed. The seafood wasn't terrific, but we did meet some down to earth Americans who were studying in the capital of Rabat on an SIT study abroad program and were in Essouria for the weekend. Had some nice tea and abinsthe concoctions, recommended by our new buddies and lucked out with her hostel staying at a rooftop apartment fully equipped with a terrace for 100 derhams each (approx 12 usd). Essouria is pretty cool, a place I wouldn't mind visiting again.. seems like a lot of foreigners set up shop here, it also exudes somewhat of a surfer beach bum atmosphere. Overall Morocco was pretty great.

Oh yea. we missed our flight to Lisbon.

Auggie