Marrakech, Morocco, Africa

I spent last weekend in Morocco with Katie. It is so close to Spain that I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to go, and I am glad I didn't! We had an amazing time, and it is definitely the most unique trip I have taken this semester. We arrived on Thursday night, and after finding our hotel which was located right off of the main square, Djemaa el Fna, we went back out in to the square for dinner. Fortunately I had read up on Marrakech before we left and knew to expect some aggressive tactics to try to get us to sit down at their food stalls. They would jump in front of you and try to figure out what language you speak, French or English or Spanish, then say things like "Oh but you are so skinny, you need to eat here." But it was all worth it since the food was excellent. The tagines, which are meat and vegetables stewed in a conical pan also called a tagine, were great. And they had kebabs and couscous and lots of other stuff that I don't know the names of, but that tasted great anyway. After dinner we listened to some of the musicians who set up in the square every night. They were very friendly and always put out stools and offered us seats in the front. It was funny though because after playing a couple songs they would stop and start asking for money from the crowd. In the US if this happened everyone would just walk away, but everyone stayed and paid up, and when they thought they had enough money they started playing again.

The next day we spent shopping in the souks. They had so many things for sale, it was amazing! Lots of jewelry, handmade wood items, babouches (the traditional leather slippers,) carpets, spices, scarves, and so much more. Everything was cheap too. Well not at first. At first they tell you some outrageous price since you are a tourist, but you can haggle them down, or just go to one of the other hundreds of shops. I bought a lot of great souvenirs. It's a good thing that we didn't go to the souks for the next two days or I would have bought even more stuff.

Instead we went on an excursion into the Sahara Desert. We drove for a whole day from Marrakech down to Zagora (if you want to GoogleEarth it or anything.) We stopped along the way to take some pictures and have lunch, but mostly the day was just spent looking out the car window. That was fine though, since the scenery was so beautiful, it went from the Atlas Mountains to the Sahara Desert. And there were lots of little Berber towns along the way. I was feeling kind of nauseated though, from the winding roads and the edges of the mountains. When we arrived in Zagora we got on camels and rode for two hours out in to the desert. It was incredibly uncomfortable. Basically a camel is the opposite of something you would want to ride, b/c instead of a nice saddle to sit on like a horse, you have to sit on it's hump. But we got out to the Berber camp after what seemed like an eternity and had dinner in the main tent. Then our guides played music for us, then it was time to go to bed in our tents. The next morning were up at 7am for breakfast, then back on the camels to head back. I was amazed at how hot it was already. Since the sun was actually out this time I could see all of the surroundings. Lots of little kids from the villages came out to say "bonjour" and try to sell us little things they had made while we were riding by on our camels. Back in Zagora we had some mint tea (a Moroccan specialty) and had Berber carpets explained to us. I looked around in the shop a little bit and one of the guys who had taught me how to tie my scarf the night before offered for me to stay with him in the desert for a bit, and when I was ready to go home he would send me back on a magic carpet. We spent that day driving back to Marrakech, stopping for lunch in Ourzazate where we checked out the kasbah.

I was amazed by how cheap everything was. 10 Dirhams are equal to 1 euro, and you could get and ice cream cone for 2 Dh, a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice for 3 Dh, and a piece of the circular bread that they eat at every meal for 1 Dh! Dinner at the stands in the square were about 25 DH. I was also surprised at how friendly the people were. We met so many people either in the souks or the square and they were all very nice. And they spoke so many languages. Everyone spoke at least Arabic and French, and most spoke English and/or Spanish as well.

We only ran in to a few problems as two girls traveling alone. On the last night the square was packed and there were no local women out. We felt really uncomfortable and were being followed around by a group of guys so we just left and went back to our hotel for the night. It was strange that that night was so different from the others. But overall it was an amazing trip! Make sure to check out my pictures.