The Final Chapter - Goats in the Trees and Casablanca

I know this post has been a long time coming.  I’ve been home for almost exactly a week and I’m just now writing the final blog post on Morocco.  Sorry about that.  It’s been something of a rough re-entry.  I’m still dealing with some of the effects of Mohammed’s revenge.  Nothing serious, but I’m still having trouble eating very much because my stomach still hurts and gets upset whenever I eat.  It’s getting better, tho, but between not feeling well and trying to work and get my whole wife-and-mom gig going again, this blogging thing kind of got derailed.  Have no fear.  I’m here to remedy the situation!

So we left off last time with me and Jill being sick in Marrakech.  We missed the full-day optional tour to Essaouira, a seaside village, including a stop to see how argan oil is made and to see one of the things I was really looking forward to seeing - goats in trees.  Yes, you read that right.  There are goats in them thar trees!  Evidently, seeing this was a trip highlight for many of the people in our tour group.  Unfortunately, Jill and I missed seeing it in person, but fortunately, I still got to see them courtesy of my mom and Frank, who I appointed as official blog photographers for the day.  Behold, goats in trees!

So cute, right?  Evidently, the little critters climb the argania trees to eat the fruit and the farmers not only let them do it, they encourage them to do it.  The farmers need the seeds inside the fruit so they can press them to make argan oil.  They do not need the fruit that encases the seeds.  This is where the goats come in.  They happily gobble down all the argania fruit they can find.   They can digest the fruit but not the seeds.  Let’s just say that what goes in and cannot be digested must come out.  The farmers gather up the output, recover the seeds and press them to produce the much-coveted argan oil.  So the next time you reach for that fabulous hair product that makes your hair so shiny and frizz-free or that lotion that makes you skin so soft, you’ll have the comfort of knowing exactly where your product came from.  You’re welcome.  

And here are some photos of Essaouira.  I don’t know much about it other than my mom and Frank didn’t care for it very much.  Others in our group loved it.  

And there you have it, Essaouira in six photos.  Thanks to mom and Frank for the photos!  I’ll take it from here.

The next day was our last day in Morocco and we traveled from Marrakech to Casablanca.  I was kind of excited to see Casablanca, but the reality was a huge letdown for me.  It is the largest city in Morocco at 6.8 million people and compared to the rest of Morocco, it is a very new city, most of it being built during the 1900s.  If you know me, you know that new and modern is not my bag at all.  It’s not that Casablanca wasn’t attractive with all its white buildings.  It just lacked the history, amazing architecture, romance and charm of most of the other places we had seen.  It also has the distinction of being the only place we visited in the entire country (and we covered a lot of ground) where we were warned heavily by Ibrahim to really be on guard against crime.  We were told to remove our earrings so that they wouldn’t be snatched out of our ears, to keep our phones out of our pockets and put away so they wouldn’t be grabbed out of our hands and to not go out walking at night, all things that we didn’t have to worry about anywhere else.  Yeah, I could have lived very happily without going to Casablanca, but it is where the airport’s at so it was inevitable that we would have to end up there.

See? Not horrible, just not interesting to me on any level.  It’s just another large city with very little to see except this...

Yes, there really is a Rick’s Cafe in Casablanca.  Looks nothing like the movie on the outside, but we have it on good authority that it looks very much like the movie on the inside.  Unfortunately, we never got to see the inside.  Logistical issues.

The only other attraction in Casablanca, and it is a big one, is the Hassan II mosque.  It is the third-largest mosque in the world and 60 percent of it is built over the ocean.  It is absolutely huge!  20,000 people can fit inside with an additional 80,000 people in the outside courtyard.  Ibrahim said that at Ramadan, 1.5 million people crowd into and around this mosque.  

And let me just say that the sky really was that blue.  I did nothing to the color of these photos.  It was intense! I couldn’t stop looking at it.  That was probably the best thing about Casablanca, that incredible blue sky.  

It was an incredible trip to Morocco.  We were so fortunate with our tour group.  It was made up of 38 people from America, Canada and Australia and we never had a bad moment with any of them.  Everyone was super nice and we all traveled well together.  And our tour guide, Ibrahim, was absolutely wonderful and took such good care of us, keeping us happy and entertained and seeing to our every need with a smile on his face and a happy, upbeat attitude. 

I truly loved Morocco.  It’s definitely in my top two trips ever, right up there with Vietnam.  I loved the friendly, warm people.  I loved the constant surprises.  I loved the history of the place and the culture.  I loved the feeling of calm and the lack of chaos.  It is a beautiful country full of beautiful people and beautiful experiences.  Just thinking about it tugs at my heartstrings and makes me wish I could return.  Maybe someday I will....

Marrakech and Mohammed’s Revenge

Asalaam aleikum from Marrakech!  Asalaam aleikum is the preferred way of saying hello in Morocco (pronounced ah-sah-laam ali-com) and means peace be unto you.  Nice, right?  It is how we are greeted every morning on the bus by our wonderful tour guide, Ibrahim. The response is wa aleikum asalaam (wah-ali-com ah-sah-laam), which means and unto you peace.  There.  Now you’ve had your Moroccan Arabic lesson for the day.  

So we arrived in Marrakech on Wednesday our time.  The one thing that has really struck us here in Morocco is the traffic and how calm it is.  We are used to cars and motorbikes and horses and cows and monkeys and dogs and everything else under the sun in the streets when we travel, and for motorbikes to be swarming in the streets and everyone going in five lanes at once and criss-crossing and darting in and out and driving down the wrong side of the road more than half the time.  Morocco has been a huge and pleasant surprise.  The traffic is orderly.  There are a few motorbikes but cars far outnumber them instead of the other way around. People mostly stay in their lanes, and while things can get a little gnarly around the traffic roundabouts, for the most part, Moroccans seem to drive much more calmly than a lot of the rest of the world.  It’s sure been a different experience not having to white-knuckle our way around a country!

Marrakech is a beautiful city.  The buildings look like sandstone and there are many beautiful parks.

I think that the thing that has struck me the most about Marrakech is the feeling of calm that you feel around the city - that is, until you go to “la place,” (in French) the square in front of the old medina and shopping area.  Talk about a three-ringed circus!  “La place” is filled with people: shoppers, vendors, snake charmers, men with monkeys, water men and tourists.  No cars are allowed in “la place,” but there are always motorbikes and bicycles zipping past you.  Music is blaring from vendors hawking Moroccan music and snake charmers charming their cobras.  We saw them doing their snake-charming thing, but unless you want to pay BIG BUCKS, you cannot take a photo.  Ibrahim warned us about them.  He said they are the worst people in Morocco and will try to force you to hand over up to $50 for a photo and will literally rip your wallet out of your hands and take your money from you if you are unwilling to pay.  Needless to say, we caught a glimpse as we walked by but that was all.  They were real live cobras, tho!

Here are a few photos of “la place” by day.

Water men.  In Morocco, water men walk around in these crazy costumes, carrying goatskin bags full of water and brass cups hanging around their necks.  The water is free for anyone who needs a drink because “water is life” and Morocco is hot.  The photo, however, will cost you a buck.

And here are some photos of “la place” by night.  If it seems like a crazy place by day, just wait until night falls.  It is literally jam-packed with people.  More vendors are out selling their wares, restaurant tents are set up and street performers are out doing their thing.  Apparently, “la place” is “the place” to be at night in Marrakech!

Beyond the buildings is the actual market in the medina.  It is chock-full of vendors hawking everything from lanterns to clothing to shoes to wooden items to spices and argan oil.  It is crowded, it is crazy and it is a whole lot of fun.  Bargain and bargain HARD!!!!! 

And just so you all know, I am apparently from anywhere BUT the USA.  I lost count many days ago of the number of people here, including Ibrahim, who have asked me if I’m Moroccan or who have told me that I look like I’m part Moroccan.  And when we’re shopping, unless the vendor has heard me talking to my mom or Jill and has heard me speaking English, I am NEVER spoken to in English right off the bat, unlike my mom who is apparently recognizable as an American right off the bat.  I’m mostly spoken to in French or Spanish, occasionally in Arabic.  Remember, I apparently look Moroccan.  When they speak to me in French or Arabic and see the blank look on my face that comes from my five years of studying German, they immediately switch to Spanish.  The ensuing blanker look then usually elicits a puzzled look on their face.  I don’t know what they’re thinking, but they clearly aren’t thinking this lady is an American.  I then usually have to say “English?”  Then more often than not, I’m asked if I’m from Britain. When I say USA, they say “Oh, New York?”  Then I tell them that I’m from California.  “Oh, Los Angeles?”  “No, San Francisco.”  “Ahhh,” followed by a skeptical look.  “You look like you’re Moroccan.”  Yeah, apparently I’m from anywhere but where I’m from. 😂😂😂

One of the optional excursions that we booked and were looking forward to was a horse-drawn carriage ride through the streets of Marrakech followed by dinner and a belly dancing show.  

We arrived at the location of the show and were taken through a dark alley and what looked like ruins of an old building.  We were all wondering where in the world we were going.  What kind of restaurant could be in a place like this?

If nothing else, Morocco has been full of surprises, and this was one of them.  We rounded the corner and were met with this sight.

Which led to this courtyard in an old home that has been turned into a fancy-schmancy restaurant.  

We were greeted by having our hands rinsed in warm water from this large silver teapot.

We were then served a fruit juice drink that was delicious and entertained by some African musicians and singers that were amazing.

I’ll warn you now.  You’re going to have to forgive the photography from here on out.  It was super dim inside the restaurant and my poor iPhone can only do so much, especially from far away and with moving targets.  That being said, the restaurant was beautiful inside and the appetizer course was laid out on tiny dishes the full length of the table and it looked amazing.

But the real highlight of the evening was the entertainment. It started with a candle dancer.  Her performance was beautiful, but her outfit had me really creeped out.  It was the black mask thing over her face that did it for me.  

A little later came the belly dancer.  She was amazing and much less creepy!

It was a super fun evening UNTIL we got back to the hotel.  You’ve all heard of Montezuma’s revenge, right?  Well, here in Morocco we have a little something that I’ve named Mohammed’s revenge.  Let’s just say that Mohammed decided to pay me a little visit last night about five minutes after we got back to the hotel and on and off for the rest of the night and the whole next day.  After I started getting sick, Jill thought she was having sympathy pains or a case of hypochondria because suddenly she thought she was feeling sick, too.  Yeah, it wasn’t sympathy pains or hypochondria.  Let’s just say Mohammed paid her a little visit too. He obviously didn’t want her to feel left out of the fun.  We’ve been wracking our brains trying to figure out how we got sick.  We’ve been super careful to only eat hot, cooked foods, no unpeeled fruit, no tap water, no ice.  We even brush our teeth with bottled water and Mohammed still got us.  He’s been a popular guy on this trip.  He’s paid a lot of people on our bus a little visit.  Fortunately, it seems that Mohammed’s visits are of the 24-hour variety and most people feel much, much better within a day or so.  

As a result of our little visitor, Jill and I missed the excursion today to the seaside, but fortunately we were feeling well enough to get out to the market for a little bit on our own this afternoon.  Hey, it’s hard to keep a good shopper down!  I made my mom and Frank take pictures of the things they saw today, so I’ll try to include a few in my next post.

Tomorrow is our final day in Morocco and we are heading to Casablanca for some sightseeing and our farewell dinner.  We will also spend the night there before heading home on Sunday.  It’s a pretty jammed itinerary tomorrow so I probably won’t be able to post my last blog entry until I get home, but I promise that I’ll get it posted as soon as possible.

Some Scenic Drives

We have spent some hardcore bus time here in Morocco. In three of the last four days, we’ve spent over 29 hours traveling and sightseeing by bus and have covered a few hundred miles of all kinds of terrain: plains, hills, mountains, farmlands and deserts. To be fair, we do stop often to see the sights, but with the exception of our day in the Sahara, it’s been bus, bus and more bus. 

The upshot is that Morocco is a beautiful country and we’ve gotten to see some absolutely amazing, unforgettable sights.  I always envisioned Morocco as being all dirt, rocks and sand, but it is so much more!  Who knew????  Here are some of the highlights from our bus journeys. I’ll do my best to remember what these places were called, but I had to take so much meclizine to avoid getting carsick on the curvy mountain roads, I was practically in a drug-induced coma and it’s nothing short of a miracle that I could point my iPhone in the right direction and tap the button, let alone remember where I was.

Behold the beauty of Morocco!!!!!!!

Somewhere between Fez and Erfoud:

Farmland.  Morocco actually produces many fruits and vegetables including watermelons, apples, citrus fruits of all sorts, dates and wheat to name but a few.

The town of Irfane, a ski resort town

In India, you have cows in the road.  In Morocco, you have sheep.

In both counties you have these little buggers. 

Ziz Valley and Ziz River

Somewhere in the Middle Atlas Mountains

Date palms

Somewhere between Erfoud and Ouarzazate. 

On the way into the Todgha Canyons.  This reminded me so much of Arizona!

And these are the Todgha Canyons.  Absolutely magnificent!

I’m not sure I’d sleep well at night if I lived in any of these houses.  I’d be afraid of waking up with a bolder as a bedfellow.

And last but not least, these are a few photos of the High Atlas Mountains.  This is all I saw so I don’t know if it’s really representative of what it looks like up there.  I spent all five hours in the Atlas Mountains today with my eyes closed because the roads were so curvy that if I tried to look around at all, even with a double dose of meclizine on board, I started to feel instantly queasy.  Mom, too.  I was only able to look around and take photos during our brief rest stops.  Let’s just say that today’s bus ride makes the drive to Sea Ranch look like a cakewalk.

So there you have it.  Surprisingly beautiful, isn’t it?  Now we’ll have a couple of days in the city before heading out again.  Tomorrow we’ll be on the bus for only a few minutes here and there, but mostly we’ll be doing walking tours.  I know I’m going to break into a happy dance just as soon as my meclizine wears off. 😜