Reflections on Morocco

After Israel, we decided to slow down. The journey so far had certainly been an adventure but not much of a vacation. We decided to take our time by cutting out Spain and staying longer in Morocco. We also decided that we could shorten our trip by a couple of weeks and put that money towards nicer hotel rooms in Morocco. It was a wise decision and Morocco was a relaxing vacation for us. During our stay, we enjoyed walking through the souqs (markets) in Marrakech, we sipped on freshly squeezed orange juice from the juice vendors in Marrakech's main square, we spent lazy days in our riad watching BBC News, we enjoyed the sandy beaches of Agadir and read our books, and we tapped away on our computer at the local Internet cafes. We made our adventurous journey out to see the Sahara Desert in Morocco, Erg Chebbi, but the rest of our days in Morocco were spent relaxing and absorbing the local color. It was the perfect way to bring Low Orbit back down to earth.

Marrakech

Marrakech is Morocco's most vibrant city. We stayed in an old riad (Moroccan house) located just off the main square, which had been lovingly restored and made into a small hotel. The rooms and main quarters are colorfully decorated with Moroccan tiles from floor to ceiling. Two women cheerfully greet guests and manage keep the riad in perfect condition.

On most days, we ventured out of our riad for tea and pastries at the local French-Moroccan cafes. There is a strong post-colonial French influence here, and it was the first time in our trip that English was not a reliable tourist language. We walked around the main square (Djemma el-Fna) to be entertained by the snake charmers and dancers. Local food vendors and the freshly squeezed orange juice stands were nearby when we needed a little energy. Abdelkader, the gentleman who runs stand #38, second from the end on the right as you approach the square from the main drag, serves the best squeezed grapefruit juice in the city, in our humble opinion. We walked through the souqs to admire the handicrafts of the Berber people and do some last-country shopping. The craftsmanship of their work is astonishing in the attention to detail and the integration of camel bone, ceramics, brass and hardwoods. The rugs, pottery, and furniture are some of the most beautiful we had seen throughout our world travels.

Morocco isn't known for its food, or at least shouldn't be. We quickly grew tired of the tajine (chicken or beef cooked with vegetables) and brouchette (kababs) and often settled for Western food. Not the most varied cuisine we've had but we managed. Luckily, there are Italian restaurants and pizzarias everywhere.

What Marrakech is not is a place for women traveling alone. We woke to the screams of a woman being attacked at knife-point in the alleyway just outside our hotel. We were also witness to a woman being beaten over the head by a young man in broad daylight. No one came to their rescue and we had to wonder if mysogeny was still alive and well in Morocco. Unlike other Muslim countries, women seem to enjoy a great deal of freedom to dress how they like and come and go as they please. So perhaps these were exceptions to the largely civil and tranquil experiences that most people have here in Marrakech but it certainly made us pay attention and stick together.

After returning to Marrakech from a 10-day stay at the beach in Agadir, we signed up for the "Fantasia" show and dinner, and were driven out of town to the Chez Ali, with hopeful expectations that the evening would provide a fitting end to our trip. We were not disappointed. During dinner, representatives from each of the Berber tribes make their way around the tables, singing and dancing (and grabbing the random guest for a dance). After an authentic Moroccan dinner of lamb and stewed vegetables with couscous, we were ushered to the main event: a recreation of a Berber war ritual, cavalry charges and musket shots, followed by bellydancing and fireworks. While a good way to sample a bit of the traditional culture, not all dinner/dance combinations we have attended on this trip have been able to lift beyond the staged atmosphere, so this one was one of the more enjoyable we've witnessed and a fine way to see a bit of Morocco's vision of itself.

Erg Chebbi
We set out for our three-day excursion through the sahara desert of Morocco to see the Kasbahs of Ouarzazate, the gorges of Todra and Dades, the High Atlas mountains, the sand dunes of Merzouga, and the Berber people.

The Kasbahs of Ouarzazate were fantastic to see. Ait Benhaddou is the best preserved kasbah and was used in filming Lawrence of Arabia and Gladiator. We also stopped for a tour of Atlas Studios where famous films and their sets are still open for tours. Films like Gladiator, Cleopatra, and Jewel of the Nile were all filmed here. We stopped for walks through the gorges of Todra and Dades, their emormous sheer walls a draw for rock-climbers around the world.

The long drive took us through a merciless sandstorm until we reached our final destination in Merzouga, not far from the Algerian border. We made our way to the sand dunes by camel. Climbing over these large peaks proved too strenuous for one camel. He was the second camel in line and as we made our way around one dune, he died. Some of the tour members were sure that the camel's death was caused by strangulation from the tight ropes wrapped around their necks. We could see that these camels were weathered, their coats appeared too matted and their bodies seemed deprived of proper care. The guides said for this one, he was just old and it was his time. We asked for the camel's name but the Berber guide told us these camels did not have names; only tourists game them names. We called him Camel #2 and said our goodbyes before continuing onto our campsite in the desert. After an hour climb over the dunes, we reached the camp and looked out onto the stretch of moutainous sand dunes. From afar, they appeared to be mountains but upon closer examination, they were enormous piles of sand, glowing from the hot desert sun.

That night, the Berbers played the drums and sang Berber songs. We ate from the communal plate and watched the stars. We climbed to the top of the sand dunes and watched the glow of the moon light the sky and the dunes. We decided to skip the tent and instead fell asleep under the stars.

Agadir

We made the four-hour drive from Marrakech to Agadir by bus. The countryside of Morocco changed from golden mountains to rocky gorges to green pastures until we arrived on the sandy beaches of Agadir. Agadir is not a classically hectic Moroccan town. It is a resort town with mid-sized hotels that stretch along its sandy beaches. While a strong vacation destination for Moroccan's, there were a large number of older Europeans here too. We got a kick out of watching the adolescent Moroccan boys spying on the leathered ladies sunning topless. Quite a contrast to the Muslim women strolling on the beach covered head-to-toe in a chador. We spent nine peaceful days here, soaking up the sun and catching up on all the reading we had promised ourselves to finish before returning home. We finally got our vacation.