Fun times in Morocco - and a little craziness!

Morocco From Luke & Ryan’s Perspective (Jay’s & Christy’s commentary is in quotes):

What is different?

• Women cover their hair/head.  (Although it is not a law, most women wear traditional clothing and covered their hair with scarves.  They always covered their legs and shoulders.  Morocco is one of the most liberal of the Islamic countries and women can choose what they wear --- to a point.  We never saw a Muslim woman show her legs and usually their arms were also covered).

• The money is different.  (7.5 Dirhams / $US)

• Donkeys pull carts to the shops.  You can’t get trucks down the narrow streets.  This poor donkey was pulling a huge cart!

• We can walk in the street (there are no sidewalks in the old city and the streets are the size for one-way traffic, but they function as two-way streets.  Outside the old city there are “normal” sized streets with sidewalks.)

• The Moroccan people could not eat or drink during the day.  (It was Ramadan, an Islamic religion holiday that lasts one month.)

• They don’t speak English.  (The official language is Arabic and the second language is French.  Our knowledge of French helped a lot!)

• There are lots of little stores.  (We only found one big grocery store.  Most people buy things from different small shops.)

What is the same?

• They have orange juice

• They have cars (when we first pulled into the port in Spain.  Ryan told me that he was surprised they had cars too.  Before our trip we had stressed how poor some of the countries would be.  Seeing cars made him feel that the places were not so different.)

• They have McDonalds, Pizza Hut and KFC  (Because Ramadan was occurring during our visit, all the restaurants were closed during the day – except the US fast food favorites. )
• There are lots of friendly and well cared for cats around.

Overall, the boys had fun being in a country so different than their own.  They really adjusted well to traveling in Morocco and seem excited for Ghana.  Luke told me that he did not know we were going to get off the boat during our trip around the world.  I think this is an extra bonus for him.

Morocco from the adult perspective

Morocco.   A conflicting land that embraces you in its mystery while casting you aside as a lowly outsider.   We leave Morocco, not knowing if we want to go back.

It is a country where the people smiled and lovingly patted our boys’ heads while others cursed us and swore at us us for not buying their goods or agreeing to their unreasonably high taxi fares.  Where a modernly dressed woman may walk hand-in-hand with another woman completely cloaked in black from head to toe except a strip exposing half her eyes.  Where Islam is so important that everyone must pray five times per day, yet women are only allowed in the mezzanines of the mosques behind trellis’.  Where fancy beach clubs and elegant mosques sit next to sparse concrete homes and trash heaps.

There were many things we loved about Morocco.  We had interesting conversations with Moroccans who welcomed us into their homes for dinner or with taxi cab drivers who we communicated with in our broken French.  Marrakesh was our favorite location – especially the Medina (old city) which always seemed to be bustling with life.  If we go back, we will go to the Atlas Mountains and trek amongst the Berber (local) villages.  Or to the sparsely populated Western Sahara.

Journey to our Riad (Bed & Breakfast):

Our most memorable time on the trip so far was getting to our riad (B&B) in the Medina (old city) in Marrakesh.  After a 3 hour train ride from Casablanca to Marrakesh, we negotiated a fare for the taxi to take us to our riad.  We had made reservations that morning on-line and had the address and a rough idea of where it was, but little else.  The taxi driver started down the ever narrowing streets of the Medina.  It was pouring rain and we crossed our fingers that he knew where he was going.  We pulled over once as he started some lively discussions with people who gathered around us.  We were worried someone would take our bags so we got out in the rain, only to find out that we were not near our riad.  We piled back in the taxi and drove around for several more minutes.

Then our driver pulled over, got out and after a conversation pointed to a bicycle with a cart behind it.  He started unloading our bags and putting them in the cart.  He pointed down an alley and we had no choice to go with our new driver (the bicyclist).  He signaled for Luke and Ryan to get in the cart on top of our bags.  We were happy to have them in the cart so our bags could not easily be stolen and so the boys would not get stepped on.  Before we knew it, off went the bicycle and we ran to stay with it.  We did not run long since we came to a standstill as soon as we entered a souk, a narrow one-lane market with stalls selling meat, shoes, eggs, clothing, and everything else you can think of.   We had entered utter chaos.  We have traveled extensively, but agree that this was one of the strangest situations we have been in.

Several cars had driven into the one lane market from either side and were at a complete standstill.  The cars (and a donkey cart!) couldn't pass by each other and they certainly couldn't back out as the rushing crowds of motorbikes, bicycles and pedestrians swirled around the stationary cars on their way to break the Ramadan fast.  Everyone was yelling at everyone – especially the cars - as they tried to snake their way through the crowd.  We immediately got separated, but Christy desperately hung onto the back of the bicycle cart and kept telling Luke and Ryan everything was ok.  They were wide-eyed, but remained composed as they ducked under hanging slabs of beef and were lifted around cars and motorcycles.   The bike and cart kept rubbing against the cars and even smashed a head-light of one of the cars as we moved from one side to the other.  Our bicycle cab was intent on getting us through this mess. 

Milton tried to take a picture and was cursed at by a nearby woman and then by another man near him.  She later apologized that it was Ramadan and that this was not how Marrakesh usually was.  Thanks to the relentless effort by our bike cart driver, we made it out successfully.

Next we turned down a smaller alley with no traffic and soon down an even smaller alley that continued to narrow as we proceeded.  We had no idea where we were since there were no alley or “hotel” signs.  We stood in front of a little wooden door in amongst tall cement walls.  We knocked and the door was finally opened.  We stepped in and after a few moments realized we had found a beautiful safe haven.  It became our beloved riad.   Riad Djebel.

Marrakesh:

Our two wonderful in-keepers, Miguel and Sylvan, made our trip to Marrakesh for us.  They welcomed us with the customary mint tea and sweet treats.  After we got settled, they led us through the maze of narrow alleys in the Medina until we reached the famous square, Place Jermaa-el-Fna.  We took photos through the maze so we could hopefully retrace our steps back to the riad.

The square was filled with vendors selling orange juice, nuts, dates, wooden carvings, clothing and other crafts; performers doing acrobatics or making cobras dance; and people, bicycles, motor bikes, cars and donkeys.  It was a festive place and fun to explore.

We ate some wonderful meals made with diverse spices.  Our favorite was the 10 different Moroccan salads that usually kicked-off the traditional meal.

Casablanca

We spent the last 2 days in Casablanca where our ship ported.  It is the largest port in Africa and Moroccan’s financial center.  The 3rd largest mosque in the world is in Casablanca and it has a powerful green light that shines towards Mecca every night.  We found that, although it is the financial center of the country, there is not much to do for tourists in Casablanca.  Our most enjoyable time was having dinner at a Moroccan family’s house.  They had children who were 4 & 6 so Luke and Ryan had lots of fun.   They watched The Incredibles in French after chasing each other around with big Nurf guns.

Next Up
Next stop is Ghana, the first time that Semester at Sea has visited the country.  It was the site of Obama's African visit a few months ago and is one of the most stable countries in West Africa (and the continent).  We will also be posting "A Day in the Life on Board the MV Explorer" in the coming days.

Crossing the Atlantic...and Spain!

Well, some of you might be wondering if the MV Explorer is resting on the bottom of the Atlantic! We are safe and sound, currently crossing out of the Mediterranean on our way from Gibraltar to Morocco. We had a very cushy North Atlantic passage, with clear sailing the whole way. No big water anywhere around us and no sleep (or lunch) lost to wavy seas. The ship has been fantastic – good food, great staff, very interesting and entertaining fellow passengers. Our room is a little smaller than our Boulder house but it’s well organized and everything has found its place.


After 5 days crossing the ocean, we arrived in Spain, eager to stretch our legs and see the sights. Cadiz is a great old port town – possibly even the earliest settlement in Europe. It was a critical port in Roman times and was even blessed by a visit from Julius Caesar himself. It boomed again during the Spanish conquest of the Americas and was the main port for ships returning from the New World (as well as the port from which Christopher Columbus began his historic voyage).

We spent our first day wandering around town, enjoying the old town, the very tasty food and stocking up on a few critical things like chocolate bars, juice and Spanish wine. We ended up eating dinner at 10PM in a square with loads of children running around. The Spanish have figured out how to live life – get a late start to the day, take a nap in the afternoon, work late and then stay out until midnight!  And of course we stopped by the huge market in the center of town and went to the grocery store to look at the numerous legs of Spanish ham that hang from the wall!

Day two was a train adventure to Sevilla and back. The notable events were the cathedral (largest in the world, according to the book Milton bought there) and the bullfight we went to. The bullfight left us with those timeless questions we have about traveling and whether it’s right to attend events that conflict with our own cultural norms. It was interesting to watch the elaborate dance that is the bullfight, but tough to watch the treatment of the bull and the eventual, and inevitable, result. Nonetheless, we did attend a quintessentially Spanish performance and the boys saw firsthand how cultures react differently to things.

We rented a car the next day and drove along the coast through numerous and large windfarms on our way to Gibraltar. The farms were well placed as we encountered winds that rivaled what we see in Boulder! Gibraltar itself was much calmer and we experienced a bit of Britain in the Mediterranean before heading up the cable car to the top of the Rock itself. It has a fascinating history and incredible views. We wrapped up our time in Spain the next day with some time by the beach in the cute coastal town of Conil.



And we are now in Morocco, having ported in Casablanca yesterday.  We have already had several adventures in our first 24 hours in Morocco and will expand on that in a few days.