Salaam!

“Salaam:” literally “peace” in Arabic, also used as a greeting

The next, and probably most interesting leg of our trip was Morocco. We went to Marrakech first, and upon landing I was so excited to see sun! North African sun! The weather was pretty fabulous, in the 60’s during the day, yet it is rainy season right now in Morocco so the clouds will not hesitate to swoop in at a moment’s notice. We spent most of our time in bot

h Marrakech and Fez just wandering around and taking in the scenery. In such a vastly different culture, it is enough to just watch and observe everything. Our hostel was located near the Place Jamaa el fna, which is the big square in the center of the old city…filled with snake charmers, souks (vendors) of all kinds, and anyone trying to make some Durhams selling whatever they have. It was bit overwhelming at first to see this scene…the fruits and vegetables are just sitting on stands, people are chatting us up everywhere trying to make a deal in all kinds of languages, have us go up to their restaurant, or just plain begging. As Westerners, and specifically, Americans, the group of 8 of us stood out for sure.

If you take a side street of the main square, the souks are condensed into smaller areas where can find a plethora of different sounds and smells are you are walking. One moment the scent of curry and cumin, potatoes and chicken roasting, then fresh oranges, maybe a donkey passes and you give a whiff of urine or manure, pass a meat shop and you smell raw beef, dirt, car fumes, then one more step and you smell something delicious enough to make you hungry. Quite a sensation to span only a few moments. The sounds are also overwhelming, an orchestra of car horns and scooters whizzing by you (don’t even try to find a “crosswalk” or sidewalk), people speaking French, Arabic, English, catcalls, vendors coercing you to visit their stand, restaurant owners shouting their menus out, Arabic pop/rap music, the call of prayer echoing from the Mosques five times a day…sensory overload.

The Arabic written on shops, graffiti, menus, etc. was usually accompanied by French, so we were able to speak to and understand most people because the country is basically bilingual. The stylish strokes of Arabic, however, look almost to be art compared to the straight forms of the Latin alphabet. Even the simplest of writing on the Coke can I bought amazed me. The rainbow of colors was also a pleasantry in Morocco, especially coming from France where the color black is almost a uniform. Women were clad in bright pink, orange, lime green hijab and headscarves, against a backdrop or the reddish orange clay that makes up most of the architecture.

I tried as many different Moroccan dishes as I could, ranging from tagines, which are platters with vegetables and a meat, or vegetables alone and are served underneath a pseudo-cone shaped pot, to couscous, chwarmas (kebabs), mulawi (sp?), which is a delicious crêpe-like flat bread served at breakfast, as well as a cornbread made out of couscous. They also drink a lot of tea, which would be served out of these large silver teapots into small glasses, and the server would hold the pot very high above the glass pouring the tea in, quite a skill.

Overall observations of Morocco:

• Keep bottled water to drink all the time, brush teeth with, and when your shower stops mid-shampoo, to rinse the rest of your hair out with.
• Thankfully the weather wasn’t too hot as it was necessary/appropriate for the girls to wear long sleeves and long pants as to not show so much skin.
• No booze-drinking in Morocco, but lots of tea and fresh squeezed juice was fabulous.
• When restaurant catches on fire, don’t panic…who knew that putting pizza boxes on top of a stove would be a fire-hazard?
• Everything is super cheap…and everything can/must be bargained down.
• The vendors that fail in Morocco go to Mexico…if you think they’re bad in Mexico, you ain’t see nothing yet!
• Where you can’t get away from ham in France and Spain, there is no pig eating in Morocco!
• Watch out for snake charmers and the guys with the monkeys, they will put these animals on you and then ask for money!
• Didn’t see any camels but saw a camel head hanging in a meat market as well as camel burger on a menu…
• Dates are yummy, but be sure to open them before eating to make sure there are no bugs inside!
• Would stay in a old converted Riad-hotel if I went back…riads were the homes of the Aristocrats with an open courtyard and little pool in the middle and mosaic covered walls with finely carved archways