Morocco

I'm back from Africa! Yes, I was in Africa. I spent the weekend in Marrakech, Morocco.

Kate and I went and began our journey on Friday. (Kate is another student teacher who also went to Gibraltar with me) Kerry dropped us off at Algeciras, and we got the 5:30 ferry to Tangier. The ferry took about an hour and a half, and we spent a significant amount of time on the boat waiting to get our passports stamped. Once off the boat, we were bombarded by offers for taxis. We turned several down, as we just wanted to go exchange some money. Most places only accept Dirham, and you cannot get these before you get into the country, so we got some there. From the port, and after changing money, we got a taxi to the train station. We bought our train tickets and had two hours to spare. We spent some time walking along the boardwalk in Tangier, and ate at a French restaurant there. It was incredibly cheap- we got a pizza, bottle of water, and ice cream for about $4.

We went back to the station to take the overnight train to Marrakech. We decided to save some money and not book a couchette (sleeping car) for the way there. This turned out to be a mistake. The train ride was 11 hours long (which we knew beforehand), but then they never turned the lights off, screaming children were running around in our car, and to boot, it was very chilly. We were able to catch some sleep, but not as much as we would have liked. On the way back we took the couchette, which was a much better journey. Upon arriving in Marrakech at about 8 am, we began wandering the city. We could not find a good online map before we went, so we followed convenient tourist signs to pick out our destinations. Our first stop was the Palais Royal. It was very nice from the outside, but as it turned out, it was too early, so the inside was not open yet. We then began our journey to find the marketplace, the Souks. We found a couple of other marketplaces before finally finding a hotel with a map to guide us in the right direction. Marrakech is a city of many contradictions. It is trying to be Westernized, but at the same time holds on to old traditions. On the street you will see several different kinds of vehicles: donkeys, horses, bicycles, cars, trucks, people pushing carts, motorized bicycles, and motorcycles. There are also many parts that are smelly and undesirable to visit, while some are quite beautiful and worth a visit. The "fake" Souks that we came across were more like flea markets/garage sales. Many were selling clearly used goods that sat in piles on carpets. When we found the "real" Souks, the goods were much higher quality and clearly more aimed at tourists. I bought a purse, and as I was told, I haggled my price. It started at $10, I said I would pay $5, then he said $7, I said no and started walking away and then he offered it to me for $6. I was pleased.

We also saw the Marjorelle Gardens, the Palais Bahia, and Les Tombeaux. Les Tombeaux was kind of a bust, because most of it was under construction, and they didn't tell us that before paying for admission. (Which was at least only $1)

Ourselves as well as other tourists so clearly stood out in Marrakech. Marrakech is a Muslim city, and since we were not covered head to toe, it was obvious we were tourists. It was an odd feeling knowing how much I was sticking out, especially as we walked around non-tourist areas.

Going there was a very good cultural experience, and I'm glad we did. Besides, how often can you say you went to Morocco for a day?

The internet here is so slow, so I apologize for not posting pictures, the upload has failed a couple of times. All for now. Have a great day!

-Emily