Day 2 in Morocco: Marrakech (Sunday, August 8)

Today, I woke up early and caught a train to Marrakech – about a three hour train ride. Buying the tickets was very interesting because the man in the ticket booth did not speak any English (and I obviously do not speak any Arabic or French, which are the main languages used in Morocco). I went with a friend from Student Affairs at Sea, Shannon, as well as 3 undergraduate students – Sarah, Kasie, and Val.

After the long train ride to Marrakech, we jumped into a cab to get to the Medina, or the walled part of the old city, where our riad (Moroccan guest house/villa) was located. Because the same family owns many different riads across the city, the only address we could find for our particular riad online was “Various Locations.” (Does that seem sketchy? We thought so.) We had to call the owner and let him talk to the taxi driver in Arabic so that he would know where to drop us off. We ended up getting out just outside the walls of the old city because there wasn’t an opening for cars (in that part of the city walls). We waited there for a few moments before the riad owner came to get us and then we had a short walk into the Medina before he led us through a small door. When we stepped through, we were pleasantly surprised that on the inside, there was a gorgeous open courtyard. There were plenty of interesting plants, a beautiful pool, and places to sit and lounge. After seeing our rooms (which surrounded the main courtyard), the owner invited us to have some tea with him, so we sat down to visit for a while. My favorite part of the conversation was when he gave us the secret of making a truly fantastic pot of mint Moroccan tea, which you can be sure that I will be testing out as soon as I get home.

That afternoon, we walked around the maze which is the Medina for quite some time before admitting that we were hopelessly lost. We ended up jumping in a cab in order to get to the center plaza of the city. This was an amazing public space – there were street performers, snake charmers, fresh orange juice vendors, as well as big carts selling dried apricots, dates, figs, and cactus fruit. After having a delicious lunch of “taginia marrakechia” (a lamb specialty of the area) and couscous, we spent the afternoon walking through the souks. I completely underestimated the amount of time that I thought we’d spend there. It took about four hours to get through these overwhelming markets because the process of bargaining for your purchases takes so long! You have to express an interest in something, ask for a price, tell them heck no – you won’t pay that, you have to ask for special deal, then it goes back and forth until someone folds. An interesting observation that one of our deans shared was: you haven’t gotten a good deal unless the shop keeper has to run in the back to ask his mommy if the price is ok. I just thought that was pretty funny, because it actually happened to me once! Anyway, the point is that shopping takes a lot longer – I could have could have gone to Target and been in and out in 20 minutes if I were in the US. It’s just a different way of living – shopping is very much a social activity. While shopping around, I met a really nice Moroccan guy who was helping out at his uncle’s herb store. He showed me all around the shop to see the “black soap” Moroccans use for the haman (bath), a natural perfume bar made of jasmine, as well as a clay dish that you can mix a little water in and it becomes a type of lipstick. Apparently in Berber tradition (which is one of the regional cultures in Morocco), if a man gives this clay-lipstick thing to a women’s mother, it means that he is then engaged to the daughter. I’ve never heard of that…isn’t that interesting that the permission to wed lies with the woman’s mother, rather than the father?

We finally emerged from the souks around 8 PM and we were OVERWHELMED to find that the plaza had completely transformed. Sometime between 3 and 8 PM, over 100 food vendors had set up shop in the middle of the plaza. (For everybody in White Oak, think International Village times a bazillion!) There were rows and rows of food stands. Each stand was like a little outdoor restaurant with long communal tables. All of the places had huge displays of street foods – cold vegetable salads, fresh meats, grilled vegetables, soups, breads, etc. It was an amazing sight – it was like something straight out an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations on the Travel Channel, I’m not even kidding! I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he’s already been there. Of course, I was so excited to be there, because I just love adventurous eating!!! After much persuasion, I convinced the other people in my travel group to sit down at one of the stands. I had a hunch it would be a good decision and I was right! After squeezing between people on the long benches, we ate meat kebabs, bread with fresh cold tomato pulp, spicy marinated olives, grilled eggplant, and some potatoes. Everything was cooked to order and delicious. An interesting thing to know is that there was a little dish on the table (about the size of a tea cup saucer) that had a mix of spices and salt. You could add as much or as little of the spices to your dish! Ah. So cool. I felt so good about our dinner choice that I even risked the fresh squeezed orange juice on the street. It was completely refreshing and I didn’t even get sick! (Yay!)

After getting our fill of the madness of the plaza (there must have been over 1000 people crowded in there!), we got a taxi back to our riad. Our day in the old city had made me appreciate our riad even more. It was such a peaceful oasis from the hubbub of the city that I felt so secure once I got into our riad. I was so happy about the success of the day that it didn’t even matter that we found a COCKROACH in the bathroom before bed. Now, you KNOW I don’t do bugs, so I’m embarrassed to say that Shannon took care of it while I pretty much hopped around, waving the trash can uselessly while trying not to scream. (Why the trash can? Can’t say for sure, but it made me feel better - Jill and Kristin – I totally needed the Princess Flashlight!!! That’s my JOB!) Oh well…no pasa nada…it was a humorous end to a long day of new cultural experiences. : )