Morocco

Finally docking in Casablanca, Morocco brought on feelings of nostalgia as well as excitement as Casablanca had been on the loop in the cabins for several days - it's also one of my favorite movies so I was excited when Emily called to my room and asked if I wanted to go to Rick's Cafe with  her for lunch. I had to do it, it was the one overly touristy thing that I needed to get out of the way. We were docked a ways away from the actual exit of the port so it was a bit overwhelming to get off the ship and have taxi drivers harass you to let them drive you. Admittedly I was a little anxious because they were extremely persistent.

Lunch was really fun. Schmeebs & I were in our own little worlds excited by the whole ambiance. We ate and walked around the cafe a little bit. Upstairs we found a loop of Casablanca, roulette table, cigars and a bar. It made me laugh a little bit but I was so excited at the same time. We went back downstairs and ended up of course buying souveniry things that said "Rick's Cafe - Casablanca" on them. I bought a Whiskey glass for my uncle which was among my favorite purchases of the trip. From there we walked around a bit in search of an ATM before heading back to the ship seeing as none of us had any cash whatsoever.

Most people had left Casablanca and headed to Marrakesh for the duration of  our stay in Morocco, however I was determined to see as much of it as I could. As my roommate had left for Marrakesh, she'd given me her trip to Rabat the "fortified place" also the capital. As it was Ramadan no drinks or food were allowed in or around the area and being that it was over 100 degrees, the no water thing was a bit hard. Rabat was an amazing place to see. Walking around the casbah was probably my favorite part of the whole trip. It was so intricately designed and would have been very easy to get lost in if you were unsure of where you were going. The doors of the houses were small as were the living areas themselves, but as the sun began to lower you could smell amazing things beginning to be prepared for Iftar, the first meal of the day and the breaking of the fast. 

The following day, myself and a few others ventured into Marrakesh (the gateway to the Sahara) early in the morning and the rest of the day proved to be extremely interesting. We created a Marrakesh to do list and the first thing anyone wanted to do was find some camels. There were too many of us to fit into one taxi so two taxi drivers tag-teamed to find us some camels, driving us out into the desert. Along the way we saw motorized bikes, donkeys puling carts and an array of crazy drivers zipping and zooming through the streets like nobody's business. I was thankful to have Denise in the same taxi as me as she was able to speak French and my knowledge of the language constituted of "bonjour" and "merci". When we finally we finally arrived at our spot in the desert, we found a man sitting with a group of camels ready for tourists. It was strange, but obviously we weren't the only people with a desire to ride camels in Morocco. While I did feel kind of bad for them as the baby's feet were roped together so they couldn't follow the mama's while on a walk, they seemed to be well cared for.

Initially getting onto (as well as off of later) the animals was probably the most nerve-wracking part of the whole production. They're first laying down as shown on the picture to the right but when they stand up... Oh man.. You better be prepared. They stand on their hind legs first and then push themselves up, but you're sitting on them leaning forward trying not to fall off as they're trying to stand. As the last one on a camel, it was incredibly entertaining to watch and snap photos of the faces of everyone as their camel rose to all fours. Shortly after our camel adventure we got to feed them, which let me tell you was an experience and a half. I've never thought of them being the nicest creatures in the world because they, first off - bite and second off spit. It didn't turn out too poorly on my end however cause I opted to befriend the baby who was just about my height so I was less intimidated by it.

From the desert we ventured into the old city into the Souk. Hundreds and hundreds of people pushing through narrow walkways and make-shift streets it was complete mayhem. There were merchants trying to sell you anything and everything possible. It was vital to haggle as everything was ridiculously over priced. Navigating through the souk was difficult as walking around one corner looked similar to the one before that and the one before that until finally you were out in the center again. The one thing I wanted to see the most I was able to see in the center of the souk - a snake charmer. You could here the echo of that strange recorder like instrument so we followed the sound only to find several men placed around with cobras rhythmically swaying to the music entranced by its sound. While it freaked me out a bit I was absolutely stoked to see it in real life. Though I didn't dare get very close to it. As night began to fall on Marrakesh, we wondered back to the train station where we found other SASers ending their journey from the Gateway to the Sahara. Upon returning to Casablanca we were bombarded with men grabbing, pushing and shoving us to get their taxi for good prices it was all very surreal and very apparent of the obvious male dominated society. We were thankful to have been traveling with one guy as almost no one would listen to what we had to say or where we needed to go.

Leaving Morocco was incredibly sad. Not only because we had finals to prepare for but there was also the understanding that in 8 days we would be back in the U.S and have to quickly say goodbye to the ones that we had spent the last 2 and a half months with. This was all something I was determined not to think about right away though I was beyond excited to see my friends in Boston, I didn't want to think about the not knowing when the next time I would see my friends from Semester at Sea would be..