Morocco was great. I toured Marakesh, saw 13th century kasbahs, took a moonlit camel trek and camped out in the Sahara, and saw a gorgeous Mosque in Casablanca. I got henna-tatooed by accident (don't worry it will go away in about a month).

They are changing E.T.

I want to go to Australia.

Those are the three topics for my journal entry when I get around to writing it, right after I sort through the work backlog here (after all, that's what they pay me for).

13:30 p.m.

Executive Summary

Since I am learning the fine art of summing things up for people who only care minimally, this is my executive summary of my 7 day trip to Morocco.

I headed strait to Marrakesh from Casablanca, where I spent day 1 wandering the souqs (basically a combo flea market and Middle Eastern bizarre). Day 2 was spent at the most beautiful waterfall I have ever been to, the Cascades, about 3 hours from Marrakesh. Then I departed on a 3 day guided tour (in a minivan of 6 people). The first day was spent touring 13th century Jewish, Berber, and Arab kasbahs. The second day was spent in the desert, culminating in a beautiful sunset camel trek, a camp out in the desert. And the last day was a frantic drive all the way back to Marrakesh. The next day, we headed to Casablanca, a very metropolitan coastal city. There we wandered, and then went to the only Mosque where non-Muslims are allowed to tour, a brand new, 800 million dollar monument to Islam, that could fit both Notre Dame and St Peter’s Bascillica inside of it.

Now, the long, erudite observations

1. Camels are fowl creatures.

I insisted on going on a Sahara camel trek. My two friends from Australia protested. They said in Australia, someone decided to import camels because they survive well in the Outback, but eventually everyone just released their’s into the wild, because they weren’t worth the effort compared to horses or donkeys. I would have to agree. The spit, fart, make this howling noises reminsent of dinosaurs from the Jurassic Park movies, and, most disagreeably, they have a huge hump where you are supposed to sit.

With that said, the camel ride was one of the highlights of the trip. There is still the crazy romantic notion of being in a camel caravan surrounded by dunes that are hundreds of feet high. We went out at sunset, and the stars were incredible. We came back at sunrise, and the sand changed ever possible shade of yellow and red. It was a true African experience!

2. Bargaining is not an easy thing.

I thought I was an assertive person BEFORE I went to Morocco. Its unbelievable the amount of hubbub that is typical of the merchants in the souqs in Marrakesh. We would hear everything from "Pas cher!" (not expensive) to "Liquidation sale!" being shouted at us. If you stopped to look, you would be accosted. Literally they would try to dress you with their clothes so you would HAVE to buy things. This is how I got henna-ed by accident. I stopped to look at pictures of henna designs, and next thing I new this woman was covering my skin in dye "just a sample, just a sample. I kept protesting "I don’t have any money, I can’t pay, I don’t have any money." Somehow she ended up with 50 Dh (about 5 USD) from me as a result of this.

Toward the end of the trip, I got much better at the whole bargaining thing. I bought this awesome pottery bowl (perfect for serving big salads) for 90 Dh (9 USD). The original asking price was 300 Dh. I even got to the point where I could somehow convince shopkeepers to browse without accosting me with things to purchase (they did nickname me „just looking“ several times though).

With that said, it is REALLY hard to force yourself to bargain, because everything is so very cheap. It almost becomes a matter of principal. When a 50% reduction in price is only a few franks, it almost doesn’t seem worth the effort—at the beginning of the trip. At the end of the trip, we were complaining about paying 8 Dh instead of 5 Dh for the famous mint tea (which we actually had for 1 Dh at several places).. You have to understand, 3 Dh is the difference of about a quarter.

The thing we learned, though, was EVERYTHING was negotiable. Cab fares, hotel rooms, dinner, drinks, especially souvenirs. And because the prices were so good, I could actually travel like a Cutri – i.e. I could afford to take cabs, hire cars, hire guides, eat nice dinners out, etc. It was a refreshing change. It seemed no matter what I did, I would not break my budget (which was lower than my average Switzerland traveling budget).

3. Lovely Desolation

After one day in the markets, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Thankfully I got out of the city fast. We’re talking long stretches of winding, empty roads. The scenery was brown and empty. But in a strange way, it was beautiful. I don’t quite know how to describe it. But when we arrived in Erfoud, at the edge of the desert, we were following something that could only be called a road when compared to the road into our cottage in Canada. Then suddenly, it ended.

Next thing I know, our beat up Hundyai minivan is careening over the dry salt lake beds. Off in the distance, we could see landrovers, with their trail of dust. Basically, there was no road that connected Erfoud with the little town (that basically consisted of a few hostels and a few residences) that was on the edge of the desert. It was crazy, we basically picked our own road (we only had to push the car out of the sand twice). Later we confirmed on a map that towns were only connected by dotted lines that pretty much signified "make your own road."

Another successful adventure

Traveling in Morocco was very different from Europe. It isn’t exactly part of the developing world, but things were much more of a challenge. Many of the people, especially the women, are illiteratae. Showers are not common, especially warm ones. The cars are in miserable shape. And in the cities there is widespread poverty (though once we got outside of the city, especially south of Marrakesh, the towns looked amazingly prosperous, more prosperous than places in Europe I have been too). The worst for me was the complete lack of sit-down toilets (except at some Western tourist destinations) and lack of toilet paper (thank heavens we brought tissues). The language barrier was much easier for me to overcome though. Most Moroccans speak very basic French. Which is good, because I speak very basic French too. I can’t communicate with someone who actually speaks decent French. But somehow I was getting by exchanging broken French with the Moroccans suprisingly well – I mean, meaningful, useful conversations! Without my French, we would have missed trains, paid too much for souvenirs, not known directions, and not met as many Moroccans. It was actually very useful – the first time my French has ever been truly absolutely needed in my life. I’ll be a francophne yet…

It was nice to do a trip that made traveling a little more challenging than I am used to. But now, I am ready to take a cruise or sit on the beach or something.