Ok. Where to be begin. To finish the Moroccan jaunt I’ll just say that it was in Fez that we learned the best way to get people to do what you want them to. Play dumb. I mean literally we would stop moving and stop speaking and just stare at each other until they got bored and walked away. I found this to be the least offensive way to get them to stop without letting it get too far.
Most people we talked to about Morocco said Fez was their favourite city. So, we were excited to see it for ourselves but other than a few exciting walks exploring the area outside the medina and discovering a graveyard where locals picnic, it was not a place I would recommend. The medina is really crowded and confusing and I found the treatment of tourists the worst of any place we visited. The last city on our Moroccan adventure was Tangier. It rained non stop in Tangier and so we have very little to report about it. The shops didn’t even bother to open in the rain because people just didn’t wander the medina as much. So, all in all, boring 2 days.
I, Kalene enjoyed Morocco the country. The camels, the amazing kasbahs, the mint tea, the food, getting lost in the goods offered in the souks. I cannot even describe the sight of the stars in the middle of the Sahara Desert. And watching the sunrise over the sand dunes and the sunset in the Atlas mountains was absolutely breathtaking.
I agree with Ken that the people got very overwhelming. I just felt torn about how to feel about them. I have never known true poverty, so it’s hard for me to grasp the whole picture really. I got very sad realizing the ignorance of the local mentality that all visitors must be rich. You want to help the local community and the craftsmen and use your good fortune to help the impoverished. It’s all a sham though, the people we dealt with most were not those living in poverty, so you’re not really helping the situation anyway…. Here I am getting things for great prices, which I love, but not as good prices as I know I should get, which I hate. Then feeling guilty thinking that just because I can get better deals, should I?
The other thing that smacked me across the face was the treatment of women. I am very, very humbled as a woman. I constantly felt at a loss for how to ‘act.’ Ken got addressed anytime we dealt with money, and I got berated anytime I spoke back. And I mean spoke. Just opened my mouth to offer a suggestion or ask a question. The thing is, in the western world, we can actually make a difference in the way women are treated but here, I hated accepting that I was a second class citizen because then I’m perpetuating this belief. But, if I spoke back to them, I’m perpetuated the belief that women in the western world are running amok and thus perpetuating the belief that here in Morocco, the reins must be kept in tight to prevent their women from such ‘outbursts’. It goes a lot deeper than this of course and I have many more conflicted emotions about the injustice. I mean, I chose to go to their country after all. It’s not even my place to try to change things.
In terms of the bartering system. It has a lot of charm and it can actually be a lot of fun to barter. We definitely have some funny stories of epic fails, and some triumphs on our part, but having to barter for EVERYTHING is just exhausting. I mean arriving in a town and having to walk down the street with your mental list of questions for each hostel and then trying to get the best price from them… gah. It’s a lot to take in. Good thing there was no alcohol- a much quieter nightlife, I was pooped by 8pm.
On the positive- I have to mention the famous ‘Berber hospitality’ you get offered mint tea everywhere you go. And, if you are interested in their herbal remedies (nothing illegal dad don’t worry… at least I don’t think so?) you’re in luck because they would love to share their spices and herbs and teas and stones with you.
One famous story… So I get a cold (probably from sleeping in the dessert in 0°C weather) so we decide instead of trying to read the Arabic labels in the pharmacy, let’s go get me some herbal remedies. So we go to this store and describe this stone we were shown back in Marrakech. The man claims not to have any of that stone in Essaouira but he can help me. He gets some seed looking things, little black ones and puts them in a pouch which he rubs against his palm to warm it up. He grabs my face, plugs one nostral, shoves the pouch up the other one and says ‘breathe deep.’ Um, ok. Not normal in my world but hey- my sinuses are open! We pay and go get some tea because apparently the vapours will help me too. So we’re in the tea shop and I’m putting some of the seeds in my little pot and what do I find crawling around in my ‘medicine’ MAGGOTS! Yup. Seriously. I show the tea shop owner and ask him… is this normal? He waves his arms furiously showing me that NO! It’s not normal, and starts picking through the pouch for me to throw the maggots away. I went back to the shop owner who Ken had to deal with while I translated in French because dealing with me directly- nope! He sheepishly apologized and gave us a whole bunch of free tea. And yes, just to make you all laugh, I did keep using the ‘maggot’ seeds and got over my cold in a jiff. Hey, sometimes you gotta just go with it.
Well we left Morocco in a violent rain storm and rocked and swayed our way across the Strait of Gibralter to Algeciras, Spain, then bused immediately over to Malaga. Ahhh, the beach. I needed a few quieter days to contemplate my experience in Morocco.
So, we find ourselves in Malaga Spain on the beach and breathing sigh after sigh of deep relaxed air. Quite the contrast to the busy, often uptight attitudes in Morocco. It took some time to really understand the schedule of the siesta. Wait, you mean I can’t look at your shop because it’s 2pm and you want a nap!?! Whoa whoa, don’t you care that I can bring you money… nope ok then. Let’s grab a beer instead? Perfect.
I have so much to say about Morocco but I think the biggest thing to note is that I just didn’t ‘get’ it. I’d really like to go back because I think a second turn would be much more informative and allow me to relax more into the beauty of the culture and fuss less with the rules it follows. But as a girl who wanted adventure and exploration, I sure got it and I finally feel like I can go new places and try to jump in head first. I may land in the shallow end, but as least I jumped.
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