hi everybody,
i have a lot to share about this past spring break. i was planning to tour southern morocco with another american here as well as two moroccans, but they ended up not being able to come, so it was just the two of us. im sure now this worked out for the best, because we ended up being good travel companions (plus, we tend to live much much more cheaply than the moroccan students here, so i dont know how we would have worked out life on the road)
it was a real relaxing trip: we only went to about half the places/towns/sights than we had originally planned, mostly because we decided we'd rather have more downtime than time on buses.
a note on buses: they are very slow in morocco. it takes about 8 hours to go 90 miles- due in part to that, the small, unpaved, winding, mountain roads, the bus breaking down (happened several times on our way to inezghane), and frequent food + rest stops (for some reason there are about 3 half-hour "lunch/casse-croute/snack" stops each trip). the bus also stops when one person decides he'd like to get off and whenever people on the side of the street want to get on, or just have a chat with the driver. the bus stops when police need to see the driver's pass, or he needs to bribe them. and whenever the buses stop, people from the street crowd on: either selling snacks, watches or jewelry, or begging for money: many recite passages of the qu'ran, and then walk down the aisle collecting (i remember studying that it's a sign of learnedness to know the qu'ran well). one man walked the length of the bus giving a big kiss to every passenger (those who were asleep, he just uncovered their jalaba hood and planted a big one, maybe so they could feel it in their dreams; and he kissed me too, of course, but not wai, who was the only foreign woman on the bus). but i never gave money to people, primarily because i couldnt understand the qu'ranic verses, and felt therefore un-obliged for their reciting it. others, however, often gave money.
our busing took us first to safi, on the atlantic coast, west of marrakesh. it was a small town, but the residents there were pretty hassling. i was surprised to see so many younger children and kids our age, after never seeing many in bigger cities like fes, rabat, tangier, and marrakesh (i still dont know why this is the case); at the beach, young children wanted our coke and wouldnt leave us for the whole two hours we were there. otherwise, safi is known for its pottery works (we got a nice tour of the pottery-making coop) and its portuguese fort, which was beautiful (i have plenty of pictures). we met some cool guys about our age, who invited me to hang out with them that night. i did, and we ended up in some house deep in the medina (which of course wasnt as complex as those in the big cities; nevertheless, i had no idea where i was), where i was served a great stew of canned tomatoes and canned sardines and some garlicky greens. we passed around some drinks of theirs as well as a bit i had brought.
after safi we headed further south to essaouira, a much larger and more touristy city also on the coast. it was very wet, so we spent much of our two days there under shelter. still, i liked essaouira; i could tell that, when drier, it was a vibrant city- plenty of art to see, laid-back residents, very posh hotels, and fresh fish to eat (although the fish we happened to order wasnt so much). my best experience though was the hammam, which had i decided to check out after having been rained on all afternoon. i had no idea what to expect (i had never read about hammams), but i went in with my eyes open, which quickly became all steamed up... :) a man who was washing himself next to me rubbed my back and neck up and down, and i felt thoroughly refreshed. the next day it was still rainy, but we caught some lulls and walked along the beach looking for jimi hendrix's "castle in the sand"- this we passed over several times because by this point it's more a crumbled mess of rocks in the water than some sort of mystical palace. but it was great fun, wading out to explore it.
we had planned to travel from there to tafraoute, in the sunnier and drier (we hoped) souss valley- the place we were both most looking forward to. but the broken-down bus (to inezghane, from where we transferred to a tiznit-bound one) took too much out of us, so we spent the night in tiznit.
the next day we left before dawn and went the final 60 or so miles to tafraoute, arriving there by noontime. we had hoped to arrive in time for the yearly almond harvest festival (which supposedly the surrounding villages spend all night celebrating), but we just missed it. instead, it was market day. so we spent the afternoon wandering around the market, and had tea and honey & oils with the sellers there. not surprisingly, tafraoute was the most laid-back place. i was only able to blink in the hot sunlight, but i still managed to get around- and sample orange honey, citrus honey, and eucalyptus honey (my favorite, mixed with olive oil and argan oil), take a walk with kemal (the honey seller) up some nearby hills/rocks, and have the "girls of tafraoute" laughing at us afterwards, sitting in the shade of houssein's (a friend) stand, drinking tea and looking thoroughly spent (i particularly enjoyed tafraoute because the women there were very outgoing, would scold the boys, and even talk directly with us- which isnt the case anywhere else i've been so far).
the next two days we spent exploring the neighboring ameln valley (with its countless berber villages tucked along the edges), and the interesting rock formations. we saw the "chapeau de napoleon" (picture) and the painted rocks- which were simply amazing (i would look them up online), but of which we unfortunately have no pictures. the reason for this is because we were on rented bikes at the time, and i had a really foolish decision to try and shoot a video. of course, i crashed, and completely tore up my left hand (but i was wearing a helmet the whole time; i decided to because i know you guys are right). but when realized my camera's lens was sidways, i immediately felt much, much worse (hands will heal). thankfully, my memory card was okay, and the camera itself, after i pushed it back into place, kind of works...but i can still hear sand inside the lenses.
so we biked for two days, and had lunches of bread, cheese, and sardines, and one night needed a taxi ride back to town (because it got very cold and we had underestimated just how far away we still were). we left tafraoute after three days feeling great, and i did wonder if i would ever go back and drink tea in the lazy afternoon, just what made the rocks so red, and how half the town seemed to know us (we were the only american tourists there; everybody else was european, and middle-aged, many having arrived in trailers).
after tafraoute, we headed northwards (but still in the souss valley), spending two nights in taroudante. it felt strange to be back within a medina's walls, and to be surrounded by motorcycles and cars zipping by... still, taroudante was a pretty neat town, and it still was great weather. the first night we happened by a private riad in the kasbah, where a french jazz singer and his band were warming up on the rooftop terrace for their starlight performance- singing stevie wonder's "superstition". so we sat down and listened until we got the feeling that the actual invited guests were soon to arrive.
after taroudante, we went to marrakesh, the capital of the south (although no longer in the souss; we left the valley by passing by the haute atlas on our way north). i think i may have liked marrakesh better if i hadnt been by this point accustomed to a laid-back life, because in marrakesh there is no way to lie back. we stayed right next to the djemma el-fna, the major square of the medina (where i had snails my very first night in morocco); this time, i had tanjia (i had been planning this): chopped up bits of the goat's head (mostly cheek), which with the accompanying sauce was simply delicious (although a little pricey). elsewhere in the square, we saw story-tellers, snake-charmers, acrobats, and gnawa musicians. but we didnt ever linger much, because performers will inevitable come up to you- asking for pictures, to try on their hats, to check out their instruments- and we just wanted to watch.
walter came late our first night in marrakesh, and it was great and definitely odd to see somebody i know back from the states- like i've said, it's seemed to me, because i'm a student here, that traveling to morocco is at least a four-month commitment. but that wasnt on my mind as we explored the marrakeshi souks and monuments and ville nouvelle. i had gone to a few more hammams since essaouira, and there was one in marrakesh that was clean and good (although not as nice as my first time in essaouira); it was so hot in marrakesh that we were all a little light-headed, and one of my first thoughts was to get to a hammam. wednesday evening we went bargain-hunting for just a little bit, and i ended up buying a real nice keftan, which looks quite thick (but isnt too much so)- a woolen, moroccan jacket. mine is burgundy colored, which i had had my eye out for but hadnt come across until then. i actually had bought a full-length jalaba (brown) in tafraoute, but i have kind of regretted it since because i cant see myself actually wearing it outside my room. but the keftan is great, because its only a top, and i will definitely put it to good use. the man initially said something like 700 dhs (which is what, $80?) but i bargained him down to $400, and after i said i was a student in morocco he whispered to me- ok, $300 dhs ($36); even though i hadnt even gone there.
a final note on bargaining: i definitely have my price in mind before i attempt to buy something (and i've only made one other real purchase besides my two clothing items- but its a gift so i'm not going to say anything here), but more than anything i usually gauge the seller. if he- i'm saying he because only the men sell stuff to tourists- seems too hassling or hurrying, i'll probably not even bother, but if he's amicable, which is more often than not the case, i'll start chatting for a bit. although sellers will price things way higher for tourists and often lie about the quality of the purchase (cactus silk, for existence, does not exist, and twice i've had my eye on a purchase, but waited until a moroccan asked about it. i heard the price in arabic, then asked myself in french. both times, the price was 10dhs higher- which isnt much, but these were smaller values), its shouldn't discourage placing your own price at a much much lower figure. i dont think its an insult to go low. my reasoning for this is because the initial price is just a test to see if the buyer will bite, and if he or she is in any way hesitant, the price will drop significantly (for example, when walter wanted to buy a jalaba, the initial price dropped 150dhs after only a few seconds hesitation on his part).
if we're still far apart, i have a personal fib: i say i just found the same item (but for my price) deeper in the medina (where tourists tend not to go and thus is much cheaper). more often than not, the price will again come down. but if it never reaches what i want to pay, i have no problem leaving (even if the seller has laid out about 10 rugs on the ground or i've spent 10 mins trying on clothes). often i do walk away, but sometimes, as i'm out the door, i hear, "ok, your price"
after a nice 8-hour ride north, we arrived in ifrane, just in time for my middle east and north african history midterm. it definitely feels nice to be back, where i can just laze around and write on this blog. we had eaten nothing but bread, meat, and a little honey and cheese and fruit for nearly two weeks, so i was dying to get my teeth on some green vegetables (but before that, i made some hot ramen).
best to everybody back home and abroad,
