Day 1
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| sunset over the Atlantic |
I landed in Casablanca ahead of mom and was greeted by our
friendly (and who we later ended up hating because he is so eccentric and
annoying) driver. Once mom’s delayed flight got in, we hopped into the car
(much to my dismay after 24 hours of traveling) for a 5 hour ride to the
seaside city of Eswara. I knew that morocco was a poor country, but driving
along the one-lane seaside road alongside donkeys and hitchhikers, I realized
how poor the country really was. I thought I had seen some pretty extreme
poverty in Vietnam and Cambodia, but this was much more widespread around the
countryside. The thing that shocked me the most was the amount of people who
used donkeys as transportation and loaded them up with various goods. In all of my travels I had not seen
anything like that.
Day 2
We had a tour of Eswara with a really nice and knowledgeable
man. He was very European, with his British accent and trendy glasses, though
it was clear that he did not like Europeans because of all the change they
brought to his home city, such as satellite dishes. The city is very beautiful, painted blue and white. The outside looks like a fortress, and was designed after a city in Portugal. It used to be a main port town, as it has a strategic place on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. In one of the watchtowers along the ocean wall of the city, our guide showed us the wonder of the architecture: exactly in the middle there is a perfect, loud echo. If someone saw a ship coming from afar, they could easily go to the center of the tower and make an announcement and stomp their foot, being heard by men who were higher up or along the wall.
After walking around the
medina (walled city) filled with CATS and KITTENS, we went out to the fishing
village, where the fishermen had just come in with their daily catch and were
unloading on to tables and selling their catch for the day. We learned that the
small fishing boats are used to catch the big fish, and the large boats are used
to catch the small fish (you catch few big fish and many small fish). The small
boats go out around 3 PM and come in at 5 AM—talk about weird hours and a long
day! We were able to see many different kinds of fish, crab, lobster, shark,
and even stingrays! It was very impressive. Some of the people buying buy just
for themselves and cook at home, some buy in bulk to sell in the market, and
some fishermen only sell all of their catch in bulk. What I really couldn’t
believe was the amount of seagulls flying around. Our guide told us that the
fishermen follow the seagulls to find fish…but the seagulls clearly follow the
fishermen as well.
After our tour we went to a series of stalls outside the
medina that sell fish and then grill them for you. We got 2 different types
of fish, squid, and a giant crab
that was so amazingly sweet and delicious. It was an incredible meal, eaten
with hands and bread, of course (and a Moroccan salad—red and green—on the
side).
That afternoon we just walked around the medina, admiring
the different shops and the life inside of the bustling walled city.
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| one of the watch towers |
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| grillin' some lunch |
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| our lunch |
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| Eswara from the fishing village |
Day 3
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| holding a baby goat in front of a tree of goats |
We left early in the morning to drive to Marrakech and meet
our guide. Jamal informed us that the best place to buy Argan oil (aka Moroccan
oil) was on a drive from Eswara, where there are many argan trees and argan
co-ops. We stopped in one, where we saw women making argan oil. There are two
different types of argan oil: edible and cosmetic. I’m confused as to how the
two are made differently, but for some reason they are different. They are both
made by crushing the argan beans on a circular stone, and on top there is
another circular stone that is easily maneuvered around it to crush the beans
and extract the oil. After, the co-op makes products for any beauty malady you
could imagine: anti-aging, shampoo, conditioner, soap, for dry skin, under
eyes, WHATEVER. It’s there.
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| woman making argan oil |
Animals eat the outside of the beans while people use the
inside of the beans, so it works out pretty well. This also causes an
incredible natural phenomenon: goats climbing trees to eat the beans.
Unfortunately, we did not see this nautrally, but stumbled upon some men on the
sie of the road who had placed their goats in the tree as a tourist attraction.
I was absolutely delighted when I saw this and couldn’t wait to get out of the
car as Jamal pulled over. Upon getting to the tree, I was handed a baby goat
for a photo opportunity. I had become used to strangers handing me kids—but
human kids were the norm, not goat kids. The goat’s stomach kept making strange
rumbling noises and I was afraid that he was going to poop all over me, so my
pictures with the goat are a bit awkward because I was more concerned about how
to not get pooped on and put the goat down rather than take a picture with it.
It was awesome though.
After a few more hours in the car, we arrived in the red
walled city of Marrakech, where we were met by our guide and taken on a several
hour tour of the city. Our tour took us to the ornate tomb of a past king, the
old palace, and a museum. We got our first exposure to riads, which are houses.
The Islamic tradition is not to show off your home (or women). Riads don’t have
windows looking to the outside, but rather have a courtyard on the inside with
a fountain or garden and all the rooms looking over the courtyard. This makes
each passerby question what is actually behind the doors one passes in the
medina, as it could be a beautiful home or just small apartments. Not only do
the riads make all homes seem equal from the outside, but also encouraged women
to stay in the home, as they could not see the outside world and felt a sense
of fresh air and nature with the open courtyard in the middle.
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| horse drawn carriages inside the medina |
Our tour ended in the famed Souk of Marrakech, where we saw
dozens of Berber rugs, leather goods, and the dyeing section, where we learned
the long process of dyeing the vegetable silk scarves. Probably the most
impressive thing I saw was a little boy who carved the wooden ends of skewers
using his foot.
After our long day of touring, we checked into our beautiful
riad-turned-hotel. Upon checking into our room, we discovered rose petals
everywhere: on the bed, in the bathtub, on the table, in the sink. It was
probably one of the most romantic places I’ve ever been, and I got to share it
with my lovely mother. Very nice, but kind of silly.
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| cones of spice |
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| painted wood ceiling in a palace |
Our evening concluded with our most memorable and delicious
meal of the trip: a 5 course meal in our riad. As if Moroccan meals weren’t
already filling enough, we got a taste of just about every Moroccan dish you
could image. We started out with the small Moroccan salads, which include
beats, roasted carrots, an eggplant puree (my personal favorite), peppers and
tomato sauce, and even more deliciousness. We then had a Moroccan vegetable
soup, which we had experienced as tasteless at past restaurants, but found this
one delicious, especially when accompanied by some pepper. After the soup we
found a pastry type dish topped with powdered sugar and cinnamon in front of
us, called pastilla, or pigeon (in this case chicken) pie. Our culinary journey
climaxed at the tagine, the quintessential Moroccan dish. We found perfectly
tender lamb, prunes, and apricots under the lid and devoured every morsel (with bread, of course). By
dessert, we thought we were going to explode, but had to attempt to shove some
of the sweet delicacy in front of us down our throats. We went to bed even
fuller than usual (which is saying a lot) in our rose petal room that night.
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| mom and me in the museum |
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| dyed vegetable silk |
Day 4
Our day started off with a trip to the Majorelle gardens, which were once owned by Yves Saint Laurent.
We spent a couple of hours strolling around the gardens, admiring the wide
variety of plants from 6 continents and the bright colors of the flower pots
and buildings within. I was a bit disappointed with the memorial to YSL, and
the very small room dedicated to his art, which was only the Christmas cards he
sent out every year. It was very cool thinking that YSL spent time in Marrakech
and these gardens, getting inspiration for his new lines of clothing and
changing the world of fashion.
One of the employees of the garden took it upon himself to
direct a photo shoot of Mom and after we asked him to take one picture of us.
Instead of one photograph, we ended up having him taking 20 in different
locations that he directed us to. Unfortunately, he was not a very good
photographer and none of the photos came out very well, but it was still quite
amusing. Our time at the gardens
ended with another exciting and amusing occurrence: a small fire among the
cacti at one end of the garden.
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| one of the photos from our photo shoot |
After the garden, we got picked up by our trusty driver
Jamal and driven to a delicious local restaurant where we had tagina, the
traditional dish of Marrakech. I’m not sure how it really differs from tagine,
but it was extremely delicious. It is prepared by the lamb being put in a pot,
which is then set on the edge of a fire oven and cooked for several hours to
perfect tenderness before being served. The container is different from tagine
(though the cooking method is the same), it was more oily, and did not have any
fruit or vegetables. I greatly enjoyed it; it was only seconded by the dinner
we had the night before.
After lunch we hung out on the rooftop terrace of our riad,
which had a 360 view of the mountains surrounding Marrakech and lovely rooftop
plants. Marrakech was the last stop we had that was hot, so we took advantage
and did a little sunbathing.
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| tagina |
The night before we had met some British travelers who told
us that the square inside the sook is crazy and a must-see. We had seen some of
the performers setting up the night before, including the snake charmers, but
thought it would be nice to watch the sunset on a rooftop bar and then check
out the scene below. Unfortunately, I had hit a travel wall at this point and
was in the jaded travelers mindset of feeling like I was just looking at
another market and crowded area, thought it was completely different anything I
had experienced. In retrospect, the square is quite impressive. Down the middle
are many different street vendors, where people can sit down and enjoy some
authentic Moroccan street food. On the south side of the square are all the
performers. There are many oral storytellers. My favorite performers were the
Moroccan version of lady boys: men dressed up in traditional female Moroccan
garb and dancing to a live band.
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| courtyard in our riad |
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