On Morocco

On Morocco

I just came back from a tour to Morocco, and am still having a hard time sinking in all that I experienced.

Morocco is an overwhelming melange of the old and new, the conservative and modern, and comes full of fascinating contradictions in every aspect of its being, from the landscape (you can go from a ski resort to a desert in about 10 hours), people (they are very friendly but wait till you start bargaining with them), architecture (Arabic mostly but at times I thought I was in Rome) and lifestyle (hijabs and the latest fashion styles go together here). Above all it was the enormous diversity of landscape that left me speechless – from the highest mountains (high atlas, mid atlas, low atlas), to the ocean-surrounded Casablanca, Saharan desert and some parts even had snow.

The tour was jam-packed, covering most major cities and parts of Morocco. At times it was too fast but in the end I was very happy that I got to see so much – Marrakesh, Fez (great place for buying leather jackets) , Rabat, Casablanca, Sahara Desert, and even a Moroccan Hollywood. Seriously there is such a place with movie studios that have turned into tourist attractions (you can visit one for about 7 dollars, but that wasn’t part of our tour), and they have filmed a great number of movies here – Gladiator, Game of Thrones, Lawrence of Arabia just to name a few.

Riding a camel and camping out in the desert was always on the bucket list, but did not know it would end up happening so soon. The Sahara desert was only a rough approximation of what I had imagined, as it looks completely totally different based on time of the day. In the early morning when the sun rises, it develops a deep orange color, turning into more of a brownish color as the day progresses. As the night arrives, nothing prepares you for the innumerable stars you’ll end up witnessing – spending the entire night sleeping under the stars will be an experience I will always cherish.

One aspect of Morocco I enjoyed a lot was the bargaining. I got a great deal on a leather jacket or at least the store employee made me think I did. It was actually a very funny and prolonged episode where sometimes I would steal a glance at him to see if he is ready to accept the offer that I made, then he would do the same, so on and so forth. It was somewhat like flirting, but in the end I don’t know who got screwed 🙂 This episode made me think I am actually good at bargaining, but the souks ((means an old market or something like that) in Marrakesh brought me down to earth where I wasn’t really able to get a deal on anything.

Speaking of the souks of Marrakesh, this place is absolutely crazy from snake charmers, who love to wrap snakes around the tourists’ necks, and get paid for the service, small shops selling everything from fake Burberry wallets (confession: I bought one, plus some other fake stuff) to dates, fresh juices and anything else you can imagine under the sun. I would come back to Morocco just for these insane markets.

And there was so much more – from the musicians you meet at remote highways who play Moroccan drums with such ease (I tried and totally sucked), the ultra-sweet mint tea that everyone offers you, and above all the working class of Morocco who make argan oil, gorgeous tagine pots, teacups, and even fountains with their bare hands. They are amazing.

Lastly, a word out to all the wonderful people I traveled with and met during the trip – you guys are so interesting and cool. Hope we meet again!!