Morocco 6: The end

On our final day we simply walked the souks and market alleys of Marrakech.  We tried to see the son of Joseph School, a 16th century school that looked beautiful, but it was closed for renovation.  The Almoravid Koubba seemed closed, a 12th century domed building known as the last example of Almoravid architecture, so we had to skip that as well.  The last place on our list, Le Jardin Secret, was open.  Not much was in bloom, but we still enjoyed the wildlife and some of the flowers.



My time in Morocco far exceeded my expectation and I plan to go back at some point and explore more of the surrounding areas.  The people were super friendly and had a great sense of humor.  While pushing for you to eat at their food stalls, they'd say silly things like, "see you later alligator."  Stephanie and Miles were hitting each other with empty water bottled while walking and one of the vendors use a play boxing stance to joke around with them.  It was an excellent time.

We had a 17 hour layover in Lisbon, Portugal, so we had a hotel for the night.  I was wearing a Moroccan jacket that I had bought, since it was colder in Lisbon.  Once past passport control and after we had picked up our bags, we were walking out of the airport.  Stephanie and Miles were slightly ahead of me and I was pulled aside for a "random" search.  She lifted my two bags, which were filled in camera gear, and directed me into a side room.  I called Stephanie and Miles back, and once they saw that we were a family, she merely pulled the top of the zipper back on one of the bags and said it was fine and that we could move on.  Being a family is a lot less suspicious to airports.

After returning home we hung up some of the artwork that we picked up on the trip.  The brownish plate was the silver hammered damascene from Meknes.

Morocco 5: This is why I don't use Tour Groups

Before coming to Morocco, I had discovered that about forty five minutes away from Marrakech, there is a rock desert that looked just as beautiful as sand deserts.  I wanted to do an excursion there.  The hotel's advertised groups were very expensive and fairly simple, so I looked online.  Through Tripadvisor, I found a five star rated excursion that would bring us to both the town of Imlil, near the mountains, as well as bring us to this desert.  There were fifty reviews and the people that made the reviews had multiple reviews under their belts, so it was real.  The price was reasonable and it would be an entire day trip.

We were picked up with the rest of the tour group about five minutes from our hotel, at just after 9:00 AM.  The van was spacious and the seats were decent.  It was an English speaking tour and the guide seemed very friendly.  As we began driving, he confirmed that our last stop would be to the Agafay Desert.  Our first stop was to do camel rides.

This was not something I particularly cared to do, but since it was included on the itinerary anyway, I figured that Miles would enjoy it.  We arrived at a small encampment on the side of the road and saw other groups doing rides on camels that were tied less than a foot away from each other.  The camels were forced down onto the ground for the people to get on them.  They were not happy, and struggled.  One was tied to a tree nearby and appeared to be ill.  I did not want to partake in this and neither did Stephanie.  Apparently no one else in our group had qualms with the situation.  I did not want to upset Miles, so I kept my mouth shut.  Everyone was dressed in Arabic clothing and they went walking for about 20 minutes or so.

While they were gone, I spoke softly to one of the camels, slowly walking over to him/her, and began carefully petting its cheek.  After a few minutes, it was moving its neck toward me, for me to continue petting.  I felt good about bringing a little bit of joy to this animal's day.  It was all I could do.  When Miles returned, instead of having them force the animal down, I had him fall off the side into my arms.



The next stop was for breakfast at what I believe was an argan oil women's coop.  We sat at a table in the back and were served mint tea and Moroccan bread with olive oil, argan oil, and some other oil that I didn't try.  Then, we were given a brief demonstration about how argan oil is made and were shown samples of finished products.  We were quickly loaded back into the van.

We stopped a few more times simply to walk out and take scenic photos, before finally arriving at Imlil.  Imlil seemed to be a series of connected villages on a mountainside.  We hiked a short way up to take photos from a building terrace before hiking farther to a waterfall.



After the waterfall, we walked in another direction towards a series of houses.  I had befriended a young German fellow and his mother once we had reached Imlil and were waiting in line for the bathrooms.  After leaving the waterfall, I began talking to him about traveling and other things, and we must have slowed the pace down, because we had lost the group.  To be fair, Stephanie and I lost the group before the terrace because I had slowed to take pictures and Stephanie slowed down to wait for me.  A local woman saw that we were going in the wrong direction and shook her head.  We tried another path and again she indicated that we were not going the right way, so she came back to where we were and showed us the correct way.

We arrived at a four story house/building.  On the top floor there was another terrace, along with an inside room that had views to the outside.  The group decided to stay indoors and we were sat at large, round tables.  We were sat with another young german couple that we later found out to be around the same age as the two other girls at the table, which was 21.  We felt old.  The two girls were from Belgium, not far from the Netherlands border.

We were served a delicious Moroccan salad that was mostly tomato and peppers, followed by a dish of egg, vegetables, and meatballs, while Stephanie was served her own vegetarian dish, though also with egg(which I would not consider to be vegeterian).  We had very interesting conversations with the kids, about what they were going to school for, what tv shows they were watching(the couple was near the end of Dexter), and about their countries.

This was the view from the terrace at the end.  I was taking pictures into the sun.

After quite a while, we walked right up the road to where our van was waiting.  It was time to go to the desert, or so I thought.  After a long and very bumpy ride, we arrived... at another terrace, that overlooked terrain.



The guide pointed out that the Agafay desert was off in the distance.  The sun was setting.  This was the end.  So, what ended up as a singular desire to see the desert ended up not seeing the desert at all, despite an 11 hour day.  Additionally, I dealt with some bad stomach problems all day, along with terrible allergies, going through two tissue packets.

I pulled up the TripAdvisor website of the tour, whose head picture showed a table in the middle of the desert.  I was upset, and was walking back to the van, when I mentioned to the German fellow who I had spoken to earlier on the walk, that I was disappointed.  He said that he was disappointed too, as he had also specifically chosen this tour just to see the desert.  I turned around and approached the tour guide.

I explained my problem.  He proceeded to point out that the desert was right there!(20 miles in the distance)  I explained that that is not what was advertised.  There were two headliners of the tour.  The desert named first, followed by the Atlas Mountains(Imlil).  He said that there was not enough time.  I said that we had eleven hours, which was plenty of time, and that they either need to make time, or that they shouldn't name the tour after the desert or show that picture.  It was false advertising.

To make a long story short, I ended up getting a fifty percent refund, in cash, and they pleaded not to ruin their reputation on Tripadvisor.  I agreed, but explained that they needed to change it.  Afterward, the guide, which again, was very nice, told me that he had received complaints before and that he has been trying to get the company head to change it.  The reason that I accepted the partial refund was for a few reasons.  We did get a daylong trip, meeting some great people, and got a fantastic meal, along with some good pictures.  The Moroccan people are not exactly rich, and I didn't want to get a full refund, but at the same time, it was blatant false advertisement.  I am considering waiting a month and then checking to see if the listing has been changed to the appropriate name and then messaging them if necessary.

We did get to see the desert from the car window, but it killed my neck to turn and look low enough to look out the window.  I had wanted to spend time walking around the desert, even if it was only for a half hour.  When you go with a tour, you lose the freedom to adapt to health problems, and you lose the control to determine exactly where you get to go.  With our driver to Volubilis and Meknes, he was willing to go or do whatever we wanted.  That style is better than this, but I still prefer to do it all myself if possible.

Morroco 4: The tourist sites of Marrakech

The regular market streets of Marrakech are much wider than Fes, offering room to breathe.  Unfortunately, there are many people riding motorcycles through these streets, which makes it a bit stressful and fills the air with fumes that are trapped by the roof coverings.



We began out day by going south to Saadien's Tomb.  The price was high for what was a fairly small structure with one spectacular room that you could see only from the entryway.  There was a twenty to thirty minute line that we had to wait on to see the room.  I gave the people in front of me a wide berth to take their time.  When it was my turn, the older people behind me apparently couldn't control themselves and hovered over me.  I hate other tourists. 




The small courtyard had a few small tortoises that were walking around surprisingly fast.  They were fun to watch.  We departed for the nearby El Badii Palace, which looked two minutes away on maps, but finding the entrance proved to be difficult.  We had to walk around what we perceived to be the general area, in a large circle, until we happened to hit on the entrance. 



This place was huge and spectacular.  There were some caves underneath, an art display that I really enjoyed by an artist named Li Jin Yuan, and an upper terrace.  Storks nested all along the tops of the walls.  We had a wonderful time walking around and enjoying the architecture and the ruins.



Just a short distance away was the Marrakech mellah.  We stopped her briefly to see the Slat Al Azama Synagogue, after dodging people and children offering to "guide" us to the synagogue.  It was a beautiful white and blue.  While visiting, I commented to Stephanie how the Jews and Arabs have so much in common, including their struggles having to flee Spain together.  It is a shame that the Jews invaded in order to create Israel, ruining any good will they had between each other.  Sure enough, in a nearby room there was a video explaining that after the creation of Israel, the Arab community was outraged, and many Jews ended up leaving Morocco.  It is such a terrible shame.



Steps away we entered the Bahia Palace.  The grounds were much larger than I had anticipated, with the ability to see many rooms and courtyards, along with some beautiful plants that I had never seen before.



By the time we were done, it was time for an early dinner.  We found a place online and had a wonderful meal there.  On the way, we passed a stall filled with art that I found incredibly beautiful.  After we were done eating, we returned to that stall for a better look.  I asked about the price of a certain piece and it wasn't bad at all.  The artist actually paints the art in the stall, and the piece that I loved still needed to be finished.  He told us to come back in two hours.

Two hours later we returned and it was just about finished.  The artist came and spoke with us, giving us a rant that began interestingly enough, but soon delved into god and art and what was meant to be and how money corrupts people.  I agreed with some of the things he said, especially about how once an artist comes into money, they are often severely affected, but I am not sure why I needed to hear thirty minutes on the subject.  I just wanted to buy the piece of art.  He told me that he would like to finish the piece before selling and to come back the next day.  We would not be able to come back until Saturday, two days later, so he asked for a deposit of $10 worth of dirham.  That was fine with me.  If it was a scam, then he missed out, because I was planning on spending a lot more to buy his art!  We will see...

As if dodging pedestrians in a hallway on a motorcycle wasn't dangerous enough, he decided to talk on a cell phone while driving.

A few other things that I remembered after the fact and then wrote down in my phone to remind myself to add to the blog-

-On the first day exploring the medina in Fes, as we were leaving the medina, a random shopkeeper asked us if we were from America.  We answered yes.  He responded with, "Your president is craaazy!"  We had a good laugh.

-I asked our driver to Meknes about the uniformed men that had stopped checkpoints for cars.  He explained that in cities there are the police.  Outside of cities, there were different uniformed officers that worked more for the main government's military/police.  They stopped cars randomly or if they are speeding, in order to check them for "contraband."  We actually ended up being stopped the day after the events of this blog post, in a small tour vehicle.  They checked  the contents of the trunk and the front seats and then sent us on our way.

-Multiple times throughout the day, every day, in both cities, there is loud praying over loudspeakers.  It sounds almost like a loud mooing or humming.  We asked what that was about, and the Imams working in the mosques do this on a time table to remind people that work all day that it is time to pray.  He explained that people that work may lose track of time while doing their business, so it was the job of the Imam to give timed reminders.

Morocco 3: The final day in Fes and the journey to Marrakech, the tourist capital

The next day I took a long nap after breakfast, so we didn't leave the room until around 1:00.  We took a taxi up to the ruins overlooking the city.  The hotel said that it should cost about 12 to 16 dirham.  The taxi driver asked for 50 and I bargained him down slightly.



The views were fantastic and the weather was hot.  Off the side of the hill were graves, with donkeys roaming nearby.  Some were left to roam freely while others were tied to the ground, even though there was no shade nearby.



We walked about ten minutes away to the Borj Nord fort museum.  The place was completely empty.  It was nice and cool inside, and once we were done looking at the various swords and other military equipment, we walked upstairs to the rooftop for more views of the city.



Afterwards we started the descent down the hills to go back to the medina.  On a nearby hillside we saw the first set of skins drying.  Miles was repulsed.  Maybe he will become a vegetarian some day.



We walked down to a sidewalk, and walked along that until we hit city walls.  There was a small passageway that looked like a shortcut into the medina and people were coming in and out of it.  When we entered we saw a massive hillside with hundreds of skins drying.  One guy approached us and tried to "guide" us up to walk up along the walls.  That was not happening.  He showed us five feet to the walkway down to the medina and demanded a tip.  I gave him under a dollar.



Once in the medina, we dodged in and out of the alleys, aiming for the far end of the medina from our hotel, so we could slowly wander our way back at our leisure.  We entered some kind of trading area where people were carrying around dozens of skins and people were standing in circles.  I would have loved to take a picture, but anytime you take a picture under these circumstances, you are harassed for money.  I missed another amazing shot of multiple donkeys carrying goods that were walking down an incredibly narrow hallway due to this same reason.

Once we arrived at the area that I wanted to explore, I started looking at plates in a show.  A guy approached me and desperately wanted us to follow us to his shop.  I explained that I needed to go to the bathroom before I go to any shop, hoping to throw him off(Plus, I really did need to go before I did any shopping).  Instead of being thrown off, he led me to a newly refurbished traditional looking bathroom.  It was incredibly beautiful.



Since this had actually helped me out, I agreed to follow him to his shop.  It was not as close as he claimed it would be, but eventually we found it.  I found a plate that I really liked and we bargained with it.  He claimed it was hand made.  I have no idea if this is true.  He tried to sell me an antique looking knife in a decorative sheath, but it didn't look right despite him claiming to have made that as well.  Stephanie informed me that there was no way that it could have been handmade as he had said.



He asked if wanted to see sabra(cactus) silk fabric.  He brought us to the store of what I assume was his friend, as we never gave him more money.  A worker pulled off a string of a cactus that was hanging and spoke about how it was used on the giant loom that another worker was using, to create what we saw in the store.  I read online that some people had tried to track the source of supposed sabra fiber and it went back to Spain in the form of rayon.  I have no idea what to believe, but Stephanie and I bought something small.



After the medina, we went home for the night.  The next day we stayed at our hotel until it was time to go to our mid afternoon flight.  One of the Moroccan TSA equivalents pulled aside my camera bag to inspect.  He came upon my rocket blower, a rocket shaped bulb used to blow air at a lens in order to clear it of dust and debris.  I explained that it was used to clean, but I found it funny that I had to explain what a rocket looking device did.

The flight was under an hour, but by the time we got to the new riad, it was approaching 6:00.  Our driver from the airport explained that most foreigners stayed or lived in the old town.  The riad and room is more beautiful than our first place, but smaller.  It is, however, in the very heart of the medina.  We had scheduled to eat at the hotel and the food was fantastic.  Afterwards, we went to the nearby Jema el-Fna open marketplace, as recommended by the custodian.

The driver was right.  There were nearly as many foreigners as there were locals, which was disappointing.  Marrakech is definitely the more touristy town of the two we are seeing.  The market was lively and chaotic, with camps of people popped up all over the place, playing traditional music, a few sets of acrobats, food vendors, and people with monkeys on chains.  One person walked over to Miles while we were ourselves walking, and placed a large monkey on his shoulder and asked me to take a picture.  Knowing that he would then ask for money, and not wanting to support monkeys on chains, I declined.  Miles did not find it pleasing that someone just placed a large monkey on his shoulder without asking.  Another woman grabbed Stephanie's arm strongly and started painting her with henna.  We refused to give her money for such behavior.  When I tried to take a picture, someone immediately accosted us for money.  We decided to go in a different direction, as this was not for us.



We walked very briefly in the market souk, but it was getting late, so we decided to leave for our hotel.  Someone approached us as we were walking and asked if we wanted dinner.  Miles answered by saying that we had already eaten.  He said to Miles, "But you are so skinny!"  We all burst out laughing, and so did he.  Nice try!  I do like how many of the people have a good sense of humor, rather than being super serious as well as cold approaching others.