A Whole New World!
Trip Start
Sep 17, 2008
1
17
21
Trip End
Jun 04, 2009
Rabat,
Morocco
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
When we arrived at the bus station two of our friends, Pat and Nick, were waiting there to catch the bus as well. However, only one of them was able to buy a ticket so we were faced with the fact that our two man traveling team would have to accept the addition of Nick for the weekend - a 6'6'' blond man from Laguna Beach. All of our efforts to avoid looking American in the Muslim world were crushed when Nick joined the team... Now a realize that Tyler and I can't fool anyone into thinking that we belong in Morocco, but a 6'6'' blond wearing a Cal State University shirt?!?! I am proud to be American, but there are certainly places in the world where flashing our American status is not advantageous.
Luckily, Pat was able to catch the high speed train and arrived in Madrid just as our flight was about to leave for Casablanca. Arriving in Casablanca around 4:00pm we had high hopes of visiting the world's third largest mosque, Hassan II, but we were not comfortable with surroundings and the overload of hastling that the encountered in the first five minutes. Plus, our next destination and hotel reservation was still a few hours away. Being completely foreign and overcautious, we felt it was better to continue on the train so that we would arrive in Rabat before sundown. At that point we had our first (and last) disagreement with Pat and Nick and decided to split. We caught the next train to the more relaxed city of Rabat.
We found our hotel after an hour or so of broken English, head nods, and misleading sign language. The hotel was much more than we had hoped for. It was a clean, traditionally decorated hotel with a balcony that looked over the medina. Medinas, whilch literally means "old city," are located in every Moroccan city. They are surrounded with the historial walls of the city and are filled with an overwhelming amount of shops, restauants, local residents, and curious tourists.
The first night we wondered around the Medina and Tyler tried his first liver sandwich. There was a lot of mystery food around the Medina as the Moroccans don't waste any part of the animal when it is butchered. Moreover, they do not mind displaying the butchering process next their customer's dinner tables. Regardless of the animal (most commonly cow, goat, camel, rabbit, and chicken) all of their parts, from brains to toe jam, are cleaned and served out in the open. Being the more conservative of the two I chose to pick at a fried potatoe sandwich and saved a few left overs to share with the stray kitties in the park. I think Tyler is finally accepting the fact that we have to stop and say hello (and share our food) to all of the animals along the way.. he has a soft spot in his heart for the little furry friends as well, his just isn't as exposed as mine!
The next day we continued to walk in and out of the shops in the medina and then we took a tour of the Kasbah, the old military housing complex that is now occupied by the general population. Although we were lead by a psuedo-guide the sights and information were plentiful. We stopped for a tea with fresh mint before heading back to pack up and move on to the next city. On our way back a small corner shop caught our attention. There was a man, who had an advanced level of English, making plaques with arabic writing on them. We were intrigued and ended up designing our own with the help of several other locals. He made a wooden plaque with wooden writing in a matter of 10 minutes. The saying we had him write was, "Life is a journey." Although that saying could not be directly traslated into Arabic, he was able to write, "Life is full of adventure." He was very proud of his work and we were even more excited about our unique momento!
