So here I am nearly a year since I headed off to Thailand, on a bus to dublin airport. I had an amazing two months in south East Asia, visiting Vietnam and Cambodia also. Sadly along the way I lost my phone an my blog was forgotten about. I regret not writing down my experiences but I am about to spend two weeks in morocco so hopefully I'll take care to log as much as I can. Just landing in dublin airport now and I'm about to meet brid and set off, yey!!!
Eight o'clock the following morning and all I can say is wow! I'm lying in the top bunk of a four bed mixed dorm in a hostel called equity point. The bed is so comfortable and directly outside our room is a beautiful court with a swimming pool. Yesterday after meeting brid and boarding the four hour flight the two of us started reading the guide and getting a bigger picture of what was waiting us in morocco.! The book was full of warnings and advice on how to deal with the constant harassment we were to expect from the locals. This really made me nervous and by the time we had landed I wasn't sure if I was excited or terrified.
After queuing for well over an hour we finally got through customs and onto a bus into -----.
Like out first experience of Thailand morocco was a total culture shock from the moment we stepped off the bus. The first thing I noticed was the smell, very overpowering and nothing I had ever experienced before, a mixture of spices, street food and horse manure, not overally plesent but bearable.
The place was buzzing but our main mission was to find the hostel and offload out massive suitcases. I asked a taxi driver for the street near the hostel expecting him to bundle us into the nearest cab and drive us 10 miles to get to a destination probable 2 miles away. Shockingly he merely pointed accross a large square and sent us walking. The square is the famous Djemaa el-fna. It was so distracting and we had to force ourselves not to stop at every distraction. Everywhere big groups were gathered , Moroccan men and occasionally women sitting in large circles on the ground, singing, dancing or telling stories. Scattered amongst them were individuals selling beautiful lanterns which they had set alight in order to display the magnificent colours.
At the opposite side of the square were the food stalls and here we were approached frequently by men trying to persuade us to eat at their set up.
When we got to the other side of the square I decided it would be best to ask for directions. Being aware of the warnings about male aggression I spotted a young mother accompanied with her husband whom was talking on a phone. I asked her for directions but she looked from me to her husband alarmed and refused to answer me. I then noticed her husband signalling to her that she could speak to me however she still said nothing. He put down the phone and answered our query in a very friendly manner at which point his wife visibly relaxed. As we walked off he called after us a welcome to marrakesh. He was very friendly as was his wife after the first confusion was solved, but i still felt so shocked at the clear power and control a man has over his wife .
We took a side street followed by a second one under a beautiful arch way. It was late and the stalls were obviously closin up for the night but we did get an idea of what we had to look forward to the next day. Any stall remaining open had merchandise overflowing on to the streets, rugs, lanterns, pots, clothes, shoes beat ear phones, etc etc. a shoppers dream really.
As we walked along, obviously looking lost a local guy, around our age approached us asking if we were looking for equity point and upon conformation advised us to follow him. This was a little scary as he lead us down narrow abandoned alley ways deeper and deeper without a sign of another soul. I was just about to turn back and run when the hostel came into view, a beautiful wooded door behind the typical red windowless wall. We tipped the boy (turns out he didn't help us out of the goodness of his heart, hmm) and bundeled into the building. The place was beautiful, true Moroccan style full of twisting corridors leading to large halls and of course the court room with the swimming pool, maybe I'll get a spot of sun bathing in after all, joy!
We decided that we were far too excited to go to sleep so after dumping our bags we went back through the narrow alleyways and side streets to the square. The food was AMAZING;
Stall 1 freahly squeezed orange juice for €0.4.
Stall 2 slow cooked lamb, the best lamb I have ever tasted. The meat literally fell off the bone. The experience in itself was very different. The bowl that the meat was placed on was pretty dirty clearly having a been dipped in cold water after the previous use and left at that. The man put a sheet of paper on the plate and dished the meat onto it, he also pretented us with a basket of bread, two bowels of spices and a bowl of some sort of chili sauce. I asked him if we dip our bread in the spice and he showed me what to do by picking up the spice and sprinkling it over the food, good thing I'm not put off my food easily cause his hands were all over it, yum. The lamb was delicious and it was washed down with our first glass of mint tea, including a generous top up. The tea was very sweet, tasty but maybe a bit too much sugar for my liking. After the lamb it was straight over to another stall for some snails. I have eaten escargot in Paris and really enjoyed it but the snails here weren't quiet so tasty. They were a lot bigger but lacking in flavour, still good to try all the same.
We had another lesson in customs and curtsy.. A large group had formed around some men dancing to drums. They were traditionally dressed and the dance was very African based involving a lot of arm and shoulder movements opposed to our feet and legs. We wanted to take a video but when the man saw the flash he stopped dancing [[-and approached us, quiet firmly informing us that this was unacceptable, awkward. We quickly ran away and were soon distracted by a horse and cart ride.
A half hour trip set us back only €10 and we saw so much. The streets were literally taken out of Aladan, lined with Palm trees, beautiful lanterns and colourful doors.
By the end we were more than ready for bed but very satisfied with all we got done in a matter of hours. Looking good so far morocco, fair play I say, fair play :)