Morocco Days 4 and 5- Marrakech

After spending the night back at the ship, we went on the train for Marrakech. On the train ride, we met a nice man named Abdul, who spoke French. Granted, Brianna's and my French are absolutely abysmal, so that didn't help too much. But his smartphone had 3G, and he just pulled out Google Translate. He showed us pictures of the border between Aleria and Morocco, where the landscape is wonderful, and the American shoot movies like Gladiator. He also showed us pictures of his friend in Washington, D.C., who is a DJ. Small world.

As we left the train station and walked to the hotel, we met a man named Hussein. He offered to drive us to the Sahara or do other attractions, but Victor and Hang were keen on this ziplining thing, which we'll get to later. So we agreed on a price, and we all jumped into his car and went to the resort where the ziplining was. Unfortunately, because of Ramadan, the resort was closed by the time we got there.

But Hussein kind of made it up to us. He gave us a tour of the far outskirts. He took us a place to ride camels, since Brianna talked about wanting to do that the entirety of our stay here. The camels were tall, covered in flies. We rode for about thirty minutes. We didn't go at a fast pace, but these were camels, not the Acela express. Mine was called... I'm not quite sure... something like Harisha?

He drove through the Ourika (probably spelled wrong) Valley to a Berber village, where we saw this cooperative where they made Argan oil. We got to try a couple of products there- it's good stuff. I wish they made it in the states...

We also got a tour of this traditional Berber home, where they grind wheat with the help of the river. Within this mud and straw home, as many as twelve people lived. These people were holding onto the way of life they had for centuries.

But during the car ride, I found my friends particularly annoying. They were constantly messing with each other, poking one another, messing with each other's hair. Eventually, when one asked for some assistance from someone, I, pissed off, yelled, “We will turn this car around.” One responded, “If you act like an adult, you're going to be an adult.” Maybe I am an adult. Maybe I'm an adult surrounded by children. Maybe I need an adult to have conversation. Maybe I needed to feel young...

Thankfully, the scenery allowed me to put my mind off of them, despite their childish games. I would describe it as a cross between West Virginia, and Arizona. Tall Mountains of red clay, covered in green plants, separated by rivers, rise out of the hot, dry landscape where the only living things were their sheep and their shephards. If I was alone, if I was not on SAS and couldn't rent vehicles, I would completely be down with just taking myself and a hotshot motorcycle and simply driving to drive. Just to go with no destination and no purpose, only to forget the world behind me and see the countryside in front of me, that is what I would enjoy.

After we got back into the city, Hussein dropped us off at Nihad's, who we broke her fast with. We also met up with Dong Yu and her boyfriend, and Victoria. In Ramadan tradition, during the month they cannot eat or drink until past sundown. I was very happy to see her. So at her house, we met her parents, who were very friendly, and her niece and nephew, who are adorable. We ate a number of different bread foods and sweets, sugar is very important when you're fasting. (… reflect on the lollipop incident...)

Once we were done, we walked through the Ville Nouvelle and we saw Abdul. Except we thought his name was Muhammad. We were all embarrassed. Nihad and him spoke for a few minutes about how they knew us. Most of us were bewildered. They were speaking in French, so I was bewildered, but not overly bewildered.

Then we checked out their medina. It's really really really busy. Much more places to eat and shop than the last one. We got to try a lot of food- tajime, escargo, some chicken on a stick. Good stuff. Some of us shopped a little too.

Day 2, we woke up. Hang made us breakfast out of KFC leftovers- chicken sandwiches. I was just awe-struck by the fact we had breakfast, let alone warm breakfast. We left to go back to the ziplining place. Now, I'll admit, I was kind of grumpy that we were going at all, I'm here to see cities, not seek thrills. But by the end of the trek I might have been the one that enjoyed it the most. We strapped on our harnesses and flew from one side to another. Some of us flew better than others. Victoria got stuck in the middle of the longest and someone had to go get her. That was embarrassing. There were also cool wire monkey bridges that we had to cross. I felt like I was back in the fifth grade on the spring safety patrol trip to the YMCA. I felt like a kid again. Finally.

Then we jumped on the train and went home. Before going back to the ship, Brianna, Gabe, and I went back to the Casablanca medina to spend the rest of our cash. I bought a teapot, I think I'll give it to Alex Miletich, that way it's a gift for our apartment. You know, I need something nice to keep all my Turkish tea and Moroccan whiskey.

To think this was the last day in the last port... Reflections to follow.