Day 14 (09-09-10)

Two weeks. Really? Wow… in typical SAS fashion, it doesn’t feel like that much time has passed.  One port down, plenty more to go, but it still feels weird knowing that we’ve been gone for this long already.

As I mentioned before, the turnaround time between Spain and Morocco has essentially been eliminated. It’s actually the first time in SAS history that a ship has made the journey between these two ports in such little time. We’re all feeling like we could’ve used that day off in between for recovery time, but extra time in port is always appreciated.

After breakfast, we had our cultural and logistical pre-ports back-to-back. Be conservative. Long sleeves and pants. Muslim country. Don’t mock the King; it’s illegal. Don’t get hit by cars. Drink mint tea. Same old.

Also, it’s still Ramadan, so restaurants won’t be open until after sunset today. And many shops will be closed, too. The celebration of the holy month should be taking place tomorrow and the following day, so things may be closed then as well. I’m not entirely sure how this will affect us, but we’ll figure it out.

Two hours after pre-port, American diplomats came aboard and talked to us about the state of US relations with Morocco, and some things to watch out for. There’s no good way for us to keep up with current events on the ship (other than some glitchy online versions of bbc.com and the New York Times), but apparently there’s a priest in Florida that is planning on burning Qurans on September 11th because the celebration following Ramadan coincidentally happens to fall on that date. The diplomats are unsure whether or not this news has reached the general Moroccan population yet, but we’re supposed to remain cautious anyway.

Around 3pm, the ship was cleared for debarkation and we took the shuttle bus to the port entrance. It’s a 30-minute walk from the ship without the shuttle, so we’re pretty happy that SAS made it available to us. Oh, and it’s still 90+ degrees outside, so wearing jeans was pretty awesome.

Today was a rather easy day. We walked around Casablanca for a few hours and checked out the marketplace. People grabbed and pulled at us, trying to get us to buy their crafts and knockoff merchandise. The market here was less chaotic than I remember Marrakech’s being, and I was actually kind of bored with it. Perhaps disinterested is a better word, but I just wasn’t in the mood to shop. Unfortunately, it seemed to be one of the only short-term options for us given the time of day and future plans. I’m planning on staying in Casablanca today and tomorrow, and I have a SAS trip for the following two days. Others in the group (Giggles and Krystal included) are leaving for SAS trips tomorrow. Basically, no one wanted to venture outside of Casablanca today, and we had planned on visiting the Hassan Mosque (world’s 2nd largest, smaller only than Mecca) on our last day in town. Collectively, we were still drained from Spain and frying in the sun. Plus, everything in town was closed because of Ramadan. So, after an hour of searching unsuccessfully for a local restaurant to eat in, we caved and went to McDonalds. Let the judgment begin. Don’t worry, I was the first one to do the judging, but I was terribly hungry and nothing else was open. You do what you have to do. Ps- McChicken and Fries in Morocco tastes the same as it does in America.

After the food, we wandered the city for a little while longer and caught the bus back to the ship just in time for dinner. I swear all we ever do is eat on these trips. I like it. Relaxation ensued, and I just spent the evening talking with friends about their various Moroccan experiences. A random guy punched my roommate in the back, apparently because he wasn’t walking fast enough? Bizarre things happen in foreign countries; we just have to take them as they come.

More adventures in Casablanca tomorrow. Goodnight!