Day 15 (09-10-10)

Change of plans. Not staying in Casablanca today. I found a couple of guys that were going to the Moroccan capital of Rabat and decided to join them for the trip. Rabat is only an hour away from Casablanca by train, so it’s an easy destination for a day trip.

Nick, Ben, Dani, Mariah and I bought our $4 tickets for the 10am train, and headed north to the city. Ben is actually from West Chester, PA and goes to school at Michigan. Go Blue.

Today’s adventures were rather subdued, if only because Rabat appeared to be completely deserted. Ramadan came to an end yesterday, so today began the celebration. Families tend to congregate in their original homes back in semi-remote villages outside the cities, so Rabat was practically a ghost town. The royal palace/Casbah was off-limits because of the holiday, so we were unable to tour the grounds. In fact, armed guards were standing outside the entrance as diplomatic armored left the premises. We weren’t allowed anywhere near the place. Moving further through the city, we made our way to the Hassan Tower and mosque. Everyone that was in the city of Rabat was congregating at this mosque, and traffic around it was very highly regulated. Tourists and non-Muslims were still allowed inside the area near the mosque and Tower, and we ventured in at the perfect time.

At around noon, a prayer began to take place at the mosque, and it was broadcast over a public address system. At the time, we all just assumed that it was the typical Call to Prayer that can be heard coming from mosques 5 times a day. But today is the Id (eed), the celebration of Ramadan, the holiest time of year (or so we’ve been told) for Muslims. The prayer went on for almost 40 minutes, and it was amazing to listen to. Readings from the Quran are always done very melodically, and it sounds almost like singing. It’s completely foreign and I have no idea what the man was saying, but it was very peaceful and relaxing to hear. Afterwards, he transitioned seamlessly into the Call to Prayer, and we left the area in search of food.

Since most people were out of town or praying, finding food was a difficult task. We stopped at a café for mint tea, but were unable to order a meal. As we sipped the deliciously sweet tea, the international news program on television flashed a story about the Florida minister who had ignorantly planned to burn Qurans on September 11th (tomorrow). Everyone in the café immediately turned at looked at the five of us. Not only was it painfully awkward, it also just made us feel so much like outsiders. Obviously, there are only going to be a few news stories from the U.S. that make their way over to Morocco, and this one was relevant to their culture, but it was rather disheartening to feel the animosity in the room. Putting myself in their position, I’d probably feel the same way. Even though this minister is just one man in the world’s 3rd most populous nation, he’s an American and so are we. Instant association. We quietly paid the bill, smiled at and thanked the waiter, and left the café hoping that we might make a better impression on these people than some other man 3000 miles away.

After another unsuccessful attempt at finding food, we decided to get lost. But before I get into that, I just want to reiterate the fact that we were walking around a major city in Morocco. The capital city. And we couldn’t find a single restaurant open. All of the shops were closed. There were no vendors selling their goods in the souks. Imagine going to D.C. and being unable to eat. It was surreal.

We wandered onto some side street that turned into a side alley that branched into a sketchier alley and took us into the heart of the old town. Here, a few more people could be seen, as they were remaining close to their homes. Throughout the entire 90 minute journey in the old town, we found one street vendor serving food. And the stand looked like the example for which SAS would use to say, “Don’t eat the street food.” But I love street food and I was hungry, so we stopped. Luckily, everything was cooked, so it certainly could’ve been much worse. There were entire fish sitting out, heads and tails included, along with some other unidentifiable meats and vegetables. I had what I think was a bread pocket stuffed with fish, potatoes, rice, onions, and some kind of thin red sauce. 3 others in the group followed suit, and it was actually pretty tasty. The fish still had some bones in it, but they were small and brittle enough that you could just chew and swallow them. Great meal for less than a dollar.

Back at the train station, we realized that there were two restaurants inside that had been open all day. Oops. We grabbed some ice cream and headed back to Casablanca on the 5pm train. Dinner on the ship. Time to catch up on email. Staying in tonight because my SAS trip has to meet at 7am tomorrow morning. Don’t quite know what to expect, but I’m looking forward to it.

Day 16 (09-11-10)

Can’t make it to breakfast today… it’s too early. Thanks for the Pop Tarts in Canada, dad!

Our group of 35 set off for our trip to Fes around 8am. On the bus, I sat next to a girl I’d never met before and we ended up talking for the entirety of the trip. No boredom, no headphone/sleep time. Hooray for new and interesting people! Her name is Kelly from Orange County, and she goes to the University of San Diego (USD). A.K.A. the University of Spoiled Daughters, apparently? I thought it was funny. And USC is the University of Spoiled Children, UCSD is the University of the Culturally and Socially Dead, etc. Apparently these California schools really have it out for each other with these nicknames.

We stopped in Meknes for lunch and some free time to walk around the souks near the medina. The tajine (style of cooking, also the name of the dish in which the food is cooked/served) was amazing. Beef with potatoes and carrots, slow cooked like a pot roast. Also, there was an appetizer that looked like a pastry. Flaky crust. Powdered sugar on top. But on the inside was something unexpected: chicken. It was shredded and mixed with something to make it really sweet, but I still wasn’t expecting there to be chicken inside. But it was awesome.

After leaving Meknes, we traveled another hour to Volubilis. Don’t worry, I had never heard of it either. It’s an ancient Roman settlement that sits between Fes and Rabat, and was a necessary stop along the trade route between them. Today, it’s a set of Roman ruins sitting in the absolute middle of nowhere. Farms and dry grassland lay on all sides, with a few random agave cacti here and there. It looks rather out of place, but it was fascinating. Unfortunately, the lack of trees also meant a lack of shade, and it was pushing 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Apparently, if we had been there just 10 days sooner, it would’ve been 51 degrees outside. That’s in Celsius, by the way. 51 degrees Celsius. I’ll just let you figure out the conversion on your own… but it’s atrocious.

Another couple hours on the bus got us to Fes around 6:30pm, where we were free for the remainder of the evening. We grabbed the complimentary dinner at the hotel and wandered around the new city for a couple hours or so. I got some postcards, but nothing too exciting happened. Just a walk around town. The 10 of us that had been walking went back to the hotel afterwards and had a poolside chat until about 1am. Whenever people are curious as to why I know certain things about a place we’re visiting, they always find out that I’ve done SAS before, and the conversation turns to questions about what to expect from the future. I’m actually really glad that people are curious about it and want to ask questions; I still don’t bring it up much in conversation because I’m never sure how people will react. But at the same time, I still keep my answers brief when they do ask, simply because anything that I say won’t really be an adequate response. Cultures and places affect people differently, and we all just have to take things as they come. Plus, I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone. Whatever. Bedtime. Old town Fes tomorrow.

Ps – Today was September 11th, and nothing happened over here (as far as we know). No one reacted badly to our presence. In fact, I forgot it was the 11th until someone mentioned it right before bed. I guess the State Department’s travel advisory was simply precautionary and not all that important. Nice.

Day 17 (09-12-10)

Flooded my bathroom while taking a shower. Whoops. Seriously, if 2 sides of the tub are going to be exposed and lacking walls, then the shower curtain shouldn’t only cover one side. There was nothing I could do. Breakfast in the hotel was rather standard. Some pastries, some croissants, and a latke-type thing.

Today was a long day. We started with a visit to the entrance of the Royal Palace. There are several palaces in Morocco, but the one in Fes is the country’s largest, and the king still uses it when he comes to town. It’s not open for visitors, so we got off the bus for a group photo in front of the doors and then we left again. Saw a panoramic view of the city from a hill, and it was incredible. The entire medina, or old city, of Fes is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s the “largest contiguous car-free urban area in the world by population,” per Wikipedia. Over 15,000 streets wind their way through the medina, and over 700,000 people live inside. Madness.

Throughout the course of the day, we stopped to see a tile factory, a carpet factory, a bronze maker, a leather tannery, and a silk weaver. They went through the processes involved in making such things, and then showed up to their overpriced gift shops afterwards. I’m not saying that our tourguide earned a commission from the shop-owners from bringing us there… but yes, actually, I am. Hearing the artisans talk about their crafts was very informative and interesting, but the obvious sales pitches weren’t. And we didn’t particularly enjoy being stuck in the giftshops for 20 minutes after each presentation to browse. Not that these craftsmen were particularly pushy, it was just the type of ploy that SAS always tells us not to fall for… and we’re on a SAS trip. It just seemed a bit counterintuitive.

Another fantastic lunch followed, with a tajine of couscous, chicken, and vegetables, and more of those chicken pastries. Some bananas and oranges with cinnamon for dessert, and we were ready to go. The trip didn’t include any free time for exploring the medina in Fes, which was regrettable, but I can understand why they structured it that way. One wrong turn within that place, and you would be wandering around lost for hours. Next time I’m in Fes without an agenda or a bus/ship to catch, I’ll make sure to come back and do exactly that. But for now I’ll just have to appreciate its labyrinthine qualities while being guided on a particular path.

Around 3:30pm, we got back onto the buses and headed back to Casablanca. The celebration of Ramadan was just ending tonight, so everyone and their mothers were going back to Casablanca in order to set up shop on Monday again. So the 4 hour bus ride turned into a 5.5 hour bus ride. But again, it could always be worse. Today is Giggles’ birthday, so a group of us were going to go out and celebrate and they were all going to wait for me to come back from the trip. I was bummed when we got back an hour late, because I figured they’d have gotten tired or waiting and gone out already. As it turns out, most of the group was on the Camel Trek in Marrakech trip that had gotten back a few hours earlier, and they were all too tired to function. So they were all just lounging around in their pjs when I got there. Not the most eventful evening, but we crashed early and slept off the effects of the heat outside. Brutal.