Soooo apparently I have a difficult time keeping blogs up to date. For those of you who followed my adventures in Switzerland you will remember that I updated my blog twice...in 7 months. Well this is my second blog post from Morocco, so let's cross our fingers that I'll break my record and make it to a third one soon! I am only slightly better at keeping my travel journal up to date and am becoming somewhat adept at documenting my adventures in photographs. So unless I want to totally forgot this experience in 10 years I will have to pick up the pace with my blogging and journaling.
Ok so let's start with the most recent events, and then I'll see what I can remember from the past couple of weeks.
This weekend I went to Marrakech with one of my coworkers. Did you know that when taking a train in Morocco just because you bought a ticket doesn't mean you are guaranteed a seat? That's right, we boarded our 3 hour train only to be squashed in a hallway with our luggage and resort to wedging ourselves between a compartment and our bags in order to remain stable on the tumultuous train ride. Thankfully less than an hour into the trip some people got off the train and we snagged some seats.
We arrived in Marrakech around 11.30pm on Friday night and took a taxi to one of the doors to the old medina (the furthest the taxis can take you because after that the streets aren't big enough for cars). After enlisting the help of some passersby we made our way down some vacant dark streets to our riad. A riad employee led us down the sketchiest road I have ever walked down, it was covered by some slabs of metal and the lights were broken, therefore it was complete darkness and we were just following him blindly down the alley to the riad. GREAT IDEA SARAH! ahaha but it turned out ok since I lived to tell the story. When we reached a door at the end of the alley the man opened the door onto a magical moonlight courtyard. He brought us to our room and then after settling in we headed downstairs for our 3 course meal that was served to our moonlit table. Needless to say we felt like princesses and this feeling was only intensified when we realized that the other three rooms in the riad were vacant (it's currently not high tourist season). A full weekend with a riad all to ourselves, with 3 course dinners and extravagant breakfasts, I'm sorry is this real life?
After a great sleep we woke up early on Saturday to seize the day. We started our shopping off strong at a fabric store where I purchased two big beautiful blankets and 3 shawls. My friend that I was traveling with is very friendly and merchants love talking with her. That turned out to be very much to our advantage over the weekend because although I was a white foreigner who would normally get offered absurdly expensive prices, my friend would always ask the prices of items first as I just browsed the shops and the merchants would always give her the "Moroccan price", after which I would start showing my interest in items. We met a ton of really nice merchants which surprised me because I had heard such harsh criticism about the dealings of Marrakech merchants. Apparently after the terrorist bombing last April they have become a lot friendlier since foreigners aren't as numerous. Anyways, I won't bore you with all of information about my purchases, all I will say is I was just as successful at many other shops as I was at the fabric shop :)
After some shopping we walked through Djemaa el Fna (the square famous for snake charmers, belly dancing, musicians, storytellers etc etc). We saw a couple snakes and some monkies doing flips before moving on to take some pictures by the Koutoubia, which is Marrakech's biggest mosques and also known for its perfect minaret. Post Koutoubia photo shoot and jaunt in a near by garden we realized we were starving and headed back to the old medina to find some food. We stopped at a food stall (well known by Moroccans) for a tajine lunch. Half way through our delicious meal I look down and realized that the server had put a fork next to me. I have become so accustomed to eating Moroccan food with my hands that I hadn't even noticed his polite gesture for a white girl in a traditional Moroccan restaurant. To be honest I love eating with my hands now, especially cous cous! When I visited my friend Soumia's home two weeks ago she cooked an incredible cous cous meal and I almost perfected the "cous cous ball" that you have to make with your hands (correction - hand, the right hand is used for eating, left hand is used for...'cleaning yourself'...traditionally speaking).
Saturday night we headed back to Djemaa el Fna which had transformed from the busy day market to the thriving night spectacle. Where there were once stalls of dates and figs there were now tables upon tables set up around make shift kitchens. There were hundreds of foreigners seated at the white-clothed tables taking in the view of the chefs cooking traditional food or the musicians performing nearby. My friend and I wondered from one act to another before settling in at a cafe to observe the chaos with some mint tea in hand. This weekend happened to be a major soccer match (Morocco vs Tanzania) that was taking place in Marrakech on Sunday. Therefore all weekend there were young guys everywhere blowing vuvuzelas, hanging out of cars with Moroccan flags, and selling every kind of Moroccan apparel imaginable on the streets. Given that I love sports and that I also love chaos I truly enjoyed seeing the city in such a state of pre-game euphoria.
On Sunday my friend and I decided to do a bit more site seeing (after a few quick last minute purchases in the morning of course). We headed to El Badi Palace to check out its ruins and imagine what used to be. We took some great photos and enjoyed climbing on, under, and in all of the ruins. Here is one of my favourites from the terrace overlooking the palace pool.
Ok so that's a synopsis of my weekend in Marrakech. It was an incredible city with so much to see and I look forward to going back again soon to explore more of it! I'm so thankful that my friend (who shall remain unnamed for various undisclosed reasons haha) was able to accompany me to Marrakech as we had many fascinating conversations and we were able to get to know each other a lot better. Looking forward to many more adventures with you!
I was hoping to talk more about my internship in this blog post but I think if this post gets any longer either you or I will lose interest, and we don't want that. So in the next couple of days I promise to write another post! I'll discuss what I have been up to at work so far and what my plans are for the next 5 months of my internship. Hope all is well wherever you are reading this from. Cheers and good night!
Ok so let's start with the most recent events, and then I'll see what I can remember from the past couple of weeks.
This weekend I went to Marrakech with one of my coworkers. Did you know that when taking a train in Morocco just because you bought a ticket doesn't mean you are guaranteed a seat? That's right, we boarded our 3 hour train only to be squashed in a hallway with our luggage and resort to wedging ourselves between a compartment and our bags in order to remain stable on the tumultuous train ride. Thankfully less than an hour into the trip some people got off the train and we snagged some seats.
 |
| A glimpse of our riad, with our balcony on the second floor. |
After a great sleep we woke up early on Saturday to seize the day. We started our shopping off strong at a fabric store where I purchased two big beautiful blankets and 3 shawls. My friend that I was traveling with is very friendly and merchants love talking with her. That turned out to be very much to our advantage over the weekend because although I was a white foreigner who would normally get offered absurdly expensive prices, my friend would always ask the prices of items first as I just browsed the shops and the merchants would always give her the "Moroccan price", after which I would start showing my interest in items. We met a ton of really nice merchants which surprised me because I had heard such harsh criticism about the dealings of Marrakech merchants. Apparently after the terrorist bombing last April they have become a lot friendlier since foreigners aren't as numerous. Anyways, I won't bore you with all of information about my purchases, all I will say is I was just as successful at many other shops as I was at the fabric shop :) After some shopping we walked through Djemaa el Fna (the square famous for snake charmers, belly dancing, musicians, storytellers etc etc). We saw a couple snakes and some monkies doing flips before moving on to take some pictures by the Koutoubia, which is Marrakech's biggest mosques and also known for its perfect minaret. Post Koutoubia photo shoot and jaunt in a near by garden we realized we were starving and headed back to the old medina to find some food. We stopped at a food stall (well known by Moroccans) for a tajine lunch. Half way through our delicious meal I look down and realized that the server had put a fork next to me. I have become so accustomed to eating Moroccan food with my hands that I hadn't even noticed his polite gesture for a white girl in a traditional Moroccan restaurant. To be honest I love eating with my hands now, especially cous cous! When I visited my friend Soumia's home two weeks ago she cooked an incredible cous cous meal and I almost perfected the "cous cous ball" that you have to make with your hands (correction - hand, the right hand is used for eating, left hand is used for...'cleaning yourself'...traditionally speaking).
Saturday night we headed back to Djemaa el Fna which had transformed from the busy day market to the thriving night spectacle. Where there were once stalls of dates and figs there were now tables upon tables set up around make shift kitchens. There were hundreds of foreigners seated at the white-clothed tables taking in the view of the chefs cooking traditional food or the musicians performing nearby. My friend and I wondered from one act to another before settling in at a cafe to observe the chaos with some mint tea in hand. This weekend happened to be a major soccer match (Morocco vs Tanzania) that was taking place in Marrakech on Sunday. Therefore all weekend there were young guys everywhere blowing vuvuzelas, hanging out of cars with Moroccan flags, and selling every kind of Moroccan apparel imaginable on the streets. Given that I love sports and that I also love chaos I truly enjoyed seeing the city in such a state of pre-game euphoria.
On Sunday my friend and I decided to do a bit more site seeing (after a few quick last minute purchases in the morning of course). We headed to El Badi Palace to check out its ruins and imagine what used to be. We took some great photos and enjoyed climbing on, under, and in all of the ruins. Here is one of my favourites from the terrace overlooking the palace pool.Ok so that's a synopsis of my weekend in Marrakech. It was an incredible city with so much to see and I look forward to going back again soon to explore more of it! I'm so thankful that my friend (who shall remain unnamed for various undisclosed reasons haha) was able to accompany me to Marrakech as we had many fascinating conversations and we were able to get to know each other a lot better. Looking forward to many more adventures with you!
I was hoping to talk more about my internship in this blog post but I think if this post gets any longer either you or I will lose interest, and we don't want that. So in the next couple of days I promise to write another post! I'll discuss what I have been up to at work so far and what my plans are for the next 5 months of my internship. Hope all is well wherever you are reading this from. Cheers and good night!
Great use of the word tumultuous in paragraph 3 :)
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