We left for Morocco today at the early hour of 6:00 am. We had to take the metro to the Central Station in Milan, then a shuttle to the airport. We were planning to convert our Euros to durhams in the airport, but of course we forgot and and went through security first. By security I mean we walked through a gate where I could have had bombs strapped to my body and no one would have noticed. We flew EasyJet and our tickets were only 40 euros each way!!! On the plane we met an American couple who teachs English at a military base in Naples. They were both so friendly and shared their suggestions with us on what they thought we should see in Marrakesh.
Once we arrived we had to go through customs which took forever!! All they had to do was stamp our passports but I suppose I understand why this was a 30 minute ordeal…per person! Putting that stamp in ink and then proceding to stamp a passport can really be a hard and difficult process... Once we were cleared from our potential terrorist status we exchanged our money. One euro is worth 11 durhmans. At first we thought we were going to have so much money until we realized everything costs a lot of durhamns… a soda is around 20, a typical meal ran 30-200, and our hotel was 1500. In reality the cost of everything is was similar to the cost of things in Italy but a bit cheaper.
We took a bus from the airport directly to the hotel and avoided the 50 men harassing us in arabic to take their taxis. The hotel was one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen! Everything was ornately decorated by hand!! There was color used everywhere –each aspect was truly breathtaking. Our room had two twin canopy stype beds- I felt like a princess! They room also had stained glass windows, morrocon tiled floor, and beautiful lanterns all over the room.
Once we were settled in the room we walked around the city and had lunch and then came back to sit at the pool-which was truly exquisite. At one point a little Moroccan boy came and sat by Sarah and I. I was thinking he was adorable and just wanted to sit near use in a cute type of way. Well…about fifteen minutes later he started touching himself and making weird noises!! It was at this point that Saran and I got up and left. The weirdest part wast hat our tween-masterbating- morcoon followed us inside and kept staring at us while STILL touching himself….lets just say that was one of the last things that I expected to happen.
We later went back out to explore the city around us. As westerners we stick out a lot. We tried to wear scarves to cover our collar bones, as this is something that is supposed to help, but everyone stared at us anyways. Many of the men tried to talk to us and just assumed we spoke English, so we quickly figured out if we pretended to not know English they would leave us alone quicker. At first all of this was quite overwhelming and uncomfortable, but eventually we just started ignoring EVERYONE and got used to it. We walked around the area of town where our hotel was, which is one of the nicer areas of Marrakesh and quite metropolitan. However, just a five minute walk from this area and the atmosphere changes into a bustling environment of typical Moroccan cars and motorcycles threatening to run you over at every moment...even if you are walking ON the sidewalk. Mules and horse drawn carriages are quite common as well. For dinner we at an authentic Moroccan restaurant filled with locals and tourists alike. We had vegetarian couscous and some other dish that was boiled vegetables with delicious spices. For dessert we went to another restaurant, to just quickly stop and have a milkshake, which surprisingly is very common there. While taking our order our waiter, who was born in Marrakesh, was making small talk and asked where we were from. I was tired and just said," New York," because that is where Sarah is from and so often no one knows where Arizona is anyways. He then proceeded to tell us that he was once in New York during a layover to go to TUCSON, ARIZONA! At this point, I looked in him straight in the eye and apologized for not telling him where I was actually from, because I MISTAKINGLY assumed he would not know where Arizona was, let alone Tucson. Next he started telling me he not only visited Tucson but went to Pima Community College and lived on Broadway! He later told me I should get in contact with his wife, who is American and still is living in Tucson now...Of course her number started with 520!! All I could do was laugh at the ironies of life. I absolutely love that I travel to AFRICA and meet a person that has lived and studied in TUCSON. A few moments later, I looked across the street and there was a travel agency called, Arizona Tours… I am pretty sure the universe is sending me some esoteric message but I am not yet sure what it is….
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| Lobby of Hotel Marrakesh |
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| Our Room! |
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| Downstown at Sunset |
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