Marrakech IV (Spring Break)

2/28/15

Day 44

Our friends wanted to try out a Moroccan hammam and it was expensive so the rest of us sat it out and went to the market one last time.

I stocked up on souvenirs knowing that I'd find hidden gems here unlike anything mass produced in Europe. We walked through sections of the market with oriental rugs, exotic spices, Moroccan lanterns, snails, and skins and I couldn't help feeling like this was the coolest thing I've ever done. 

I finally decided to try to orange juice from the venders lined up in the main square. Their stands were beautifully lined with rows of vibrant oranges and the first day, we'd made the mistake of taking pictures before they started yelling at us for money.

The orange juice was cheap and delicious though, probably on par with our hostel's fresh, pulpy OJ which we were all obsessed with. In the spirit of cramming in all our last minute Moroccan adventures and living in the moment and all that, I also felt the need to play with a monkey. One of the things we found out right away was that the monkey trainers are shady businessmen. They drag their monkeys around on leashes and if they sense your attention, they'll start draping the monkey on you and it's really cute so obviously you take pictures and this goes on for less than a minute before they yank the monkey back and demand anywhere from 20-50 dirhams (2-5€). The first day we offered one dirham or nothing and the guy didn't take it so we ran off and he cursed us out. It was a whole lot of fun. This time, we were smart enough to negotiate a price before any monkeys touched us. But when he finally did, he was surprisingly light and soft. I might want a pet monkey now.

The trainer started saying "Upstairs! Upstairs!" and before I could fully comprehend the situation, the monkey climbed up and sat on my head. 

At some point we randomly ran into our two friends who were done with the hammam early and we went on the hunt for lunch. On the way I found really really cheap pants and they became the most impulsive purchase I've had in awhile. But then I made up for my shopping sins. Lunch on a 20 dirham budget (because that's all I had left) included Moroccan Salad (tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers in tagine spices, I think) and French fries.

We also got free soup because we asked what was in it and the waiter didn't know how to say it in English so he just brought us a free sample and we used it to dip our (free!) bread in. 

Before our van came to take us to the airport, we sat by the pool and tried to soak up as much Moroccan sun as possible to last us through the next few weeks of winter in Florence. I am gonna dream about that pool for awhile and I might even make it my official "happy place." Despite an unexpectedly stressful spring "break" I was relaxed as we left to head back to Europe.

Before we boarded, I realized I needed an Arabic Coke! I drank it as we flew over the little patch of lights that was Marrakech. I found out that I've been living a lie because I say I hate Coke, but it really wasn't too bad at all. 

Morocco was such a cool place to visit because it's so far removed from the western world's bubble of everyday life. Granted, it was hard to really see daily life because we didn't want to go anywhere unsafe so we followed the tourists. Even still, we could see that Moroccans have a strong sense of culture which is only strengthened by the multiple cultural influences which have shaped it. Being in Africa, but also on the edge of Spain, colonized by France, and a part of the Arabic world, Morocco could have ended up with a very confused identity. Instead, it has embraced its unique position in the world. Everywhere, different languages are spoken with smooth transitions from equally fluent Arabic to French to English and this is paralleled by the skin colors of the people and how they dress. Moroccans seem proud of their culture, like they're in no rush to Americanize, and I really appreciated it. I did hear a lot of English/American music, but I also heard a lot of Arabic music. They use Facebook and some American brands but we turned on the tv and saw only Arabic shows. We noticed that it's common and maybe even cool to wear fleece cartoon pajama pants with too small slippers out in public. The call to prayer kind of freaked us out. There's something beautiful about listening to a language you've never heard. The architecture and designs don't follow the linear structure that Americans are familiar with. And it's because of all these minor challenges to my expectations that I think I got the most out of Marrakech for the short amount of time we were here. I hope I'll be back someday.