Day 44: Morocco

It was a struggle waking up in the morning. Pain was happening. I managed to drag myself out a bed a lot easier then Molly did though. We did basically the same thing as the morning before: threw on the same clothes, brushed our teeth, applied some deodorant, and went out the door.

The first challenge was getting to the market, or the main square. We found another group of SAS kids and struggled at figuring out the cabs together. We ended up in a cab with Shuo, you know, from Paris. I still don't know how to spell his name, but I do know how to pronounce it. Basically, Shu-wa. He's awesome. We successfully made it to the market for 100 dirham. 

The market was a huge open square that funneled back into small alleyways all lined with shops. The middle of the square had some fruit stands. We made our way toward the shops at the back. I wanted to buy another pair of pants in a cool pattern and the spice holders that had been on our table for every meal. I had already bought a small tajine at a place we stopped at the day before during a "technical stop." That is what Mo called bathroom breaks, technical stops. 

Something that I haven't talked about is haggling. In Morocco you are expected to haggle for the item that you want. Nothing has prices on them. If you don't haggle, and just accept the price they tell you it is considered rude. I am terrible at haggling mostly because I am used to fixed prices and so am prepared to just hand over my money. I got a little better at it on this trip. Usually you can cut the price in half, that is generally where you start. So if they say 400 dirham you can counter back with 200. For reference 8 dirham is equal to 1 dollar. So 100 dirham is about 12 dollars. 

The best technique to haggle with is to say that the amount you want is all you have. Which doesn't work well when you are carrying around large bills. Usually you can also get it for the price you want by saying that you don't want it any more and then start leaving. We got a lot of "student discounts." Everyone you say that, only this much "because you're a student." I don't know how much of a discount we were actually getting but it made us feel good. 

The only downside to haggling is when you run into someone who has the same item as you and you find out that they got it for less. Its only then that you feel ripped off. 

We went in some shops and Molly got a fake Luis Vuitton from a guy who very throughly sold her the bag by taking all of the stuff out of it and having her look at herself in front of a mirror. 

I managed to get everything I wanted in one place. Pants and some spice things. My pants are pretty awesome, I wish I had gotten them for camel riding but I didn’t. They are patchwork quilty with a base of blues and greens. I call them my Aladdin pants because they have a really low crotch. When I said that I was going to wear them in everyday life Cody said that he was doing  me a favor by telling me I shouldn't. He doesn't understand, he didn’t buy awesome pants. 

We walked down one of the side alleys only to get harassed by a guy who was determined to sell us argon oil. He kept following us and telling us that we had beautiful skin but oil would make it better. He wouldn’t leave us alone so when I saw another group of SAS kids I went up to one of the guys and stood right next to him. "That guy is being really creepy so I am just going to stand really close to you for a bit."

He eventually disappeared but we stopped going down the creepy side alleys after that. 

We were tired and ready to head back to a hotel when a women stopped us that was doing henna. She was fairly old, and she said her name but I don't remember it and I didn’t write it down. She just started talking to us and I don't remember if we said that we didn’t have any money or if we just started talking to her but she said, "Sit, here in Morocco we do not stand when we chat." So we both took a seat on the stools and she showed us the different picture books of Henna designs that she could do. 

Somewhere in there we decided to get them done, but I couldn’t decided what design I liked. She told me that she could do something more traditional on me that wasn't in the book. I agreed to that and I now have this gorgeous design on my hand. It is a diamond on the center of my hand and extends all the way up my middle finger and all the way down past my wrist. It reminds me of an intricate kite, which I like because that is the symbol of my sorority. 

It only took two or three minutes to put it on me, and then she did Molly's, which went from her pointed finger, across her hand, and down to her wrist. We opted for the brown color because it is more traditional and natural looking. She also had black and orange. Almost immediately after she put it on it started to burn a little. But she said that was normal because of the lemon juice. 

She was so cute and nice and old that when she told us the price we just went with it and didn’t try to haggle. Because of that she gave me another design on my calf, which I keep forgetting is there. 

We left the market content but a little concerned because it was still burning. As we were trying to hail a cab we noticed a huge snake laying on the ground next to a rug that a guy was with. It was then that we noticed snakes everywhere, and monkeys on leases. They were actually doing the whole snake entrancing thing with a flute. Apparently that is real?! There were snakes all over the place, not caged, not attached to anything, just kind of sitting by their respective rugs. And the guy was playing an instrument and the cobra was up in the air and swaying back and forth. Not real life. 

It took us a bit to find a taxi that seemed to know where he was going. Excitingly, there were 7 hotels in Merrakech with the same name, just a different suffix. The good news was that they were all listed on the back of our room keys so we just used it and pointed to the one that we needed to go to. We got in a cab and headed off with the promised price of 50 dirham. 

 

He did not know where he was going. He kept pulling up next to other taxis and asking for directions. He would turn off the car, get out, and ask people for directions. What made it even more interesting was that there was a marathon being run that morning so a whole bunch of the roads were closed and there was a lot of traffic. We finally got to a hotel, but it was not our hotel. It was another one. He got out of the taxi again and asked people at this hotel where the one that we needed was. 

The good news was that it wasn't all that far away, and we got there quickly. We paid him the 50 dirhams and went back to our room. We had some time before our meeting time of 12:30 and we spent it packing and laying on the beds. We washed off the paste from our Henna, it stopped burning, and it looked awesome. It was very orange, which was surprising. But it got darker over time. When I looked it up later I learned that that is what is supposed to happen. I think it looks so cool. We thought we were going to be special because we had gotten Henna but basically everyone on the ship has it, and they are all different, it is cool to see and hear about others experiences. 

Eventually we made our way down to the lobby, checked out, and lounged on the sofas. I was able to talk to my mom and dad using the wifi! 

Getting back on the bus was the last thing that we wanted to do. We had a four hour ride ahead of us to get back to the ship. 

Molly and I were strategic though. We knew that there were two empty seats on the bus, and we knew that no one was going to want to sit in the back. So we decided to accept the heat in order to get full rows to ourselves. We had to scare people away a few times, but we didn’t care if people hated us, it was worth being able to lay down and not being all that cramped. At one point we were just waiting on one person. It ended up being Chris and he looked like he was struggling. I rejected him to sit in the back with us and he took the only empty seat left on the bus besides the ones next to me and Molly. He was definitely struggling. They kept giving him drugs from the first aid kit and checking him for a fever. At least it seemed as though they had fixed the air conditioning so it wasn't even brutally hot. 

Oh, I forgot to tell this story: On the morning of the nomad camp Mo came up to me and said, "I am sorry to tell you but we have sold you for 3000 camels, you will have to stay here." 

"3000 camels," I replied, "I am worth 4000!" 

"Well, we started at 5000 and then haggled down." 

Then he helped me tie my turban and when he was done he took my face in his hands and said, "Definitely 4000 camels." 

For reference: 3000 camels is worth anywhere between 9 and 18 million dollars. 

Later that third day, on the bus, Mo walked to the back and Cody asked him if he had any kids. Mo replied that he didn’t, he was still looking for his queen. Which confused us because we could have sworn he had talked to us about his wife. But he then asked Cody if he had anyone to be his queen and Cody offered me up to him. So Mo took his ring off his finger and gave it to me. He then asked if anyone had a knife so that he could cut out his heart right there to give to me. No one did so I had to give the ring back. And later, when I was sitting next to Cody on the way to dinner he accused him of lying and instead having me for himself. Cody said that he was warming me up for Mo to which I replied, "You know I am sitting right here, right?"

It was all very entertaining. And apparently I am worth 3000 camels, which I am ok with. 

Can I use camels as a reference in everyday life? "Hey how much do you think that is worth?" "3000 camels." or "Only 2 camels." 

I think its a good system. 

The bus ride back to the ship went by very quickly because I was able to lay down and sleep. That was magical. We had one technical stop and arrived at the ship around 5. There was a huge line waiting to board that we stood in for almost a half an hour. We watched Chris cut the line and as soon as he got on the ship we heard an announcement asking Dr. Dave to come to the gangway. Poor Chris. 

I had re-tied my turban before getting off the bus because I wanted to and when we were standing in line Chris walked up and complimented it. 

"Yeah, I'm rocking it." I said 

"No," He said, "You're Ma-rockin it." 

Ba-dum ch

Best pun ever. 

It was taco night. Which was a huge deal. That meant none of our usual pasta and potatoes and instead there was guacamole and salsa and cheese and meat and just taco deliciousness.  

Molly and I dumped our stuff in my room and ran straight to the tacos. 

After dinner I started my blogs and then went to post-port reflections. People told stories about haggling, getting taught dance moves by their taxi driver, how they were treated depending on the way they dressed and experiences in communal showers in the berber village. One girl told a story about how their taxi hit a lamb and was leaking something. When they asked if they needed to call another taxi the guy said, "No, no, we wait 10 minutes." Then someone came over with what looked like a jar of glue, popped the hood, applied it with his fingers, and then they went on their way.  

Even though we spent over 30 hours on a bus I am still glad that I did the SAS trip. If I hadn't I don't think I would have gotten to party Moroccan style in a fort, sleep under the most beautiful stars I have ever seen, learn about how they make skinny women fat, or eat as many delicious meals as we did. The bus sitting was a small price to pay for some amazing experiences. Morocco is currently my favorite port. Solely for this trip, and that video of Molly struggling on a camel that I will watch everyday for the rest of my life.