Morocco update

photo link: http://picasaweb.google.com/vaccaro.marc2424/MarcvaccaroMorocco#

Morocco:
My flight from Cairo was direct into Casablanca, I had heard from other travelers that Casablanca was not all that interesting, the industrial and financial capital of Morocco and was easily forgettable. I took their advice and when arriving at 1am i took a seat in the lobby and waiting out the night until the 6am train would take me away to Marrakesh. A bit tired from the flight, definitely feeling the affects of sleeping on a metal airport/train station chair, i boarded my 5hr train with hopes a comfortable soft seat, a bit of solitude, and a window to look out. I got the soft seat, although it was in a cabin with two others and the window to look out was blazing hot as the sun was baking my side of the train car. I regret not taking out my camera as I cruised ancient homes placed which seemed to me in the middle of know where, the soil was red and full of rocks but it was being farmed none the less. The paddocks for grazing animals were formed not by fences or rock walls but by rows of dense green cactus all linked together. the hills and land rolled on, the sky was blue, and the sun was hot. I dosed off to sleep and woke hungry, i was in Marrakesh.

Marrakesh: The large square located in the old city is no doubt the main attraction of the city. As all major Moroccan cities, there is a modern section filled with your fast food, banks, gas stations, modern hotels, and shopping malls, but the Cities that draw the tourist crowds also have a touch of the past still living in them. For Marrakesh it's the old Souk and the Giant Square which comes to life every day around 10am and goes to sleep around midnight. Snake charmers, fortune tellers, story tellers, gypsies, beggars, scatter them selves across this large public space, but people don't come for that, although it does add ambiance and excitement. they come come for the shopping and the food. With small narrow passage ways branching off from the square i got lost here for hours wandering in and out, looking at spices, fabrics, weird looking shoes, amongs tons of other touristy items. No matter how far i strayed from the center, i was always pulled back because around 5pm the Assembly of an enormous out side restaurant was the high light for me.

Teradaount: a small town located about 4 hours south west of Marrakesh was a interesting stop, I had an inflated bus ticket price due to the national holiday, the bus i was on stopped in another city 1 hour from the my location and i was forced to get a shared taxi from there for the remainder of my trip, amazingly confusing but full of culture and surprises, one surprise being a sheep jumping out of the trunk of the shared taxi when the door was opened to put bags in... didn´t expect that. The city was small but i stayed with a family in their home and it was very peaceful and a wonderful way to experience real culture and see the city through a locals eyes.

Marrakesh to Merzouga: I was forced to pay for a tour to get to Merzouga due to the inflated bus prices and the lack of buses to the area i wanted to go. instead i purchased an over priced tour but got the reap the benefits of spending a bit more money and traveled in comfort in a van with other travelers, got my own bedroom in a nice hotel with a fantastic shower and big bed. We stopped a couple of sights that i would have never seen on a bus, overall i was happy i took the tour. On the day of the big slaughter where all Moroccans (Muslims) kill a sheep my bus passed by home after home where you could see this happening in plain view of the public. It is a holy act and is not something they are embarrassed of and i got to see it all. i´m not a blood thirsty killer but i think it was important to see and experience where your food comes from. if your willing to eat meat you should be accepting of how it gets on your plate. It was another experience i would have never had, had i booked a simple bus ticket.
the tour continued on to Merzouga where we exited our van and were rushed onto Camels, i named mine Carl and the small group headed out into the Sahara desert. I had purchased a beer a day back so i cracked it open and sipped my beer while sitting camel back in the Sahara, i passed it to my fellow travelers and all took in the views while slowly pushing through the desert. the experience was NOT comfortable, camels and the male anatomy don´t mix so well, but overall it was fantastic and wouldn´t take it back for anything. camping below a 15oft dune was amazing and watching the stars drift past me at night was unforgettable. highly recommended.

Fes: The streets, the chaos, the coffee shops were all fun, but over all i was not too impressed with the old city, it might be that i compared it to Marrakesh or the insanity of Varanasi India which it reminds me of, but i enjoyed two days here and called it quits.
Chefchaouen: the blue city, set in the hills of the Rif mountains are unbelievably gorgeous, the homes are all painted in blue, the streets narrow, but built on the hill the view of the city changes as you climb higher or lower. Heading out on the neighboring hills you can look back and see the city from a far and it almost looks like scattered pieces of a mosaic with blues and reds smashed together creating a collage which makes up the city. A mountain town with plenty of water a major crop harvested is weed, and hash is pushed on you relentlessly, in fact i would say it is absolutely impossible NOT to be offered hash 10 to 15 times a day if you walked in and out of the city. ¨how is your day? where are you from? so you need anything?¨ ¨NO, i don´t NEED ANYTHING¨ ¨are you sure, like you don´t need hash¨ ¨NOPE I DON´T NEED HASH¨ ¨are you sure you don´t need any, are you sure¨ and that is how your day is spent if you decide to stay in the city walls. I climbed out side, sat in the country side and took a nap in a field, one day, peaceful and quite. Minus the minor nuisance of the hash pushers, this city is pure gold and was one of my favorites.

Tangier: On arrival i thought that the place held little to no charm, but the deeper i wondered the more i found and was happily content with killing a couple of days here. Coffee shops, the old city, narrow streets, fried fish dishes, a smashed butter bean soup with a healthy scoop of real cold press olive oil, roasted chicken tossed in a special Moroccan seasoning, and some Internet is what i got involved with here. Not my favorite and in fact if i wasn´t killing time before entering Spain (to reduce the amount of euro i was about to spend) i could have only spent a day here, but not upset i spent .
Morocco was a good place to come, one i can see my self coming back to, the cuisine is simple but Delicious, tajines (braised meat dishes normally) is soul warming food, simple but good. I caught the ferry across the straight of Gibraltar and headed to Malaga Spain.