Morocco

Morocco! Chris and I established after this trip that there is definitely a difference between vacation and traveling and that I like to vacation and he likes to travel! How would I describe Morocco? Imagine what life was like 1000 years ago, and there you have it! The main languages that are spoken are French and Arabic. Let’s just say we did not fit in with our blonde hair and blue eyes! Out of all the TRAVELS that we have been on so far, Morocco has been our most fascinating…..


Our first day of exploring, this is the blue entrance into the Fez Medina.



Our first task was to pick a hotel. Because we were eager to get out and explore we quickly decided on a place to stay. That probably wasn’t the best decision we made. We ended up at the Hotel Cascade (which Chris insisted on for the “view”), which just happened to double as a bathroom and washing center for prayers for all of the locals as well! We ALL shared the one working shower and the three toilets (actually there was really only one that ever worked).

When we got to room, we set down our stuff and I pulled back the blankets so I could sit on the clean part of the bed, only to discover food stains, black hair, and other stains….so we asked the hotel staff for some new sheets. When he brought down the sheets he was really excited to give them to us because they were brand new sheets, never been used. We didn’t find out till the next morning why he would be so excited about giving us these sheets, when we saw a woman hand washing sheets in the one working shower!

Hey at least we only paid $15 a night!


This was the “view.”


In order to navigate through the medina we hired an official guide. Here we are with our guide.


And here is the kid that kept trying to be our guide. After begging to be our guide for a couple of days, we decided to just sit down and talk to him and treat him to a drink.


Inside the Blue Mosque


Center of Medina, Fez.


Morocco is known for its handmade leather. One of the stops on the tour was the tannery where they make the leather. The method that they use has not changed since medieval times. The chemicals that they use to dye the leather are pigeon poo and cow pee. The area smelled less than pleasant!


Yep, that is a camel head for sale!


We ended up talking to this guy for over an hour about what life is like in Morocco. He owned this little shop with handmade instruments. We ended up buying a Tam Tam made out of sting ray skin.

After spending a couple of days in Fez we took an 8 hour train ride to Marrakesh. We spent a couple of days there and then took a 3 day, two night trek into the desert.


The Marrakesh square.


The first night that we arrived in Marrakesh, a lady came up to me and asked if I wanted a henna tattoo. When I told her, “no” she grabbed my hand and started drawing on it with this green stuff. I tried pulling away, but she had this death grip on my wrist, she told me that she was drawing a little flower for “free”. I just kept telling her that I was NOT GOING TO PAY HER ANYTHING. After she was done (after 3 minutes), she tried telling me that I had to pay her ten euros! I just laughed and walked away.


I felt so bad for this poor screaming monkey. When you are in the square you can’t make eye contact with anyone or they will demand money from you. Well, we accidentally made eye contact with this guy and his monkey. The guy came chasing after us, at first he greets you with hand shake acting all professional and then slips the monkey on your back (Meanwhile the monkey is screaming and doesn’t want any part in any of this). After taking a picture with the monkey he asked for 10 euros since we took a picture with his monkey! I think Chris at least gave him a few cents so as to avoid a fight, since his buddies seemed to all suddenly show up.

We quickly learned to not make eye contact with anyone or else we would be asked for money, but people would still come up to us. So at point I tried pretending that I was German (because everyone knew at least little bit of English), and tried busting out the few words that I know in German….well actually just “nine.” It quickly back fired when I guy actually had a flyer for his shop in German! We just started laughing!


Everywhere we go Chris somehow becomes best friends with the guy at the front desk of the hotel. I think its maybe because they are lonely and Chris is a good listener. Here was the guy at our hotel in Marrakesh. He was really nice and found it fascinating that there were so many similarities between the values of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and Islam (Like chastity, word of wisdom, etc).


Dinner Entertainment


Atlas Mountains


Village in the Atlas Mountains


Ouarzazate, where many movies have been filmed, including "Gladiator" and "Black Hawk Down."


The mountains were beautiful; it reminded me of being in southern Utah, except with no cowboys!


The last night of our adventure in the dessert was actually spent in the red sand of the Sahara. It was breathtaking! In order to get our camp site we took an hour camel ride.








Our tents


There were six of us in the tour group for the trek. The two other couples that went were from England. It was fun getting to know them!


Our driver, who only spoke Berber and little bit of French. Poor Chris acted as our translator as best as he could.

Overall, the trip was a lot of fun and a great culture experience for both of us!