Moroccan Roundup

Position: 34°03’51.4″N 4°58’33.6″W

The Marrakech Express

Tourists fly directly to Marrakech from all over the world. Its central location makes it a good jumping off point for the Atlas Mountains, the Sahara Desert and Morocco’s major cities. Excursions of three and four days are finely tuned for every direction you might want to go.

Given its draw, Marrakech has a lot to offer the traveller if their time is tight. The medina is one of the biggest and busiest in the country. Snake charmers, something we only saw in Marrakech, blanket the main square before you head into the warren of shops and restaurants. Their schtick is short. See the cobra stand up, get a photo or two and hand over as much as you think the experience was worth to you. Pay too little and they’ll tug your sleeve and demand more. Pay too much and you’ll feel exploited. The cobras seemed entirely divorced from the proceedings.

With so many captive visitors, I wasn’t suprised that prices in Marrakech were 50-100% higher than in other cities we visited. Thus, if you have time and plan to explore more of the country, by all means explore the medina, but look for better prices elsewhere.

Fes

Fez’s distinction is that its medina is full of artisans (creators in modern parlance). That is, folks actually making things on site. All kinds of things. From ornately carved wood doors to handmade leather goods.

If you want to understand why nobody tans leather as a hobby*, spend 15 minutes watching the 1,000-year-old process from the top floor of a tannery in Fez. The smell alone will knock your nostrils off. Even a freshly cut mint nosegay won’t mitigate the stench. Guano (bird poop) is full of ammonia that makes leather hides soft and improves dye uptake. It is used liberally. Once in solution, heated and soaking dried sheepskin, well you smell the picture… Leather tanning is now officially at the top of my jobs-I-never-want-to-do list.

Walking through the different sections of the medina gave us an appreciation for the variety and skill of these traditional craftsfolk. Whatever your needs for home decor or leather masks, you can find someone in Fes who will happily make exactly what you’re looking for.

Riads

Once off the beaten track, we mostly stayed in riads, the traditional hotels. Many served dinner and it was these all-in-one accommodations that proved the most engaging. Riads are where you meet fellow travellers. The setup encourages you to share dinner and breakfast together, swap stories and learn a bit about your fellow humans. Our favourite riads also brought us a little closer to Moroccan culture. Each in its own way.

At the Riad Dar Sarah just outside the surfing town of Taghazout we helped prepare tajine for the evening’s dinner. Tajine is the most common dish you’ll find in Morocco. Preparation is fairly straightforward. Stack your ingredients onto the base of a clay pot like you’re building a wood fire. Throw on some oil and spices and perhaps a lemon or two, cover it and chuck it in the oven until ready. This is comfort food at its heart and no one can beat your grandmother’s tajine. That aside, from what we could tell there are four varieties of tajine: meat (beef), chicken, vegetable, and meatballs with cheese.

Over dinner we met a couple of young teachers from Germany, and an older teacher nearer retirement originally from Morocco but working in southern France. Listening to them compare notes about kids and their challenges made the world a little smaller. Saida, our host, effortlessly switched between speaking German, French and English.

At the Dar Tiziri outside the ancient caravan station of Zagora the staff invited us and the other guests for a house concert of desert blues. Music seems to run in the veins of the folks living south of the mountains and we were taken on a short journey of traditional and modern tunes. The band’s leader, Omar, displayed real skills on the guitar. Self-taught, he said, “Not many people play guitar, but everyone plays drums!” His desert blues band aspirations are on hold until his closest collaborator comes back from working in Italy.

Back to the Past

Heading north over the Atlas mountains, we stopped at the oldest riad on our travels. The Gîte d’étape Gorges de Ziz dates back over six hundred years. Its current owner is busy preserving and renovating it. Entering the reception, you immediately feel as though the entire building was carved out of solid rock, so thick are its mud walls. Two other couples, one German the other Dutch were inveterate travellers and engaged us with tales of their African adventures. Bert and Ann from Holland had recently been to Namibia and later sent us their itinerary and advice.

After breakfast the following morning, Ali, the owner of the hotel, gave us a tour of the grounds. We learned how river water had been redirected to irrigate the small fields and paddies carved along the riverbank. Farmers are each allowed to irrigate for about an hour a day in the dry season. Take more than that and the entire town will come after you.

When it’s time to go it’s time to go

For five weeks we explored the country and found it thoroughly engaging. Its rich history and distinct subcultures make for experiences that are as varied as its menus are monotonous. As of this writing, we’ve eaten enough tajine for at least a couple of years. Finally back on Aleta in Tangiers Marina, it was a few days’ wait for the weather and then a full morning’s wait for customs to release our drone before we could leave. At last we put sail to wind and pointed south for the 575NM passage to the Canary Islands. Morocco still wasn’t done with us, though.

Thirty-five miles offshore, just about parallel with Essaouria, kilometre-long fishing nets lay across the current catching everything that flowed past. At night the nets are bright with flashing LEDs. In daylight they’re all but impossible to see. Regardless of the time of day, there is no distinguishing the start and end of any given net. Inevitably, we snagged a buoy and line. Fortunately, we were under sail. Meaning the line hadn’t fouled the propeller and no one had to jump overboard in the middle of the ocean. The line released with some steady cursing and a bit of physical encouragement from our boat hook and rigging knife. Betting no fishing nets would survive the chop of a north-bound oil tanker’s big propellers, we followed its wake south through shoals of presumably shredded nets. The Canaries were still another 18 hours away.

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Epilogue: Moroccan Impressions

America and Americans

America remains the aspirational country for Moroccans wanting to leave Morocco. The American dream, or rather the dream of living in America was everywhere. Younger men would talk about friends or relatives that had made it to America – many to Florida. Winning a U.S. State Department visa lottery was/is the height of good fortune. NY Yankees baseball caps and Harvard sweatshirts are common. And people appear genuinely excited about meeting Americans.

When the UN Security Council passed a resolution renewing its peace keeping mission in the disputed Western Sahara on October 31 this year, three days of celebrations followed. The subtext is the council is taking (more) seriously Morocco’s proposal to make Western Sahara a self-governing region under Moroccan sovereignty. America sided with Morocco, reinforcing its long-held diplomatic relationship. The Polisaro Front, backed by Algeria (a long-time rival of Morocco), took a rather dimmer view of the results. Folks back in the States probably missed this news altogether.

Monarchy

In an absolute monarchy things can happen quickly. Back in September, students protesting about the high costs of World Cup preparations led to several large protests across the country. Within a couple of weeks, the king (without mentioning the protests) called on parliament to accelerate investments in health and education and to pass legislation aimed at reducing corruption in government. No sooner said than done.

Economics

Morocco’s middle class has grown significantly in the past 10 years. Given the country’s shift from agriculture to industry and services, the fastest economic growth has been in urban areas. Rural areas lag behind. But the government is actively supporting those communities with direct investments while simultaneously accelerating the economy’s transition.

Youth and Energy

Throughout the country we saw scores of schoolboys and girls neatly dressed in school uniforms and looking far more studious than rebellious. With a bigger car and an empty back seat, we would have happily given high schoolers hitchhiking home a lift whenever we could. For me, it is the kids that gives Morocco its optimistic energy.

Touchy Feely

Something we’ve noticed in Muslim-majority countries is how comfortable men are with public displays of affection for one another. Male friends greet each other with a kiss on each cheek, they may hold hands or walk arm in arm completely unselfconsciously. Given homosexuality is illegal in Morocco, we assumed we were observing normal, straight-guy culture. It is a welcome change from whatever the ape-like equivalent is currently for America’s tech bros.

Driving in Morocco

Similar to driving in Louisiana, when driving in Morocco one only has to obey the laws, smile at the frequent police stops, and negotiate down any (undocumented) ‘fines’. Note, there are at least three police forces that will set up random checkpoints. There are the National Security Police, the Gendarmerie Royale and the Traffic Police. Each has slightly different verbiage on their signs, so pay attention to the ones that tell you stop and don’t proceed until you are waved ahead.

French

Brush up on your French. It will help you negotiate with the traffic police.

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* That’s not true, I know.

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