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Three days after having left Morocco, I still find myself quite contemplative and trying to make sense of my experience in Morocco. In the end, I really appreciated the VAST difference from my time in Spain and having the opportunity to catch a my first glimpse of Africa, of an Arabic speakign country, and of a Muslim country.
Firstly, to give some context to my experience, I must point out that this was my first time being a part of a Semester at Sea "trip" with students, and as a Trip Leader. So, the main points of differentation are A) I had my hand held the whole time and hardly got to do much of anything on my own (similar to a guided tour i rekon) B) 85% of my time in Morocco I was with a large group of "americans"...mostly white 'americans'.
QUARZAZATE (Visit to a nomadic berber village in the Sahara Dessert)
We departed Casablanca early in the morning Tuesday with a group of 60 students that I was 'chuposedly' leading in four 15 passenger vans. As we basically drove for seven hours, we got to see much of the country from our mini-bus (btw...mercedes mini buses). We weaved our way though the traffic of Casablanca (the largest city), drove through the Atlas Mountans (snow covered), and into the Saharah Dessert to get there. Driving, both in the City and in the mountains was INTENSE. Whether it was weaving through cars and donkeys in the city, or passing huge freight trucks on windy mountain roads, we basically feard for our lives often. But I took comfort in knowing that Niroot, our driver handled his bi-ness (even though he laughed at me as I gasped every time he nearly mowed over dogs and wild chickens).
One highlight is meeting "Mehdi" (in the blue garb) who allowed us to take pictures of his camels and "ride" them for a second. We had a late lunch on our way to the village in Quarzazate which was quite upscale. A lot of lamb meat and potatoes, it was delicious. We arrived at our camp after dark, ate dinner under tents, and had a chance to chat with local Berber people who found their way knowing that Americans were visiting. Our camp site was GLamping (glamour camping). There was a generator, lights and mattresses in our tents. It did however allow us to have a dance party in the middle of the desert as they basically had a DJ w/ some "berber" dance music. Everyone danced away to hip hop moroccan music around a campfire. The next morning I was accosted by a Berber man, Mohammend, and he gave me a tour of his village and home. I sat down with him, had mint tea and bread before walking back to the camp site. He basically lives in a clay hut w/ electricity, some goats, and his two kids. Visiting this village and seeing a Berber village was quite an amazing experience.
MARRAKECH
We spent about 24 hours in the city of Marrakech, famous for it's large bustling market. The first afternoon, I finally got the chance to walk around by myself and break away from the group. I tried to take pictures but many of the locals dissapproved, so it wasn't easy. It was quite overwhelming and was packed w/ vendors, tourists, and locals. I had to make it a point to find a open spot against a wall to take some pictures and just rest. I had a coke, and was able to sit down and just take in, and observe some of the culture. Later that night we met back up for dinner at Chez Ali (this was basically a moroccan version of Medevial Times...enough said.).
We stayed at a nice hotel 5 minutes from the Medina (market place). I walked from the hotel back to the markewith a couple students the next morning and did some shopping/bartering/negotiating and took some more pictures. We got back on the buses and headed back to Casablanca at around noon.
As I reflect, I certainly acknowledge the much lower level of comfort and much higher level of insecurity being in a very DIFFERENT country. We had a presentation on the ship about con artists, pick pockets, and thieves that scared most of us to paranoia (a lot of people got victimized in Spain), that may have impacted our sensitivity level. But overall, many of us experienced STICKING OUT and encountering anti-american sentiments from SOME of the moroccon people. Many of the white privileged students were challenged by STICKING out by the color of their skin for the first time, my hope is that they are processing that experience. I heard vendors every 1-2 mintues say "Japon?", "Konichiwa" and "Arigato", so I had a feeling that I wasn't necessarily pinned as an "American". The poverty, very different language, different religion (perhaps stereotypes of islam), and crazy traffic brought people out of their comfort zones for sure. Some choose to acknowledge the opportunity for growth, and unfortunately many choose to try and forget it right away. Many students talked about not liking it and sadly, many of them don't stop to consider why that is.
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