Azrou

(pictures not mine)

So far, I’ve been to Azrou three times. The town of Azrou is named after the giant rocky outcrop in the middle of the town. Azrou actually means “rock” in Berber. The first time was a bit of a mishap. We were going to go to go to the Azrou bazaar, but because it was Ramadan, it doesn’t open until the evening. Instead, we ended up at the local Berber market, which sold largely clothes from China, vegetables and livestock. It was really crowded and sprawling. After braving our way across the market, we decided that that was enough local market for us, and we took a taxi back to AUI.

With the newfound knowledge that the Bazaar is only open at night, Carly, Austin and I decided to try going back to Azrou on our own. We left at about 5, and got to Azrou right before f’tor. The center of town was really busy, and we started wandering around, but as it started to get dark, everyone disappeared. Literally, everyone. The town was completely deserted. With nothing else to do, we wandered around the town and the large Mosque. From behind the Mosque, there is a nice view of most of the lower town. It was really dark and there weren’t that many streetlights, so we started to get creeped out and walked back to the main square. In a café earlier, we had talked to a man who went to some college whose name I’ve forgotten, who wanted to practice his English. He told us about Azrou, and we asked him where we should eat, and he told us the Hotel Cedres restaurant. So, hungry, we headed to the restaurant. It was really inexpensive, to our delight, and the waiter spoke perfect English. We decided to order spaghetti, but asked for it to be cooked “al dente”. He said sure, and we were really happy because it seems like Morocco only likes pasta cooked until it’s a pile of mush, which is gross. As the child of an Italian immigrant, it’s also an affront to my heritage. About five minutes later, though, the waiter reappears and asks what exactly al dente is. We explained that you boil the pasta for only 7-8 minutes. The waiter was like “OOOH! Not twenty minutes?” and we were like “Noooooo, NOT twenty minutes.” Eventually he brought us pasta that was indeed al dente, and it was amazing.

After dinner, we started shopping around. First, we went to the Berber Bazaar, right next door to the restaurant. They had tons of carpets and jewelry, which they laid out of the floor for us. We had an amusing conversation with the shop owner about how snobby the AUI students are, and their superior attitude. It was pretty funny to find out that local people don’t think too highly of the AUI students, either.

The stores in Azrou are really nice, and even better: really cheap. I got a ton of souvenirs for myself and friends and family. My favorite purchase was a set of ceramic bowls. They are reasonably large bowls, about 8 inches in diameter, and painted a solid bright color with intricate black designs. I had seen them elsewhere for more the 100dh, but in Azrou they were only 25dh. Needless to say, the shopper (and the Jew) in me were quite happy.

Even with our advance knowledge that the stores opened later, we still didn’t come late enough. Our taxi had a set time to come pick us up, so we had to leave before we got to check out everywhere. We decided to go back to Azrou the next week.

Monday night we headed to Azrou for the third time, this time with a bigger group of people. We had dinner at the same restaurant, with the same nice waiter who made us al dente pasta. After, we all went shopping. My favorite store in Azrou is at the corner of the street that the Hotel Cedres is on, on the corner. It has a huge selection of local products, including really nice silver jewelry. Everyone in our group had a great time and got a bunch of bargain gifts, including a bunch of carpets. In the market, I went to a spice stand that had a bunch of different teas. I got some lemon mint and lemon verbena tea for a friend of mine who likes teas, and a big bag of lemon verbena tea for Carly and Austin.

So, in, short, go to Azrou. It’s a really nice little town with great souvenirs, and it’s only twenty minutes away.

Fez

We started out to Fez earlier than usual, as we were only spending the day instead of the weekend, like usual. Sarrah, a AUI grad student who loves in Fez, accompanied us to show us around and keep us from getting lost in the Medina. When we got to Fez, we met up with a friend of someone I worked with over the summer, and his roommate. They work for an English language school and live in Fez. I was a bit nervous, because I had only spoken to them through email. Robert and John turned out to be really nice, and even offered to let us stay at their apartment if we wanted to go to Fez for the weekend. We also had a local tour guide for our trip, whose name I didn't catch, but he had a rather spectacular mustache I'm sure Pr. Addison admired.



We started off our tour by driving up to a vantage point above the old part of Fez. We werfe able to take pictures of the entire city, and our tour guide pointed out the roofs of several important structures.

After the panoramic view, we went to a place that makes the tiles and mosaics that Morocco is so famous for. It doesn't really occur to you that every tile in every mosaic you see has been made by hand, from start to finish. First, they make the tiles and let them dry in the sun. Then, they fire the tiles, and allow them to cool before they glaze them, and fire them again. Then, men with chisels and hammers cut out the mosaic shapes by hand. Then, another person lays the tiles like a jigsaw puzzle, chipping off pieces of tile so they all fit perfectly. Then, cement is laid over the back of the tiles, and the entire thing is cemented together and allowed to dry. The amount of time that goes into even a small table top must be astronomical. They also make pottery here, and each piece is painted in intricate detail by hand. They had a store, but their prices, according to Maraoun and Robert, were a bit steep, considering all the pottery in Morocco is handmade. I prefer the brighter colors of the synthetic glazes, also. The place did pack the bowls really well, though, in newspaper and foam.

We took less of a walking tour through the Fez medina, and more like a running tour. I can barely remember the names of the places we saw, as we went through everything so quickly. Luckily, the wonders of the internet and my guidebook helped me divine the names of the many places we stopped, although probably not in the correct order.

We entered the medina through one of the small side entrances, not the main doors, and wandered through the stalls of vegetables. One of the first places we visited was the Karouine Mosque, which has been a center of Islamic learning in Morocco for 1000 years. Non-Muslims are not allowed to enter the mosque, but the doors are left open so tourists can look inside. The mosque is deceptive in its size, it has sort of melded with the rest of the medina over the centuries, and in reality it is actually huge.

Near the mosque is the Attarin Madrassa, which was built in 1323-1325. The Madrassa looked a lot like the madrassa we visited in Marraskesh, with similar decorations and a courtyard pool. Apparently the Attarin Madrassa is an example of Spanish architectural influence on Moroccan architecture, but I thought it looked nearly identical to the Ben Yousef Madrassa. The carvings in the Fez madrassa were more worn than the Ben Yousef Madrassa, but apparently the Ben Yousef madrassa was restored in the 1980's.


We went to a tannery, which was really interesting because it looked exactly like the pictures I've seen of artisan tanneries. The smell was absolutely revolting. They gave out sprigs of mint to cover the smell, but it didn't help that much. We climbed up four or five tiny steep staircases to reach the roof of the building, where we could look out over the dying and tanning vats. They use pigeon excrement as a source of ammonia, which is simultaneously ingenious and gross. I bought a book cover for my friend, and while I was attempting to haggle, the tour guide intervened and Super-Haggled the guy at the desk. That was pretty cool, because he got the price way down.

We had lunch at a "tourist restaurant", which at 220 dh was probably the most expensive meal I've had in years. The first course was a selection of vegetable dishes that were served cold. They were the best vegetables I've had in Morocco so far. The tagine was particularly interesting, because it was beef and quince, which was a combination we hadn't had yet. We at on a really high terrace at the restaurant, which had a great view.

Next, we went to a blanket weaving "studio", where they showed us how the looms work and how to tie different head scarves. I didn't really like the blanket place because it seemed really gimicky and the blankets were incredibly overpriced. I bought an identical blanket in Rabat for 200dh, and in Fez they were over 600dh. It seems like when you buy something at the place they're made, there's a huge overhead. It kind of felt like a tourist trap, once they show you everything you feel obligated to buy something. This was really the first place in Morocco I got this vibe, which is surprising, since Fez is less of a touristy city than Casablanca or Marrakesh.


We also went to a clothing store, which wsn't particularly interesting, except they had copies of a book called "Humor in Moroccan Culture", which I was tempted to buy but figured I would never have time to read. I skimmed through it, and it was written by a Westerner who moved to Morocco and gradually learned to understand Moroccan humor, which is very different from Western humor.

The last store we went to was a brass working studio, where they make brass plates by hand. I bought my mother a brass plate, and they engraved a message on the back for me. It was a bit expensive, and I think I probably could have gotten a better deal anywhere but the brass studio, but the fact that they engraved it for me was a deal maker.

For our last stop, we went to the Jewish sector, called the Mellah (from the Arabic word for salt. Jews and salt, salt and Jews.....Saltzman). On the way we stopped to take a photo at the Bab Boujeloud, a famous doorway in Fez. It was built in a traditional style, but is relatively new, as it was built in 1913. Apparently most of the houses around the Bab are also from the 20th century, but are built to fit in with the Medina's traditional architecture.




In the Mellah, we went to the Synagogue Aben Danan. There were pictures of the Jewish community back when there were more members, and they had a copy of the Torah that they said was centuries old, but we could tell it was obviously printed with a modern printer. The mellah was interesting, though, because it relates to my sufficiency.

Ramadan

Ramadan has been...interesting so far. It's really strange to walk into a town and to see most of the businesses, which are largely cafes and restaurants, closed. For a culture that puts a lot of emphasis on food and socializing in cafes, Ramadan must be pretty rough. I'm not even fasting and it's been hard. The hours that the cafeteria is open have been reduced, and so I keep missing meals, and even the cafe is closed during the day. An additional problem is that you can't go to F'tor without buying tickets a day in advance, so if you miss lunch, there isn't anything to eat until 9 pm. I can't imagine not drinking anything all day, though. I have no idea how the Moroccan students do it.


Incidentally, I found a recipe for harcha, the semolina cake things that look like english muffins. http://www.ochef.com/r150.htm
They're really popular in the Atlas mountain region, especially, and are usually served with butter.

To survive Ramadan, WPI people have been going out to eat a lot. People have been going to the restaurant in the park, which apparently has "Real Pizza", or pizza that tastes more like the pizza we're used to.I particularly like The Cedres Cafe, next to the Bank Populaire. It has a big TV that is always on the Al-Jazera sports channel, so there's always tons of old Moroccan men watching a drinking coffee. The server, and I mean THE server, as we've been there a bunch of times and it's always the same guy, doesn't speak English at all, so we try to ask questions in rudimentary French. It gets kind of confusing, but we always leave him a big tip for the annoyance. They have these olives that are covered in some sort of red, slightly spicy marinade. At first I thought it was something called Khlii, but then I looked it up and Khlii is actually sun-dried beef. Did I mention it's incredibly cheap? I think that might be the best part. Last time I went, Carly, Austin and I had dinner and two drinks each for less that $12 with tip.

This food-filled entry brought to you by the fact that I haven't eaten anything in 18 hours, and dinner is 4 hours away.

Marrakesh

We left for Marrakesh early on Friday, as it is further than Erfoud. Halfway through the trip, we stopped at a restaurant that was oddly enough connected to a gas station. They also had some weird pricing issues. Apparently there is a butcher at the restaurant, and if you want kebabs, they go and buy the meat from the butcher, charge you for the meat, and then charge you an additional 5 dh to have it grilled. Sneaky sneaky. I wasn't all that hungry so a stray cat at the restaurant wound up eating most of my lunch.
We arrived at our hotel, Hotel la Menara, and again it had air conditioning AND a pool. We headed out to go walk around the Jama al-Fna Square and take a look around. Even though everyone keeps saying that Marrakesh is the big tourist trap of Morocco, it was remarkably clean, even cleaner than Rabat. The square was absolutely huge and energetic, and filled with people. I think the square was my favorite place I've been to in Morocco so far. There were so many people and so much energy, but I may be biased because of the orange juice. I probably drank 10 glasses of the orange juice in 2 days. We wandered around the square and into the souks, which were arranged like a maze. I could never tell if we were walking in circles, and I was actually just seeing the same stores over and over, or if it was as massive as it seemed. I'm leaning to the latter, because when Austin, Carly, and I went back to shop, we couldn't find the same stores we had seen earlier, and instead ended up in the metal working district or something.
After wandering around the square, we had dinner at The Argana, which had excellent ice cream, and went back to the hotel to swim.
Saturday morning was our historical tour of Marrakesh, including the Saadian Tombs, the Badia Palace, the Ali Ben Yusef Madrassa, and the Qubba al-Barudiyyin.



The Saadian Tombs had been sealed away after the end of the Saadian dynasty, and were only rediscovered in 1917. The tomb rooms in typical Moroccan fashion, are covered in carved wood and tiles. As interesting as the tombs were, though, the two playing kittens got most of our attention. The tombs contain the bodies of over 60 members of the Saadian dynasty. After, we went to the Ali Ben Yusef Madrassa, a famous madrassa that was in use until 1960. IT had a really pretty courtyard with a nice reflecting pool. We also checked out the "dorm" rooms, which were not that much smaller than my freshman dorm room. The purpose of the madrassa was to teach Islamic law, and was something akin to a theological college.


My favorite historical location in Marrakesh was the Qubbat al-Barudiyyin. The structure, which was built in the 12th century, has rather mysterious origins. It is sunken from the street, even in ancient times, and is next to a ancient cistern and bathrooms. Some think it may have been a fountain, but it only has a small indented basin inside the pavilion, and no pipes or water sources. It features a very ornate double dome, with detailed carvings. The carvings themselves seem to incorporate Roman mythology, especially the carved scallops, which were a symbol of the goddess Venus. The carvings are all similar, but not exactly the same, some have different patterns, some are different sizes, which is also another unusual trait not found in Muslim architecture.

After spending the afternoon shopping in Jama al-Fna, Austin, Carly and I went to McDonald's, which was an interesting cultural experience (don't laugh! It was!). The menu is very similar to the US, without the bacon, and with the addition of two Morocco-specific sandwiches, like the McArabia. Also, they have a choice between french fries and potato wedges called "deluxe potatoes". We definitely experienced the "high context society" line-phenomena, or the lack thereof. People just sort of crowded around the registers, and it took a long time to be served. The McDonald's was decorated in traditional Moroccan decor, with detailed tile designs and the like, which we thought was kind of funny for a fast-food restaurant. Also, apparently McDonald's is the cool place for Moroccan 20-somethings to meet their friends. We bought a McArabia to try, which was a hamburger in a pita with lettuce and a "Moroccan sauce". It basically tasted like everything in Morocco. Also, there was ice in our soda! Only two cubes, but it was still surprising.

I really liked Marrakesh, I don;t know why people complain about it being a tourist trap. The square is probably my favorite place in Morocco so far. One minor problem I had, though, was the large amount of endangered species bits that seemed to be ubiquitous, like this store, which had 3 leopard skins hanging up.

Tafilalt Oasis

This weekend we went to the Talfilalt Oasis, in Erfoud. Water is supplied to the oasis, which is man made, by irrigation channels. We left AUI on Friday afternoon, and the drive took about 6 hours. We were all supposed to dress "conservatively", but again we were left wondering what was meant by conservative. No one is exactly sure how conservative we are ever supposed to be dressed. I was wearing long pants, but when we got there one of the professors was wearing capris, so apparently that is okay? The drive was rather harrowing, with most if the roads carved into the sides of big hills. You could clearly see the climate changing as we traveled further. In Ifrane and the Atlas Mountains, they environment is Taiga, or, Mediterranean scrub. As we drove, it became more and more arid and eventually we were in the middle of a desert, with nothing but small patches of scrubby bushes and sand.
When we got to our hotel room, we were pleasantly surprised to find air conditioning in our room. After dropping off our bags, we ate in the hotel restaurant, where they served haira, the traditional Moroccan chick pea soup. I was kind of disappointed, after hearing so much about it. This one was kind of weird, because it has what appeared to be chopped up mushy spaghetti in the soup. Maybe this was just not a very good version. On the table were some dates, which the Talfilalt Oasis is famous for. No one at my table liked the dates except for me, because they weren't hard and dried, like the dates everyone is used to. One of my table mates was so considerate as to take the entire plate of dates and pour it into the middle of the tagine, which was both equally stupid and annoying. I constantly wonder why half the people in our group are in Morocco, since they don't seem to respect the culture or the people at all.
On Saturday, after some wardrobe hassles, we went to go look at some of the ancient ruins in the town. First, we stopped and looked at the remnants of the old irrigation system, which is an underground channel funneling water from the mountains to the oasis. The channel is made only out of a hole in the ground, with no reinforcement, so they had to be carefully maintained. They were later replaced with irrigation channels fed by a far-away dammed river. We stopped to look at the new irrigation channels. Originally, they had been dirt-walled channels, and water soaked into the dirt. The government decided that this was "lost water", so they lined all the channels with cement. Now the water just evaporates, instead of seaping into the soil and watering the surrounding trees. This is a classic example of an isolated government on top of a privileged hill, unable to relate and understand what its people actually need and interfering with their lives in attempts to "help" them. The combination of Bayoud disease, a palm-killing disease, and the lack of water delivered to the Oasis is causing a general decline in the date palms, the main source of income for people living in Erfoud.
After, we went to the Qasr Fidah, which is old home of Sultan Moulay Sulayman when he was the governor of the Talfilalt Oasis. It was turned into a small museum, which happened to have a room of Moroccan Jewish artifacts, which was interesting. The symbol of Morocco used to be a six-pointed star known as the Seal of Solomon, like the Star of David, but was changed to a five-pointed star by the French Government, but the six-pointed star can be found on older houses and artifacts.
I missed the Sufi dinner and the camel ride because I was sick all weekend. I also unfortunately forgot my camera, so I don't have pictures of the Oasis, either. The ride back was relatively interesting, though. The two Professors from AUI who were with us, Professors Shoop and Ross, were rather unpleasant to the whole group all weekend. They were driving back to AUI in a separate car, and managed to crash into another car around a turn. The accident resulted in just some minor car damage and a flat tire, but seemed to mellow out the fussy professors a little. While they were trying to change the tire, though, we were swarmed in our van by the local children, who kept asking us for money and sticking their arms in the van windows and grabbing at us. At one point, some of the older boys started opening the van door repeatedly, and Soana almost killed them before she could lock the van door. The whole thing was a comedy of errors, and was rather funny.

Note to self: If ever giving local children candy, make sure you have enough for everyone.

Rabat

After we went to the mosque, we took a train to Rabat to have lunch at Tahar's family home. His house is located inside the medina. Rabat's medina was much cleaner and airer than Casablanca's. Tahar's house is behind what appears to be an , behind an unassuming wooden door, which belies the huge and ornate home behind it. When you walk in, there is a small hallway which opens into a giant atrium with several side seating rooms. We met members of Tahar's family, many of which spoke excellent english, which made chatting over lunch a lot easier. We were served a traditional couscous lunch, with fruit and tea following. The mint tea is delicious, but probably has more sugar in it than soda. Someone was joking about how the kids in Morocco generally stay up later than we did when we were younger, and it's because they're all hopped up on the sugar in the tea.


After lunch we walked around Rabat, through the medina and to the gardens and the Hassan II tower and Mohammed V tomb. At the gardens, Candance and I had a bit of an incident with a henna woman. She grabbed our hands and started drawing henna on them. I didn't realize what she was doing, because the henna applicator looks just like a big medical syringe. The woman demanded payment, so Candace gave her 20 dirhams. Apparently this wasn't enough, as she started following us yelling in arabic. Luckily Tahar's two nieces were there, and they spoke to the woman for us.



The Hassan II Tower and the Mohammed V Tomb are in the same are of Rabat. The Hassan Tower is the unfinished minaret of a mosque commissioned by sultan Yacoub al-Mansour in 1195. It was supposed to be the tallest minaret in the world, but construction was abandoned when the sultan died. The rest of the mosque was destroyed in the Lisbon earthquake of 1755. All that is left is the minaret and the columns that show how big the mosque once was.


Next to the Hassan Tower is the Tomb of Mohammed V, which was built after his death. It houses the bodies of Mohammed V and Hassan II, and is a popular visiting place for muslims and tourists alike. The tomb is "guarded" by royal guards, kind of like the British Royal guards, completely with an equally silly hat.

I have way too many pictures of Rabat, so instead here is a link to them online: http://flickr.com/photos/moroccopictures/sets/72157601708932027/

I bought a blanket in the Medina, but I forgot my wallet so I borrow money from Pr. Addison. I am now 200 dh in debt....hopefully he doesn't collect interest.

Hassan II Mosque

The Hassan II Mosque, in Casablanca, is an amazing feat of modern architecture. The mosque is partly suspended over the ocean by underwater columns, and refers to the Koran verse "The Throne of God on Water". It took 6 years to build, from 1987-1993, and took 12,500 people to build. Every square inch of the Mosque is covered in tile and carvings and designs. Everywhere you look, there are layers and layers of detail.

The Mosque is huge, and has the tallest religious minaret in the world. To get some idea of how absolutely massive the mosque is, here's a picture of Max standing in front of one of the doors of the mosque. The whole door doesn't even fit in the picture.

We took the mosque tour, and I really wish we had been there when the water was on. There's fountains all around the outside, and there are channels with clear bottoms on the floor of the mosque. Once again, in a group of tourists, we were the most conservatively dressed. I suppose it helps us to make a good impression, but I thought that the dress would have been much more conservative. After the tour, we went to look at the beach next to the mosque. I've noticed that around Morocco, they use these weird cement pylons to combat erosion. They look like piles of giant concrete jacks.

Casablanca

Getting to Casablanca was a bit of an adventure. I flew Providence-New York- Casablanca. This doesn't sound too bad until you factor in a "Heightened Security Test" (I am clearly a terrorist) , a 1.5 hour delayed flight from Providence, and then another hour spent on the runway waiting to take off. This didn't bother me that much, as I had a 8 hour layover in JFK, but I think I was the only person on the flight who wasn't going to miss a connecting flight. This lead to a very tiny airplane filled with very angry passengers. After landing in JFK, which is absolutely massive (I usually fly out of Boston, I don't think I've ever been to JFK before), I headed over to the Royal Air Maroc counter to check in. Cue a tiny bit of culture shock. All of the people waiting for the plane were practically covered head to toe, and every woman was wearing a veil. I felt a little out of sorts, so I sat in the corner on a bench for about an hour until Virginia magically showed up. Incidentally, I talked to a man waiting for the same flight as me and he was absolutely shocked that I knew where Mauritania was. Apparently no one else does?

We went through security without incident, and waited at the gate where Virginia watch CNN like the news dork that she is :). Saraan eventually showed up, and Soana appeared just as we were boarding the plane. The flight was fine, but the service was kind of surprising. I'm used to the "service-with-a-smile!" flight attendants, but the Air Maroc attendents barely even l0oked at you when the offered you a drink or food. This is apparently normal for Air Maroc, which is apparently known by Moroccans for its poor service. When you land on the runway in Casablanca, they bus you to the terminal, and half the bus of Moroccans were complaining about how bad Air Maroc typically is.

As we wee going through customs, the customs man proceeded to blatantly hit on Soana and try to get her to meet him in Casablanca. That was a little weird, and I guess our first experience with sexual harassment in Morocco. We went to the luggage return, which took around 1.5 hours. Saraan, Virginia, and Soana's luggage had already come through, and we were just waiting for my bag. I spoke to a nice Moroccan family who was also waiting for their luggage. They split their time between Morocco and the US, and they had their young Imam with them on the trip. The luggage attendants only spoke Arabic, so they asked for me if more luggage was coming. Eventually I got my bag, and we headed out into the lobby of the airport and found Tahar and Pr. Addison.

View from the hotel window

After a harrowing ride to the Hotel Excelsior, we got the keys to our surprisingly nice hotel room. From Pr. Addison's description "old and inexpensive", we were afraid it was going to be scary, but the hotel turned out to be really nice, with a huge bathroom and TV in every room.

After taking a quick shower, we headed out to get something to eat. Casablanca is a huge, busy, loud, and simultaneously beautiful and ugly city. The traffic is deadly, and the horns don't even stop at 3 in the morning. Everywhere you look, there is trash covering the ground underneath a beautifully tiled wall, huge palm trees with beggar children leaning against the trunks. The contrast is strange, and occasionally shocking.












Lunch was my first language barrier problem- the menu was entirely in French! Pr. Addison translated, and we had a nice little lunch and ice cream, which was roughly translated as "Venetian Ice". After, we went to the Medina. The medina was huge and colorful and almost too much to take in. There were stalls upon stalls of pottery, glass, clothing, jewelry and food, with tiny pathways between. The Medina is the ancient Arab area of cities in North Africa. They're filled with tiny, maze-like streets that keep cars out, and contain many of the important daily fixtures of local life: the souks, hammams, fountains, mosques and palaces. The Casablanca medina seemed less geared to tourists than I thought it was going to be, most of the shoppers were local Casablancans. Apparently some medinas' narrow streets were used to confuse and slow down invaders in past times.

Our Hotel Room

We eventually headed back to the hotel after getting dinner, and Soana and I discovered the American movie channel, filled with slightly outdated cheesy movies. The Arabic commercials are interesting, they look just like American commercials.