Arabian Days and Nights

HI!
I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to be back in a country where i can drink water from the tap without fearing for the worst.  NEEDLESS to say, I LOVED MOROCCO!


I think I can safely state that it was the most challenging, out-of-my-comfort-zone, blessed experience that we as a group have had so far.
We stayed in a beautiful riyad where we had an entire house, called the Blue House, to ourselves, with our own orange tree in the middle of our courtyard, where the workers would squeeze fresh orange juice for us each morning for breakfast.  In order to get to the riyad we had to walk through the center market each day through narrow alleyways with tall clay walls, from the outside appearance, Morocco looked pretty boring, but behind these tall clay walls with tiny doors where exquisite riyads full of beautiful tiled walls and vibrant colors.  There are over 2,000 riyads in Marrakech and there were former rich and distinguished Moroccan's homes that have been turned into "guest houses" for tourists.  Most of them are owned by Europeans who fall in love with Morocco and wish to stay, our riyad, the Riyad El Cadi is owned by the ex-ambassador of Germany, who knew?
The first day we arrived we asked our hotel to hire a guide to take us to the night markets, or souks, which are famous for their leathers, silks, and other handmade goods.  Being a third-world country, or to be politically correct, a developing country, we had to hire a guide to take us everywhere in order to not be harassed.  And when I say harassed, I am not kidding, they will take advantage of the situation the minute you let your guard down, so it was very important for all eight of us to stay together and be cautious and aware at all times.  The girls had to be completely covered up and we where not allowed to go into some places because we were women....i didn't take well to this AT ALL. And even though it was very very hot on the saturday we where there, we were not allowed to even wear shorts or sleeveless tops while the guys got away with whatever they wanted to wear.
Our guide, Ah'hmad, also guided us on Saturday when we went into the Atlas mountains, that are about 50 minutes outside of the city.  We first stopped at a traditional Berber village market, not too far into the mountains.  In Morocco, there are the Arabs, who reside in the lowlands and cities, and then in the mountains are the Berbers, who speak their own language and have traditions separate from the Arabic and muslim culture.  Each week, the berbers from the surrounding area come to this market to get all of the supplies, food, etc that they will need for the week.  They all bring their mules and pack everything from plastic buckets to dead chickens, to shoes on the mule and return to their homes.  Kind of like their version of Wal-Mart, if you will.  Parts of this market were disturbing because they had an entire section devoted to meat......yuck.  Entire cow meat, ribs and all hanging from strings, pounds upon pounds of eyeball intact fish in bins, heads of goats and chicken's necks being wrung and then tied around the feet where a man would take it and carry it around the market by its feet as if it was the most normal thing in the entire world. ALL of this made me want to become a vegetarian.  Oh and did i mention that it was around 70 degrees that day and none of the meat was in any vicinity of cold air much less ice.  
My favorite area of the market in the berber village was the auction area where they were auctioning the pack mules off and then (re-shoeing?) them.  I love the mules, they are so cute and friendly and have very colorful blankets wrapped over them.  All of the berbers road their mules in a style similar to women in westerns and had sticks to lead the mules where they wanted.  They were also taming wild mules? i guess you could say and that was very cool to watch.
We then headed further into the Atlas mountains where we hiked to a beautiful waterfall that, of course, Claire and Azzurra just had to swim in, even though the water was in the 40s and i was convinced they were going to get hypothermia after they came out of the water beet red.  On the way back to Marrakech , there was a small store with authentic beautiful tapestries that I had to stop and see.  I ended up purchasing a stunning carpet tapestry that our guide Ah'hmad helped me barter for and said that I had chosen a very very fine quality rug and i should be very grateful to have bargained for the price I did becuase the berber carpets are the authentic carpets of Morocco and I would never find that quality in the touristy markets of the city.....we'll see, but its really cool and I'm glad that was my purchase to remember Morocco by!
Something that I thought was most interesting and beautiful about Marrakech was the choice of orange trees to line their streets and main roads with as well as the laissez-faire attitude of the markets who would give the leftover food to the beggars after we had finished our meals.  Most of the roads were clay and i have tons of it on my shoes and pant legs to prove it.  And the people, even though many take advantage of the tourists, the market owners, and the riyad owners and the restaurant owners are incredibly hospitable and do sooo much for the visitors for almost no money.  It is unlike anything I have ever seen. I know that most of all, they want to make a living for themselves, but I also saw that they love their country very much and are very joyful in being able to share their culture and traditions with newcomers.  


One other unexpected cultural normality that I should have been prepared for, knowing a lot about the Muslim culture, is PRAYER. They pray, three four times a day for an hour, the first being at 5 am....over a loud speaker at each mosque. Beautiful yet disturbing, especially at 5 am when no human should be awake.  Everyone should youtube Muslim prayer ceremony because its impossible to describe.


I will post pictures VERY soon, I have to upload them first and then I will put them in a new blog.


The upcoming weekend, I am going to see my best friend, Chelsea in Lausanne, Switzerland and I am very excited, although not looking forward to the freezing snow! 


Love to you all, 
Carson