The weekend started off bright and early on Saturday at exactly 6am we were walking out the door of the Hostel. We had a long day of traveling ahead starting with a two hour bus ride to Cadiz from there we would catch another bus to the ferry in Tarifa. The ferry then brought us across the Mediterranean Sea to Morocco which is northern Africa. As we were walking out of our Hostel door the Rooster that lives across the street began his daily "cock-a-doodle-doo!" How ironic!
Our trip getting to Morocco was very confusing and frustrating. It was difficult to find the buses and the Ferry and people were not helpful at all. You would think after spending nearly 3 hours at the Travel Agency they would have helped us at least a little...but no. We traveled with a really nice group from St. John's though. It was Adrian and I; Lucia, Adriel, Ashni, Nicole, Vanessa and Vanessa's mom was here from the United States so she traveled with us as well. Vanessa and her mom stayed at a different hotel though closer to where the Ferry picked us up and dropped us off.
After a lot of aggravation trying to get to the Ferry and through the border...we made it onto the Ferry. Unfortunately, the Ferry ride was less than pleasant as well. Every single one of us got sea sick. The Ferry was rocking so much and going so fast it was impossible not to get sick. Adrian and I spent most of our time on the deck outside on the Ferry because we both thought we were going to get sick. On a positive note...we saw SEVEN sharks!!!!!!!! Two of them were baby sharks and one we think was a Great White! It was so cool!!!! We didn't get any pictures of them because it would have been practically impossible to do so, but the water was so clear we could see the whole entire shark. We saw a lot of jellyfish too. We proudly are claiming our bragging rights having seen 7 sharks in a matter of an hour!
After a very rocky Ferry ride and a lot of TUMS we made it to Africa!!! Our tour guide picked us up right at the gate at the Ferry exit. From the start I could tell Morocco was a lot different then Spain. From the second we stepped off the Ferry people were staring at us. Most were Moroccan natives. The major religion in Morocco is Islam. Most of the signs and menus are in Arabic, though some people do speak English. The majority of the women wear the traditional Islamic attire so their head and face are covered. Off a boat here comes six American women in our tank tops and tight jeans...we immediately stood out. I covered up my chest in a black scarf and zippered up my jacket. I felt out of place and uncomfortable.
Our tour guide brought us to the travel agency van and we all hopped in. He proceeded to give us a tour from the van. He explained a lot of the history of Tangier and the "modern" Tangier. It was a lot of information all at once and difficult to keep up, but I did my best to remember the most I could. The inhabitants of Tangier make most of their living off of Tourism. There are two parts of Tangier the old Tangier and the new Tangier. Personally, I had difficulties telling the difference between old Tangier and new Tangier. Old Tangier was apparently the small tiny alleyways we walked down. Those were scary to say the least. Tangier is one of the oldest cities in Morocco and is currently trying to become more modern. Here are some pictures of both the new and old Tangier.
I didn't get many pictures of Tangier's city overall. It is very frowned upon to take pictures in Morocco. Muslims have to be personally asked to be in a photo and if they see you taking a picture they stare at you. So, the pictures I did take were quick snapshots mostly from our van. Also, it is difficult to stop and take photos because in Tangier you have to be constantly moving. If you are not...the Moroccan people will surround you and literally hound you to buy something. I am not talking like NYC Vendors hounding either...they grab you, pull you, shove things right in your face. I constantly had to have my head down and hold my purse tight to my chest.
One of the more beautiful parts of Tangier was where the most beautiful Mosque in all of Tangier is located in Grand Socco (Large Markert in Spanish). There are 38 Mosques in Morocco. 7 Churches and 3 Synagogues.
The first thing we did when we got off of our bus tour was ride a camel! It was clear the Camels were abused. Animal abuse in Morocco does not seem to be a problem...I watched a man basically kick a cat who was purring because I am pretty sure the cat was in labor. It was sickening. The Camels legs were tied and they seemed dirty and all cut up. I did not notice this until after I had taken my ride because if I had I probably would not have gotten on. The way the man handled the Camels was sad as well. The Camels would screech and try to pull away from him and he would whip them with a stick.
It cost just One Euro to ride the Camel and that is the salary of a worker here. The dirham is the Moroccan currency. Eight Dirhams equal one American Dollar and Eleven Dirhams equal One Euro. The Dirham is not worth much, but the Euro is. We were able to pay in Euro's everywhere we went.
The travel agency took us to a restaurant for lunch. It was in the heart of Tangier. The nicest thing about the restaurant was that there was a Moroccan band inside. The food on the other hand....gross. There were dead flies all over the tables, the silverware was dirty and I found a hair in my "homemade bread". I apologize for being so negative in this Blog post...but that was just my experience. Some of the pictures actually do too much justice and almost make things seem better then they actually were. Also, just to note...the band was absolutely wonderful until we were leaving. They swarmed us and literally would not let us leave until we tipped them. They expected we would pay them just because we had listened to them and when some of us did not have change on us they were furious. I handed the man my own Euro coin which was 50 cents and he threw it right back at me.
After lunch our tour guide took us to my least favorite part of my entire time in Morocco...the meat and fish market. First of all, I did not like our tour guide either. It did not take us long to figure out he was apart of the people harassing us. We believe he got commission for everything we bought from the vendors on the street. Instead of protecting us or blocking us when people would be physically grabbing us he let it happen. He watched and encouraged us to buy the junk they were offering. Towards the end the majority of our group was rather annoyed.
Anyway, he took us to the meat market and fish market. I took zero pictures in there and frankly you would not want to see what I witnessed inside of there anyway. It is not like a meat market in America or even remotely close. Once again..it seemed barbaric. Picture little children...ages five maybe six... with huge knives butchering practically still alive animals. Blood squirting everywhere, animal legs all over the floor, pools of blood. I began dry heaving in the market, uncontrollable tears running down my cheeks.
People were yelling, screaming and it smelled like nothing I have ever smelled in my life. I made a point to just stare at the ground and not look along the walls of animal carcasses with their guts hanging out...Adrian saw an animal heart in someones hands. I just wanted to get out of there. While staring at the ground... I saw animal legs and bones and pools of blood. My friend Ashni is a vegetarian and began dry heaving.
Even Adrian was really upset. The walk through the market seemed endless and the smell stuck to my clothes for the rest of the day. The fish market had every creature from the sea you could imagine. Some people from our group believe they saw Dolphin and Shark meat. The yelling in the market really got to me too. The one time I looked up in the fish market all I saw was men with their knives in the air yelling. When I asked Nora what she thought of the fish market when she went she said there was so much yelling and so much blood...she thought she was going to pass out.
The entire weekend our group of friends could not stop talking about it. Their culture is very different and I had to keep that in mind. Even so, I do not think it is fair to say Morocco is becoming very modern which many people told us. I really saw no indication of any modernization in Morocco. The way they treated tourists, the way they treated women, the way they treated animals and prepared their food...none of it seemed modern at all. It was eyeopening.
There were some nice people we encountered in Morocco. One included a man at a spice vendor he waved as I took a picture.
After our lovely market experience our tour guide took us to a carpet shop. Another experience (you will see I write that a lot throughout this post). The carpets that the Moroccans make are gorgeous nonetheless. They really reminded me of the one I have in my dining room at home and in one of our hallways. I feel like my mom would have loved them! The tour of the Carpet place and the showing of all the different carpets and how they are made was great! I quite enjoyed it. It was great..until we figured out the man was trying to sell us the carpets and he began harassing us. He grabbed Vanessa's mom at one point, trying to get her to buy a 500 Euro carpet and said I have two wives at home and wouldn't mind one more. Now taken out of context that might be a funny joke, but he was dead serious. The way he grabbed her and spoke to her....it gave me the chills. There was just something about the way he looked at her...she was meat. Vanessa's mom got really upset at one point...to see a parent nearly breakdown changes everything.
Adrian said later when we were discussing the experience with our friends back at school that he got so angry many time while in Morocco (if anyone knows Adrian it takes a lot for him to get angry...not in his nature!) He said he saw the way the men would look at all of us girls and he would become so mad. It just wasn't right he said.
The workers followed us all the way out of the Carpet store bargaining prices. Some facts I found interesting from our presentation was that the idea of the red carpet originated in Morocco. A red carpet was a carpet made for the rich and was very special. Our presenter said that America took that idea and ran away with it; hence the red carpet. A lot of the rugs are reversible and used for different seasons of the year.
Our next stop was the Pharmacy. The entire walk to the Pharmacy we were followed by people grabbing and trying to get us to buy things. At this point, most of us were done with the day and just wanted to get back to the Hotel. The Pharmacy was a nice break from the chaos and was a little more modern. We got a tour and the Pharmacist, a young Moroccan man, was very intelligent and likable. He spoke perfect English as well. Yet, once again...he was a businessman. He was nice up until it was time for us to buy his products or not. Even so, it was a great experience. He showed us Moroccan remedies for snoring and psoriasis. I ended up buying some of the psoriasis cremes and some other girls bought lotions. Adrian bought some ginger for digestion. I enjoyed learning about the various remedies and the Moroccan take on medicine. A lot of my psoriasis medicine contains Cortisone and the Pharmacist explained they NEVER use Cortisone because of the chemicals it contains. Instead they use natural remedies.
As we were walking to the conclusion of our tour I watched two little boys kicking a soccer ball back and forth. They were really cute and seemed really innocent. I then watched as an old man stormed up to them and furiously grabbed the soccer ball and stormed inside his house. The little boys hung their heads...they seemed so sad. They were just being kids and were punished for doing so. A few of the people on the tour witnessed this scene too.
After our Pharmacy visit our tour was basically concluded. Everyone overall was really shaken up. Even the two boys and Vanessa's mom. Everyone either felt sick to their stomach or had a headache and all basically ran to the van to get back to the hotel. Morocco was a different world. Our bus took us back to the Hotel and to my surprise our hotel was very nice. It was far from the town...just what we needed and was right on the water. This was the view from the balcony.
Tarik Hotel
When we met for dinner in the Hotel we all agreed that we wanted to just stay on the beach all day Sunday. Not a single one of us opposed. Our dinner in the Hotel (included) wasn't too bad. The soup was good and same with the bread. I didn't really eat anything else because I was so freaked out about lunch. We all went to bed really early because we were exhausted and got up early the next morning for breakfast and the beach. Breakfast (also included) was pretty simple. Pastries and coffee.
Breakfast was really pleasant and it is so nice being able to look out the window and see the Mediterranean Sea.
We spent the entire day at the beach and I loved that. It was a different view of Morocco and actually made me really sad. To me...the Jersey Shore is gorgeous...I mean c'mon Morocco has SO much more potential! If we can make Jersey gorgeous...imagine what the Moroccans could do with their beaches, but between the pollution and the abused Camels all over the beach it really takes away from the beauty. We witnessed so many peculiar things. There were a group of men in front of us swimming in their underwear. We witnessed them jumping from the rocks head first into 5 feet of water. It was unbelievable. I was sure we were going to have to jump in the water and rescue one of them.
Otherwise the day was pretty relaxing. We relaxed in the sun and took pictures. We stood on the top of the rocks where the water was splashing and got some really nice pictures. It was actually a lot of fun.
Overall, the day restored my faith in Morocco...well until later at least. We decided to eat lunch in the Hotel because we were nervous to go back into town. I had a really delicious sandwich just plain cheese and egg.
After lunch we sat in the lobby (only place we got wifi) and waited for our bus driver to come. Nicole and I wanted to go to the bathroom before we started our journey back to the ferry. We were in the lobby of the Hotel and not for a second did it cross my mind we were not safe. Well, we were once again wrong. We were cornered by an old man right in from the female bathroom. He grabbed Nicole's hand and began kissing her arm. She kept pulling away and I was saying "Stop, stop." He only spoke arabic, apparently. I was torn between running the 20 feet back to Adrian, Adriel and the girls...or staying with Nicole and getting this creeper away. Everything seemed to be happening so fast. He kept reaching in his pocket and then rubbing Nicole's arm. There was none around. The one place we felt safe was in the Hotel and now just moments before we are supposed to leave we are being violated here too. Before I knew it he grabbed my wrist and was pushing us both up against the wall. "No, no, no!" Nicole and I kept saying over and over not knowing what to do...should we scream? run? hit him? Eventually, I got my wrist free and pried Nicole's out of his grasp and we ran into the bathroom as the old man yelled things in Arabic behind us. We were shaking, near tears as we scrubbed our hands clean in the sink. We were afraid to leave the bathroom and I forgot my phone to text Adrian. We figured the man got the message and ran off. We were wrong. Hand in hand Nicole and I stormed out of the bathroom to find the man blocking the doorway fully with his arms. He would not let us out. We pushed and he did not budge and then Nicole yelled and shoved him back. We ran through as once again he yelled things at us in Arabic. When we got to Adrian, Adriel, Lucy and Ashni in the lobby we were shaking. We tried to explain the story to them...but even in this Blog post I cannot explain it well enough. Only Nicole will ever understand that feeling we had. We were no longer in control..that man was. I have never in my life felt inferior to a man (I'm a feminist duh!) but in that moment I was terrified. Despite being older, he was stronger then both of us physically. I was in shock...you don't ever think these things can actually happen to you. I felt so naive and ashamed. Here I went into Morocco thinking I would be completely fine. Anyone that doesn't do things like this out of fear are missing out...yet maybe they are the smart ones in this case. Later when I explained the story to Nora she said that the man probably thought we were prostitutes. Thats a very scary thought.
Nora and I swapped Morocco stories tonight and she had a very similar experience. In fact, she said she didn't tell me before I went because she wanted to hear if we had similar experience first. My roommate Dana asked Adrian and I tonight if I regret going to Morocco... we both said "no" at the exact same time without hesitation. I don't regret going to Morocco...because it was an experience. I will remember my trip to Morocco thirty years from now. I feel like in one weekend I learned so much about myself and became so thankful for how/where I was raised. I will never EVER ever complain about Upstate New York again.
From seeing little boy trying to sell me things on the streets, to the meat market, fish market, inappropriateness of the men, isolation of the women, seeing tons of little boys everywhere and not a SINGLE little girl, constant harassment and more...Morocco was not the "ideal" vacation spot (though ironically every review you read online says it is). I was also deeply saddened to know that Morocco has high standings within the European Union. Meaning it is not officially a member-state, but is pretty close. It amazes me that Europe can allow basically one of its member-states to be in this sort of condition. At one point our tour guide pointed down an alley and said this is where the junkies are. Some people in our group actually walked by people sticking needles in their arms right in the open. Why hasn't Europe done anything about this? Why aren't they stepping in? and why does every review online say Tangier is a modern city? Is it because Tourism is the main market for Tangier? They need tourists..like myself...to believe Tangier is the place to go? There was nothing modern about Morocco at all. I DO want to go back to Africa one day. Morocco though will not be first on my list. I will also be a lot less naive and a lot more aware... I am lucky to have come from where I have come from. I may constantly complain about my equality in the United States of America as a woman ...yet I have it GREAT compared to those in other countries.
Morocco was eyeopening. I am not sure how else to phrase it. The boat ride home...another experience. It was rocky once again and the majority of us got seasick. Apparently the waters we were in are the most tumultuous in the world according to Nora...which makes sense. On a positive note we got to see the sun set completely. It was beautiful.
When we finally thought our eventful weekend was over...THERE WAS MORE! Lucy and I were very sea sick and piled into a very smelly bus for a three hour trip. Ten minutes into our trip...the girl two seats behind me throws up everywhere....and when I say everywhere I literally mean EVERYWHERE. I swear it was the icing on the cake! Adrian and I tried moving our seats because the stench was that bad. FINALLY we made it back to campus...I have never been happier to see my Hostel bed! The weekend in Morocco was a crazy hectic one...but it was enlightening. Even though this Blog post is very long I still do not feel like I included everything. If you are planning on going to Morocco I do not suggest not going because of my review or that of my friends. Morocco is an experience and if every kid from Upstate NY had that experience..there would probably be a lot less teens whining about what they DON'T have instead of realizing what they DO have.
I apologize to anyone that was looking to read something positive and uplifting...today my Blog post was not the place for that...but I promise my next ones will be better! :) To end on a happy note...I took this picture on the boat ride home and Adrian and I joked this picture explains my weekend in a nutshell.
Well, I hope you learned a little at least!!! Enjoy your week and I hope to be writing more soon! I am doing my first day of Community Serivice tomorrow...wish me luck!
As always,
XOXO Shann
