It smells like fish and garbage, you see run-down buildings coated with dirt and narrow streets twisting through dozens and dozens of open-front shops. Kids and men are dangling goatskin drums, wooden camels, bags of pine nuts, curved daggers and leather bags in front of your face saying, "No pressure no pressure, I am friendly I give you friend price no pressure!" One guy even tried to sell me a "carpet- magic- it flies!" They stick their arms as far into your tour bus as they can without 'stepping foot' inside.
I remember getting my Yellow Fever vaccine because I had wanted to visit Morocco while I was living in Madrid, but I never wound up going because I couldn't find a group with guys who wanted to go. Knowing now what I didn't know then: I'm so glad I didn't! I guess it's like college kids wanting to go to Tijuana. It sounds like fun...but...when you get there it's dank and corrupt and you pray you make it back home without landing in prison first for no reason. I think better advice would have been: "make sure you bring small bills in case you have to bail yourself out of anything." I was glued to Todd and the middle of my tour group the whole time. It was a good choice to pay for safety in numbers!
The tour I bought today for $64 included a walking tour through the Kasba and La Medina, a show with acrobats, folklore music, Bellydancing, refreshments, a horse show and a camel ride. Well...that sounded pretty amazing to me, but...
The acrobats were brother and sister 12-year-olds who did a back tuck and some back walk overs (really gymnastics, not acrobatics.) The refreshments were a shot of cavity-sweet Moroccan tea and tea cookies. The belly dancer ran in late and was decent, not excellent. The horse show turned out to be three horses with riders running down a stretch of grass three times (under 10 seconds each,) while the center rider twirled his rifle over his head, and then they wanted a tip. The camel ride demanded a tip too, and was pretty much just mounting, walking on a lead and dismounting. Luckily Todd spotted me a dollar to make this dream come true because I was told not to bring ANY money for fear of pickpockets. I took the advice literally and only wore my sunglasses on my face, and white-knuckled my camera case (with credit card and ship's ID) which I wore around my neck.
I was also told to wear long sleeves and pants out of respect for the culture. Most women wear full-length dresses and have a birka on their head; some with only a slit for seeing. The culture felt a lot more Middle Eastern than African to me...being as they are mostly Muslim, they speak Arabic and French, and they're skin is tan. I did not see one black person! I didn't expect a safari atmosphere by any means, but I did think I would be seeing black people and more of a village than a city.
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