Morocco background story

The furniture looked nice but when you sit down the cushions are cheap, the thin cushions are placed on a board that you can feel the grain of thru the cushion. The kitchen seemed decent altho we really didn't plan to use it. The walls of the living room looked like marble. The floor had similar material. The balconies were fabulous. From our top floor we could see all over the city and really got our bearings. We could see the port off in the distance. Across the street was a mosque and at 5am we awoke to realize that we weren't in Kansas anymore. The imam was announcing the call to worship. In fact there were 3 or 4 imams each calling loud on speakers at the top of the minarets in the neighborhood.

This was our first overseas trip. We went overboard in otherness - Africa, Arab world, Muslim country, English as the 5th or 6th language. This is also very old culture, like biblical. Some of the scenes we found ourselves in were biblical. I could imagine the sick man being lowered from the terrace of our riad to be healed by Jesus. The streets were far too narrow for anything but a donkey, not even a camel. We were in a land where camels would not be out of place. The shock of the changes in our situation took every effort and constant energy. We had no idea what to expect. I had done research but that's not reliable and we didn't know how we'd react on our part to the changes afoot. The food, transportation, language, customs, Islam, weather, facilities, bathrooms... Nothing could be counted on anymore. I had made flight arrangements and accommodations, but that was it. First order of business was getting to our first place of rest after arriving on the plane from NYC. I had talked to Rachid about meeting us at the airport but there were two Rachids. The Rachid who met us was from Fes, we were in Casablanca. OMG! It seems funny but it was not. Anyway, Rachid took us to our destination. He found a place for us to have breakfast after our long flight. Omelettes right around the corner from our place. The PLACE, the apartment was interesting. Our accommodation was on the 4th floor. The other Rachid met us with the key. So there's a key to the main door and a key to a cage at the 4th floor that gives us access to our top floor apartment. The place was huge. It had a large living room, wrap around balcony, 2 bathrooms (one with European-American toilet and one "other"), two bedrooms and a kitchen.

Marrakech was a nice blend of old and new. The Gema al Fna was a huge tourist square at the edge of the medina(the Arab quarter). There was a snake charmer, long rows of hot food booths, people hawking their wares. Most of this area seemed oriented towards the tourist, but it was interesting. On our way out the first time a fight broke out between two motorists who had gotten in an accident. The market had a wall around it. At one edge of the Gema al Fna there were a bunch of tourist restaurants. We found one with an appealing menu on the wall written in English that seemed reasonable. The doorway led up some stairs and we found ourselves looking over the market from about 3 floors up. One floor down was a Moroccan band. There were torches and heaters. It was December so there was a chill in the air.

Our accommodation was probably a half mile from the market. We were on the third floor. There were plenty of places to eat nearby. The part of Marrakech we were in was heavily western so we didn't feel alien in this land anymore. Casablanca was industrial. Fes was very Arab and Berber. Marrakech seemed like a happy medium. Matt felt so comfortable that he went for a long walk. He enjoyed himself. I was glad he felt comfortable in the surroundings.