To Get in the Car or Not?

We got up early on our second day because we needed to catch a train to Marrakech which is a bigger city about 3 hours from Casablanca. We had breakfast on the ship and left to catch the shuttle which transported us to the front of the port. From there, we needed to get a cab to the train station because it was on the opposite side of town, so we took this really nice BMW cab that was unmarked. Probably not smart, but oh well. We also paid more than we probably should have but we didn’t know that until later. I guess you live and you learn right? We got to the train station and ran into a bunch of people from SAS because a ton of people were planning on going to Marrakech. We were pretty early though, so we got tickets, but we didn’t get first class tickets like we had hoped. The difference between first and second class is air conditioning which is a pretty vital thing in the desert. So, we weren’t looking forward to that. We went out to where we thought the train was going to be, but all of the announcements were in French, so we almost got on a train to go to the airport. Luckily, one of the professors stopped us, and we finally boarded the correct train.

Now, as I have mentioned in many previous posts, lines DO NOT exist in Europe. Well, they don’t exist in Africa either. So, we had been waiting for the train for about an hour and a half before it got there. A ton of SAS people got there right before it left and were PUSHING us out of the way to get on the train first. So annoying. I KNOW you are from the U.S., where lines exist, so DON’T CUT IN FRONT OF ME. I was literally fuming because to be honest, I am SICK of most of the people on the ship. People are rude, obnoxious, and obsessed with getting wasted which I do not understand because you can do that at home. So, anyways, I was basically elbowing girls out of the way, and I was the first of my friends to get on the train. By the way, it was just Candice, Megan, and I on this little adventure. Everyone else had plans they had made earlier. So, I was saving two seats in a compartment (yes! Just like Harry Potter!), and this awful SAS girl comes barging in, throws her stuff in the two seats I was saving, and yells to her friend that she saved her a seat. At this point, I am BOILING. So, I told her that I was saving those seats for my friends. So, she took her shit out of one of the seats, but not the other one. So, I just gave Megan my seat because she wasn’t feeling well, and Candice and I sat out in the aisle way because I felt bad making Candice sit out there by herself. So, the awful girl got her way. I hate when that happens.

The good news is that Candice and I only had to sit out there for two stops because three people got off at another stop which was awesome. So, we all moved to another compartment together. There were two men in there, one that spoke English and one that didn’t. The guy that spoke English talked to us for a little bit, but he was a little creepy. After about two stops, another older man came into our compartment and sat down across from the three of us. Of course, we were just talking up a storm, and I started reading Candice’s palm at one point. Before I knew it, I was reading this old man’s palm! Don’t worry. He had a really long lifeline. We started talking to him and became really good friends with him on the train ride. His name is Hamid. He is a native of Marrakech, and I found out that in the 1980’s he studied abroad at Pitt! Isn’t that awesome? He knew all about the Cathedral of Learning, and he even lived in the Towers! We talked about Pittsburgh and some other stuff, and he was just a really nice guy. His English wasn’t that good, but the more we talked, the better it got. About halfway through the train ride, Megan started feeling really sick. I felt so bad because she had gotten pretty sick in Italy too, but we were on the train so there wasn’t really anything we could do.

The train ride finally ended after about three hours, and Hamid offered to give us a ride to our hotel. He said his son was picking him up from the train station, and our hotel was only two blocks from there. We said we could walk, but he advised against it because of the heat. So, we know that we shouldn’t get in cars with strangers. It definitely is not a good idea, but his son was waiting for him outside, it was hot, and we were tired. In our defense, it was also the middle of the day, so we could have yelled and screamed and barrel-rolled (HAHA) out of the car if necessary. So, we hopped in. All three of us were squeezed in the back with our stuff, and Hamid was right! It was only like two blocks away. His son pulled up on the wrong side of the hotel, and the hotel looked deserted. Hamid hopped out and walked us inside. He helped us to find the main desk and helped to translate with the people working at the desk. We were all checked in, and Hamid said he would pick us up at 8:30 P.M. in the lobby to show us the old town of Marrakech. We said okay because we were delirious, and off he went. He was just the nicest man!

So, the hotel we stayed at was SO nice. Like ridiculously nice. There was a bellhop that took us up to our room which was a one bed room apartment. There was a big living room, kitchen, bathroom, and two balconies. The common area of the hotel had this really nice pool, and it was decorated authentically. It was awesome. We were all really excited about how nice our room was, but we were STARVING when we got off the train. We hadn’t eaten lunch, and it was pretty late. So, we headed out to the main road because our hotel was a little bit off the main road. We walked down the street a little bit until we found a cab, and we tried to get him to take us to a restaurant. He didn’t speak very good English, but he seemed to understand that we were hungry, so we hopped in. We ended up at the mall. Yes, the mall. Clearly he didn’t understand us, but oh well. We tried. So, we headed for the food court to find that there are two restaurants open: Pizza Hut and Korean BBQ. Yup. Just those two. I mean, it is Ramadan and just about everyone is fasting during the day, but COME ON PEOPLE. I’M HUNGRY. So, I got Korean BBQ while Candice and Megan got Pizza Hut. The Korean BBQ wasn’t too bad because it was sushi with BBQ sauce to dip in, so I enjoyed having some sushi. I didn’t realize how much I missed it. Megs and Dice got salads from Pizza Hut, and we ate together in the completely deserted food court. Kind of eerie.

After lunch, we went back to the hotel to relax and shower before our big night out with Hamid. As the sun started going down, and we were online (FREE WIFI YAH!) telling people what we were about to do, we started contemplating if going with Hamid would play out the way the movie Taken did. I mean, why would some random old man want to hang out with us? We weren’t sure if we were going to go, and we decided that the best course of action was to tell him that we would meet him in the Old Town, so we wouldn’t have to get in the car with him. Even though we already did get in a car with him. But that is beside the point because that was during the day which is completely different. Megan was pretty much set on the scenario of “What if he doesn’t come?” but I knew that was never going to happen. So, we went down to the lobby and were waiting for him there. While we were waiting, we had this brilliant plan to ask the hotel desk for the number to call the police. The woman working at the desk did not speak the best English, so Megan went to try and ask her for the number. The conversation didn’t go well, and pretty much ended with “What is the number for 9-1-1, but not 9-1-1?”. Hahaha. Yah. She didn’t know what that was. So, we just got the number for the hotel. We are brilliant.

Hamid did show up and was right on time. He came into the lobby, and we were all sitting in the seats. He asked if we were ready, and we asked what we were doing. I was trying to tell him we would just meet him there, but we ended up just getting in the car with him. I know, but he was an old man, and we had Mandice with us, so I wasn’t too worried. We were all really nervous in the car, but he did take us to the center of the city, not a random, dark basement with torture devices. I did breathe a sigh of relief when we got out of the car though.

He parked a little bit off the main street, and we walked towards the city center together. All of a sudden the street we were walking on opens up into this HUGE square, and it was filled with people. There were street performers, tourists, locals, horses, cars, etc. Literally, everything you could think of going in all different directions. It was a little overwhelming, but I enjoyed it. I was really glad we went with Hamid though. He kept all the creepy guys away and helped us to find our way around. As soon as we got into the main part of the square, we came across a man with a monkey! It was the cutest thing ever! He climbed on to my shoulder, and Megan snapped a picture. I was surprised at how big it was though. I was expecting it to be smaller. We walked in a little more and found a ton of places serving food. Since most of the people had been fasting all day, including Hamid, there were a ton of places to get food. Hamid bought us all a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice which was really good except for all the pulp. He basically chugged his, but it took us a little longer to drink it. We walked farther back in the square, and he ran us through the souks really quickly which are all the places to shop. We didn’t do much shopping, but he definitely knew his way around. We did stop at a purse shop, and he bargained a great price for us which was great. The souks sold all kinds of stuff from food to furniture. It was a lot like the Grand Bazaar, but people weren’t as pushy. I think that might have been because we were with Hamid though.

After we ran through the souk (Hamid is a REALLY fast walker), we headed back to the main square. We all decided we wanted to get henna, so Hamid negotiated a price for us, and we all got something on our arms. Hamid got another glass of orange juice, and as I got my henna, I watched a belly dancer do her thing. Yet, I was wrong. Hamid told me that it was a MAN who was belly dancing. You really couldn’t tell because his face was completely covered, but it was super weird.

We then headed back to the main square where we ran into a bunch of clowns. Now, these weren’t your typical clowns. Hamid called them cloons (his pronunciation is his biggest problem), but they were basically guys dressed a little funny telling stories. They had huge crowds around them, and in the middle were a bunch of kids who were clearly engulfed in the story. It was a really cool thing to watch. Even though I couldn’t understand what he was saying, I could tell if the story was funny or scary. We didn’t stay long to listen though because Hamid is always on the move. I swear he is a 15 year old boy trapped in a 64 year old body. He moves at lightning fast speed. So, we were off, and this time we were headed in the direction of the mosque. In most of the cities in Morocco, the city center is accompanied by a mosque (thanks for that lesson Global Studies!). It is where people gather to pray, socialize, and such. So, we headed over to the mosque. On the way over, we passed a bunch of horse drawn carriages which apparently act as taxis. Hamid said they would take us all the way back to the hotel which was a pretty good way. I’m sure it would have been expensive though. The funny thing was that the horses had these cloths behind them to catch their poop! Pretty clever huh?

So, as we approached the mosque, we had to cross the street to get to it. Crossing the street in any country we have been in has been a task, but Morocco was definitely the worst. People WILL run you over. So, Megs, Dice, and I were basically clinging to Hamid because locals seem to know the exact moment when it is okay to cross even if a car, bike, and moped are less than a foot away. I guess they are born with it. We arrived at the mosque, and it was beautiful. It was all lit up, and there was a sea of people outside of it, all in white, praying towards Mecca. It was honestly one of the most beautiful things I have seen on this trip. I am not really sure why, but after seeing these people fast all day and then pray, I really understood the religion. It is such devotion. Anyways, they all moved in unison as they prayed, and they just seemed so connected. I obvious didn’t take any pictures because that would just be wrong, but it was awesome.

We then headed back to the main square and then back to the car. Hamid was basically our tour guide and very rarely told us what was planned next, so we figured out when we got in the car that we were headed to dinner. He took us to this café that was on the other side of town behind a gas station. Don’t worry. No one dies. We were all pretty tired though, and Megan wasn’t feeling well still, but telling Hamid no is IMPOSSIBLE. I swear he pretends to not understand me anytime I say no. More examples to come about that one. So, we walk into the restaurant and are literally the ONLY foreigners there. I mean, that is kind of typical since we are rolling with a local, but I have never been stared at by a whole restaurant in my life until that moment. I swear EVERYONE looked up at us. That was kind of a surreal experience. We sat down though, and Hamid ordered us water and tagine. Tagine is basically a mix of a meat, fruit, and vegetable all in this cone shaped pot. They put the cone shaped pot into an open fire stove, and let it slow cook for about an hour. Want to know what comes out? The BEST food I have ever had. Seriously. He got one with lamb, apricots, and onions. The meat was falling off the bone and was infused with the apricot and onion taste. It was SO good. We all ate out of the same pot though which was also pretty cool. They also served it with tanourt which is a weird kind of flat bread. We ate pretty quickly, and Hamid wrote all of our names on our napkins in Arabic which was pretty cool. He then got in a little argument with the waiter about our check (Hamid is kind of impatient like me!), and we paid for dinner since he had been so nice.

By this time, we were all really exhausted. Yet, Hamid has plans. He really wanted to show us this public bowling alley, and I honestly got a little nervous that he was going to kill us or something. But there actually was a bowling alley. Apparently, he thought it would remind me of Pittsburgh. Haha. He wanted to go in, but I told him we were all really tired, so he took us to buy some water and then back to the hotel. We thanked him for everything and for being so nice to us, and he said “No problem! See you tomorrow at 11? We will go into the mountains!” We had told him we wanted to see some of the Berber villages which are in the mountains of Marrakech, and apparently he wanted to take us! So, we agreed, headed back to our room, and informed everyone that we hadn’t been “Taken”! Quite an interesting night to say the least.