Marrakech

Michelle and I claimed the window seats on the train.

            On Friday morning, the 13^th of January, Michelle and I awoke early to finish packing our bags for our trip to Marrakech. We quickly completed out physical exams and morning treatments on our patients then waited anxiously for rounds to be done. Usually rounds finish just after 8am and the train to Marrakech left at 8:50. Because there were no patients waiting at the door when the gates opened at 8am, rounds dragged on until nearly 8:20am. We made the doctors and students aware of our final plans to travel to Marrakech this morning but they did not understand our time limitation. Finally when we were done with rounds, we rushed off to the student villa to grab our bags and rush to the curb outside the Fondouk to flag down a taxi. We waited for a taxi for 10 minutes before one with room for both of us pulled over. We were down to the wire to be able to make the 8:50 train. When we were dropped at the station, we rushed inside. I withdrew money from a cash machine while Michelle went to exchange money. The bank was being particularly slow and did not seem to understand Michelle’s rush for time so I bought both of our tickets and we rushed to climb aboard. Of course the first class section is always in the back so we ran down the tier and jumped on the first 1^st class car we saw. We had to go through one whole car before finding our cabin. We claimed the two window seats in our 6 person cabin and waited anxiously for the train to depart. In a few minutes time the train blew its horn and we were on our way to Marrakech. Our train traveled west, back to Casablanca where we had originally caught the train to Fez. From Casablanca, the train traveled Southeast towards its final destination, Marrakech.

The beautiful countryside in Morocco

The atlas mountains

            The countryside during out journey was both interesting and beautiful. We rode through many cities and vast countryside. The cities ranged from modern with satellite dishes and endless apartment buildings to rundown towns with collapsing buildings and trash and rubble pilled everywhere. The countryside was beautiful. It was filled with endless rolling hills, cacti, olive trees, and fields still plowed by livestock. Shepherds looked over their sheep while they grazed over the hills, and even cattle had watchmen as they grazed in the fields alongside the train tracks. The train ride was long but we appreciated the opportunity to see the countryside in the daylight.

A Berber man watches his cattle graze

Rows of cactus with a small villiage in the background. Every villiage has a mosque, the highest building in city.

The train station in Marrakech

            We arrived at the train station in Marrakech at 4:00pm. We wondered outside and were immediately harassed by taxi drivers quoting obnoxious prices to take us to our hotel. Discouraged we went back inside to find a phone to call the hotel and ask them to send a taxi at a reasonable price. When we walked back inside, I saw a few phone stores and decided to stop in and see how much it would cost for a SIM card for my iPhone. One company did not yet have SIM cards to fit the iPhone, The other did but after spending over a half and hour trying to get the SIM card to work, we gave up and just decided to call the hotel with my phone at the high rates that I was charged to use my phone overseas. The hotel man said his taxi driver friend did not work today and that we should be able to find a cab for about 50 dirham, five times more than a day time fare in Fez. We wondered back out to the taxi stand and did a little bartering to find a fair at 50 dirham. We were brought to the end of a street with allies fanning out into the souks of the Medina. Immediately one man offered to show us where our hotel was and regrettably, we followed him. We walked down the souk, quickly glancing in the stores we passed until finally we arrived at a large wooden door with a small sign on the side indicating it was the Hotel Belleville. Before we had a chance to knock, the man demanded 100 dirham for showing us the way. “What!” we exclaimed! We knew we would have to tip him alittle, but 100 dirham! That was outrageous! Twice what the taxi driver received for driving us several kilometers. We refused and Michelle knocked while I dug for some dirham coin. I came up with 15 dirham, but I had only been expecting to give him 10. I offered him 15 and he demanded 50. The hotel man answered the door and invited us in. The man that showed us the way followed us inside and had a quick, angry conversation with the hotel man. The hotel man said it was ok for us to give him 15 dirham and then he kicked the guide out the door. Glad to be rid of the man, we thanked the hotel owner and he showed us to our room.

Michelle and I sit and enjoy our beautiful courtyard in the Hotel Belleville

           The hotel was beautiful. Our room was on the main floor, just off of a beautiful small courtyard and a small salon with a couple of couches. Our room was small, about 10’ x 10’ with a double sized canopy bed, a bedside table, a shelving unit and a tiny attached bathroom. I peered in the bathroom and loved the tiled floor, sink, and counter, but was disappointed not to find a shower. Michelle had a look and when she closed the narrow door, she found a narrow archway into a small shower. Hurray! Our quaint little room had everything we needed. We quickly settled in in our desire to explore the medina tonight. First we took a trip to the second floor of the hotel and finally the terrace where there were several tables looking out over the medina. We were in love and glad we had found such a cute little hotel in the heart of the Medina for only 350 dirham a night.

A view of the little terrace on top of our hotel

The long line of horse drawn carriages in the square

            Next we wondered out into the souks and into the Medina. We followed our street North where it quickly dumped out into the main square called Djemaa el-Fna. People were everywhere as well as taxis, horse drawn carriages, street vendors, street performers, juice wagons, and restaurants held under tents. We glanced at a few menus before finally being convinced by a young Moroccan man to eat at his restaurant. He spoke very Californian English using works like “wicked” and “rad” to describe the fresh ingredients used to make the food. He amused me and I agreed we would try the food. While I laughed and had this conversation with the California Moroccan, Michelle was attacked by a henna “gypsy” as I call them. One woman grabbed her hand and started putting henna on it. Michelle kept saying no and that she had no money to pay her but the woman continued saying it was “free” and for good luck. Michelle was very uncomfortable and the woman quickly scribbled some poorly done henna onto the back of her hand. When she was done, the woman demanded 200 dirham. “What!” Michelle exclaimed. “You said it was free! For good Luck! I told you I have no money!” The woman insisted Michelle pay her 100 dirham and Michelle dug for some change. All she had was a few 1 dirham coins and she gave them to her. The woman looked very disappointed and almost angered but Michelle insisted that was all she had and we walked away to sit under the tent of the restaurant, 5 or 6 dirham poorer.

            For dinner we ordered chicken tagine with bread and enjoyed mint tea. It was a fairly cheap meal and we were full, even though we had split the meal. Next we wondered through the square, taking pictures of horse drawn carriages and browsing the shops bordering the square. We were constantly called at, usually something along the lines of “Bonjour, hello, how are you? Fine? Please, step inside my shop, you can look, it’s free, where you from? America? Welcome to my country, Nice to see you.” Occasionally we would hear someone from behind call out “Hello baby, I like your eyes, hair, butt, etc.” and even a few marriage proposals. It was all in fun of course but after a few hours of meandering, we were already growing tired of it. The calling and harassment was much worse here than in Fez due to the high tourism population. We had read that people in Marrakech we very kind, generous people. Instead, with the exception of our hotel man, we found them annoying and overbearing.

The Koutoubia Mosque in the night light

            During our exploration, we wondered to the Koutoubia Mosque and admired its beauty in the night light. Winding back thru the souks and into the square, we were stopped by a young man working at a women’s clothing store.  Michelle looked at some Berber pants and the sales man convinced Michelle to come inside and try on some magic jellaba. He dressed her in a one piece Berber dress, tied a belt around her waist, and then wrapped a scarf around her head. We laughed and had a good time but did not buy anything. A few shops later, we were pulled inside again, this time I was dressed in a very similar Berber dress and scarf and we took pictures. Michelle decided to buy some Berber pants and the man asked if we had a gift for him, something from America.  I dug through my purse and pulled out a shiny quarter, dime and penny and said they were souvenirs. He seemed happy enough with the sale and the gift and we continued on our way. We stopped at a restaurant for some shakes and later went to a bar called the Kosybar for a glass of wine before calling it a night.

Me dressed as a Berber woman

Michelle dressed as a Berber woman.
Her sales man was a bit more creepy...

Michelle on the terrace of the Kosybar

               Before bed we researched what to do the rest of the weekend. I mapped out several historic buildings and museums I wanted to see in the medina and Michelle did some trekking research. I really wanted to go on a camel trek but it was too cold for an overnight 2 day trek. Michelle found a company called Marrakech by Air that offered a 5 hour morning adventure complete with breakfast, a hot air balloon ride over the Atlas mountains and edge of the Sahara, brunch in a Berber village followed by a short camel trek through the palms. The reviews were great and it sounded like it would be an unforgettable experience. The only set back was the price, 1990 dirham, about $230. We would have to think about it overnight and see if they still had openings for Sunday morning. We went to bed excited for what the rest of the weekend may bring.