Memories of Morocco
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Thu 6 Nov 2008 11:37
|
The
Good, Bad, Ugly and the Downright Amazing - Memories of
Morocco
A Berber in the desert posed a problem. A man has one dog, six sheep and some grass to get across a river, he can only take one ‘lot’ at a time. If he leaves the sheep and dog, the dog will attack the sheep. If he leaves the grass and sheep, the sheep will eat the grass. Have a think about it, the answer is the end.
GOOD
The people of Rabat Marina, so friendly and welcoming. Very
proud of their development.
Tagine Food.
Fresh Spices.
Sale Medina. Non threatening, smaller sized, friendly without
wanting your money for anything and everything.
The cheerful chap who came out of no-where to lead us into
port, ditto when we left.
The Trains. By and large on time and clean. Choice of
1st ( computer allocated seating) and 2nd class. Excellent
trolley service throughout the train. Very affordable way to get around
Morocco.
 The real date palm, the mobile phone mast, if only they could do a little more with
the trunk.
MOST people we met were friendly, hard-working, patient,
tranquil, humble and sharing.
The stunning flowers, their colours and perfume. A banana flower. Even a broken pavement will try to repair itself with flowers.
BAD A kindly people that would rob you of your eyes and come back
for the lashes.
The henna painting woman in Marrakech who got quite
aggressive when we refused to give her 500 Dirham’s each for coming AT US. We
gave 100 each and she wanted Bed’s for her unborn child as compensation.
Some stall holders (again Marrakech) who came at you with
mock Cockney accents, insisting you needed to come in and buy.
Some carpet sellers who insisted you needed a carpet, we
don’t have space, “put it on the wall“, we don’t have one, “send it
home, we take visa“.
Marrakech again, bump into anyone and they wanted money,
especially the youngsters, if they helped and you gave 10 Dirham‘s, they asked
for 20. Give 20 and they wanted 30 and so on.
My left buttock cheek with it's 6 inch damage caused by a brass toilet-roll holder. A camel's head in the butcher's. Pathetic scenes of poverty, but a good TV reception.
UGLY The Shoosh seller, price started at “300 Dirham’s, top
quality, no dye leak”, bought for 50. Bear has the traditional daily Saharan
colour of blue. I bought the dressing -up colour of white with black ends. I’m
just pleased I didn’t wear it with anything special in the rain !!!!!
Cats. Are everywhere. We can understand why (usually women)
tourists feel so strongly they leave their past existence and go set up a
shelter. We saw a kitten for sale in a medina, it was left overnight in a small
bird cage next to the noisy fish tank filters under a UV light. The poor thing
was racing around the cage, hanging by its claws from the top, mewing for all
its might, clearly very distressed.
The tortoises offered for sale in cardboard boxes in the
blazing heat, some had gone “over to the other side”.
A hawk for sale.
Teeth are either perfect, shocking or non existent.
The stall holders who think all tourists are just plain
stupid, inflating a price to a stupid level. We watched as two Americans were
sucked in and instead of working the price out in Dollars and bartering, just
assumed Dirham’s was Mickey Mouse currency and handed over a wadge.
The way some animals were laden, treated and badly in need of
a vet.
The pot-holes and electrics.
  Examples of dodgy electrics are
everywhere. Electricians leave your tools at home and don't look.
Flies of every shape and size.
Rubbish and just plain filth everywhere.
Plastic bags blowing across the Sahara. A Berber said to us
“If you have to throw a bag, put a stone in it first”.
The evidence of the Shoosh "non leak dye, good quality Madam". The scales didn't lie, clearly showing I had been ROOKED out of 20 grams of Saffran
DOWNRIGHT AMAZING
Architecture
Mosaic
  
The Hassan II Mosque, Casablanca,
Mosaic examples
The transference from street to Riad.
A woman in a Burkah on a motorbike, talking on the phone,
child asleep in her lap, no lights on. Just plain wrong.
We bartered 15 Dirham’s instead of 30 for Saffran, so to get
us back instead of 60 grams we got back to Beez and weighed it - 40.
Rabat Medina, a disabled child sat in a cardboard box at the
end of the family stall, in the heat, begging.
So poor in the hilltop villages, barely eking out a living
but they have satellite TV and mobile phones.
The climbing goats. Bear still mutters a lot about
them.
Camels. If you don’t tether them their memory is such that
they would walk back to where they were born.
Going 7-8 days in the blistering heat without water, longer
in the winter.
A Berber travelling alone in the desert, night falls, so he
digs out a shallow pit with his hands, lays in it, covers himself in sand,
covers his face with his Shoosh and sleeps. I asked “what happens if a scorpion
visits you” his reply “If I wake up in the morning I thank God - If not, I won’t
know anything about it and I’m already buried.
We loved the Berber people, their way of life, the harmony
with their surroundings and the joy they showed when sharing without
expecting anything in return.
The Arabian Stars. They say you have never seen a night sky
unless you have seen the Arabian sky. This is so true.
The Atlas Mountains, we hadn’t expected their beauty, height
and prominence in the country, their features, the way they determine the
weather, protect the fertile plains and their colours.
The way they love their King, his photo is seen everywhere.
The hillside greetings.
Visit the Sahara once and come away with a thousand
memories.
 We had the opportunity and time to see 80% of this land, feel
its ambience, sit with its people, smell its tantalizing aromas. Considering 20%
of its peoples no nothing about 80% of their land. A
fantastic, friendly country that demands your appropriate respect - but -
demands you take care in the tourist traps, especially Marrakech.
Answer to the poser at the top.
Take the sheep over, go back, take the dog over, return with the sheep, take the grass over and finally go back for the sheep. Joint favourites - The Sahara, the goats and Salé, just too many memories for one blog
All in all a country well worth visiting - take time to explore. |
