Why We (Probably) Won't Go Back

To Morocco ...since you asked

I was going to call this post “Why We Won’t Go Back”, but never say never.¹ To tell you the truth, as I wrote the last post, I kept asking myself that same question. But how do you rationally explain a “gut feeling”? Let me try…

Preface

Let me preface this by saying that you are correct, we only saw a small part of the country. Given the cheap flights to Marrakesh, we thought we could return to visit the south. And yes, I regret not seeing the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca and the sweeping desert landscape.

But, and I really don’t mean to offend anyone, I have no interest in riding a camel that earns its keep by following the same route every day to entertain tourists wearing sheets on their heads. It reminds me of a Costa Rica horseback riding excursion where each horse’s nose is nearly touching the butt of the horse in front of them ... or riding the elephants in Chiang Mai. I don’t see the point of using animals for entertainment.

Breakfast at the Palais Amani

Food

I would say that Denise and I are fairly adventurous eaters. While I remain a vegetarian, we do like a bit of spice. We were interested in eating authentic Moroccan food and were told by the tour operator that finding vegetarian options would not be a problem. Frankly, I found very few. For lunch and dinner, I was only offered two options: couscous or vegetarian tagine. The best vegetarian tagine was in Chefchaouen at the Dar Jasmine, as the vegetables were perfectly cooked.² The others I tried, the vegetables were overcooked and mushy. So I loaded up on delicious olives³ (served at every meal, including breakfast) and the assortment of vegetable salads that acted as the couvert. We quickly became bored with the Moroccan Khobz bread that accompanied every meal. There is absolutely no competition for the Portuguese bread we enjoy now. So while we brought home a tagine … we weren’t crazy about the food.

We drove by camels waiting for tourists on the beach.

Let’s Make a Deal

If you are a long-term reader, you know that I spent 30 years as a salesperson or sales manager.⁴ If you were around for our car-buying experience, you know that I hate haggling. Which leads me to the printed instructions we received from the tour operator before our trip:

Bargaining is the rule in the medina. Offer half of the price quoted (less with carpets) and take it from there. Be patient and polite but insistent. If bargaining is not your game, or you’d like to avoid the hassles of the medina, you can find goods with fixed prices at craftsmen’s cooperatives, called Syndicat d’Initiative.

Needless to say, we bought the tagine at such a cooperative, and 3 scarves in the medina. We probably paid more than we should have for the scarves, as he came down only about 15% when I asked what the price would be if we bought 3.

Denise in the Caves of Hercules.

Contrasts

So while we enjoyed learning about a country which offered extreme contrasts:

• The Rabat Skyscraper vs. the still functioning 1200-year-old Fez medina, pictured in last week’s post

• A private-sector worker making about 17.10 MAD (1,70€/$1.82) per hour … while the beloved King’s net worth is $5.7 billion to $8.5 billion

• The oldest university in the world was founded by a Muslim woman

It never touched our hearts. One of my readers commented after last week’s post:

Marrakesh was one of those places I wanted to visit for years. Yet, when I eventually did I was, and this swims against the general tide, disappointed. Maybe my expectations were too high, I’m not sure. While I appreciated many aspects, I simply didn’t warm to it, not in the same way as I have most other destinations I’ve visited over the years.

That pretty much sums it up.

Até logo, beijinhos

Nanc

1. Actually, we played golf with two guys today who live in Luxembourg but are going to a fabulous Gary Player golf course at a 5-star resort outside of Casablanca. Denise has already suggested we might want to take a look.

2. I learned they likely cooked everything separately, then arranged it on the tagine.

3. The various ways that olives were prepared fascinated us, as we had picked 4 large jars of olives and began the brining process just before we left home. We will be experimenting with different spices and the addition of lemon juice in the final weeks of the brining process.

4. For most of my sales career, I considered myself a sales professional … selling computer systems to physicians and hospitals. However, to help pay for college, I did a 3 summer stint managing a “Native American” jewelry business on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. (Pre-gambling in case you are wondering.) We would intersperse pieces bought in Arizona and Nevada with knockoffs made in Guam. Most people were too looped or Luded-out to tell the difference. Everything was marked up 500-700%. My staff could bargain down a third (meaning a piece that costs us $100 might go from $600 to $400, and when necessary, I would close the deal by coming down to $300. I was paid in cash, $150/week +6% of the gross. During those 4.5 months, I made quite a bit of money for a kid studying religion in college. Yes, I am a woman of many contradictions.