Southern Excursion, Part III

The next morning, Simone, Charley, and I headed out to the Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech. The botanical garden was made by a french artist (Majorelle) during the French rule in Morocco. It was opened to the public thanks to Yves Saint Laurent who bought the garden and, later, where his ashes were spread. It was a perfect sunny day, so we lazily wandered around the garden for a while. We also stopped in the Berber museum which was in the Jardin. We then attempted to find a few lonely planet recommended spots for lunch where we could eat outside but after a while of wandering, we settled on a spot that was good but made us feel like we were in a tacky french restaurant, rather than Morocco.

After lunch, we went back to the square where we picked up some ice cream and walked through alley after alley of artisan shops and food stands. We stopped in the Bahia Palace which opened to a beautiful courtyard. We asked a few people where the palace was and after switching between three languages, we think we were told that the courtyard was the palace. This is still unclear because the guidebook described beautiful wood-carved ceilings. But we enjoyed it anyway.

On our walk back from the square, we bumped into a man at a restaurant whom we asked for directions the day before. We said hello and began talking. In the middle of the conversation, he interrupted, pointed to me and said "why is he so white in his face?" With our puzzled reactions, he repeated the question saying "Why is he so white in his face? Is he in prison?" We all laughed as he continued, "Does he never see the sun? Isn't there a creme or something he can put?" I'm not sure what made me stand out the most from my friends, but apparently my Norwegian skin shows through more than my Syrian skin...


The next morning, we got back on the bus and headed to Essaouira. The landscape appeared very Mediterranean. Along the way we stopped at a female argan oil cooperative. We went into a room where a dozen women were sitting cracking, peeling, and grinding argon nuts.

We also passed something I had been hoping to see while in Morocco: Goats in trees. The goats climb the tress and graze on the argon nuts. Nuts!

We arrived in Essoaouira just in time for a lunch of 4 different courses of fish. Stuffed, we wandered over to the beach. We relaxed for a while in the sun with a perfect breeze. After a little while I knew I needed to go back to the hotel so I could change for the scheduled soccer game on the beach at sunset. Something I was not willing to miss. About 12 of us from two different programs and Bdrdine, one of the academic assistants, outlined a field in the sand and began to play. That hour and a half was and will remain a highlight of this trip. It was also so surreal to, after being caught up in the game, look out and see the sun fade behind the pier.

Our soccer field in Essaouira.

 The sunset we enjoyed while playing.

The next day, we got back on the bus, which was headed back to Rabat. Charley, Simone, and I took the bus but got off in El Jadida, where the rest of the group was only stopping for lunch. As soon as we started walking around El Jadida, we loved it. It is another beach town, similar to Essaouira, but smaller. It has a very relaxed vibe. Charley, Simone, and I all commented that we felt completely at ease with harassment in El Jadida. For whatever reason it did not feel threatening. We even responded to a few people who would talk to us and managed to have good conversations, which was a nice break from constantly feeling you need to ignore anyone who approaches you. We spent the day exploring the town, walking along the boardwalk, and briefly visiting the cistern. We met up with a few  other people from our program who also were staying in El Jadida for dinner on Friday for our first real attempt at street food. We found a woman in the medina putting together fried eggplant sandwiches (which is made up of hoobs, fried eggplant slices, potato, green pepper, tomato sauce, and topped with fries). We also picked up some sweet pastry-like bread, some oranges, and, of course, some dates. We then brought our goods to a juice shop and ate our picnic. On Saturday, we picked up more medina goods and brought them to the beach for picnic round II. We spent the rest of the day, continuing our theme of relaxation for the weekend, relaxing by the beach with more wandering. We got more eggplant sandwiches for dinner and brought them back to the terrace of the riad where we were staying. We were later joined for drinks by Saiid, a staff member of the riad, and a french traveller who had been in Morocco for a month traveling across the country on his motorcycle. We conversed for a while, mostly talking about all the things we love about Morocco. On Sunday, we headed to the train station and journeyed back to Rabat.

It was an incredible week and I can say with confidence I am falling in love with Morocco.