Morocco: A Test in Patience & the Power of Positive Thinking

Hello everyone and greetings from Morocco. I flew Royal Air Maroc, Morocco’s national airline, from my layover in Beirut and I have to say it was a bit of a freak show. It should be called Royal Air Havoc because children were running up and down the aisles screaming, bashing their empty water bottles on the seats, opening and closing the bathroom door repeatedly, and just basically losing their minds. I have never seen anything like this before. Even more shocking is that neither the parents nor the flight attendants did anything to calm the insanity. WTF?  Lu, I know you wouldn’t tolerate that insanity for even one second on one of your flights.  Throughout the flight I found myself making eye contact with other disgusted travelers who were equally as flabbergasted by this absurd behavior.

I was counting the minutes until the flight landed at midnight and was welcomed into Morocco with no luggage. Fascinating. I proceeded to the lost luggage room to file a report and made my way to the hotel. Thankfully, there was a small mart near the hotel that was still open so I could buy some toothpaste. Fortunately, I happened to have my toothbrush with me at the time. Sadly, I didn’t have anything else. I’m talking no change of clothes, underwear included, zero toiletries…nothing.

Neat. (insert spirit fingers)

The next morning I met my fellow travelers who took pity on my pathetic self and immediately offered me toiletries that I could use until my luggage was found. Thanks, you guys. I’m feeling the love already.

Our first stop in Tangier was to the Hercules Caves, which resemble the continent of Africa.

Next we hit the Cape of Malabata, which offers gorgeous views of the Atlantic Ocean meeting the Mediterranean Sea. In all honesty, I couldn’t really see the point where the two bodies of water merged, but it was still a pretty view.

Later we stopped at the charming city of Chefchaouen, which is nestled in the mountains and striking with its blue and white houses. I adored this town with its small size and laid back vibe. Take a look for yourselves.

As we walked through the market, we got to see the women dressed in traditional clothing from this region selling their wares. I love those hats!

Here are some more scenes from the market.

We had the most delicious food while in Chefchaouen. Of course, I had to start with a tagine and it melted in my mouth. I need to take a Moroccan cooking class because everything I tasted made me lose my mind. I especially love that so many of the dishes include dried fruit as well. Yummy! Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. We had the day free to wander around Chefchaouen and take in the gorgeous views. Here are some night shots for you.

We were all feeling super fired up about our time in this charming town and decided to cap off the evening with a lil’ drink. We found a great place with outdoor seating and sat around enjoying the scenery and exchanging stories from the day. When it came time to pay the tab we all threw in the same amount, which the server took and then returned, saying there was not enough. Since we all put in the same amount we knew this couldn’t be the case and explained this to the server whose closed and partly shielded hand remained by his side during this discussion. As we sat there discussing this and looking at his closed fist, his face suddenly changed to an expression of surprise when he opened his hand and discovered that it contained a crumpled up bill.  Um, are you kidding me, sir?  As if you were unaware that your closed fist contained balled up money. Give me a break, dude. Not cool. It was a bit of a bummer to end the day on that kind of a note, but we let it roll off, reenacting the scene for each other, and cracking ourselves up. No worries.

The next morning we set out for Fez, stopping at some fruit and vegetable stands along the way. Fruit stands always bring back memories for me. My brothers and I worked at this shack on the side of the road during the summer and we loved to hate it. Don’t get me wrong, it was amazing to have fresh produce directly from the farmers, but the sweltering Georgia heat combined with a lecherous boss and some high maintenance East Cobb customers made for some interesting experiences. Ahh, the good ole’ days.

OK, back to Morocco. Our first glimpse of Fez was from a hilltop overlooking its famous, labyrinthine medina.

When we arrived in town, I said goodbye to my friends and headed over to the Fez airport where I was told my luggage had been sent. Of course when I arrived there Air Maroc acted as if they had no idea what I was talking about, and upon searching the hundreds of lost bags, discovered that my bag was indeed not there.

Awesome. (insert herkie)

According to Air Maroc they suspected it was in Beirut, but Beirut wasn’t answering the phone so they didn’t really know. Hmm, this response didn’t instill a lot of confidence, but what can you do?

I grabbed some lunch at this charming little sidewalk café, popped in my iPod (thanks, Paul, I listen to it almost every day) and calmed myself down. Nothing like a little Luda to put a smile on my face. While this was severely annoying, it certainly wasn’t the end of the world. Take it down a level, Tiff, and go with the flow.

After some lunch and a little booty rap healing session, I was feeling good about things and hopped in a cab to check out the famous medina, Morocco‘s first world heritage site and the world‘s largest living Islamic medieval city. Another fun fact about the medina is that it‘s biggest car-free urban environment on the planet. Who knew? Well, I guess we do now. It is massive with tiny alley ways crammed with shops, people, donkeys and horses. There’s incense in the air, the clip clop of hoofs on the street, and music coming from some of the stalls. It’s definitely alive and full of energy. I loved it.

After spending a few hours navigating my way through the twists and turns, I happened upon my fellow travelers and reunited with them for some more sightseeing in the medina. At nightfall we even caught a wedding procession moving through the streets. It was fantastic! The bride and groom are carried in this carriage thing that looks like something out of Cinderella, while crowds of people follow them dancing to music and wishing them well. Sadly, we were too far away for me to capture any pictures, but here’s a pic of one of the carriages for you. Cool, huh?

The next morning we hit the medina again with Habib, our “tour leader.” I use that term lightly because he left a lot to be desired. He was pretty unenthusiastic about his job and seemed to know little if nothing about the sites we were visiting. Most of his responses to our questions were either “it’s not important” or “I don’t know.”

Cool. (insert toe touch)

He lazily walked us through the medina, explaining nothing and visibly illustrating his annoyance with us if and when we should dare to ask a question. Rock on! Despite Habib, we still managed to have a good time. Here are some scenes from the medina.

One of the favorite things we saw while in the medina was the tanneries. They are so colorful and it’s wonderful to see how the vibrant colors are created. Man, this would be a tough job though. I have a lot of respect for these folks who are working in the beating sun with all these fumes.

Yellow is the most expensive color because it’s the hardest to make. 

Shortly after these pictures were taken I had to have some strong words with Habib regarding my luggage situation. Seeing as I had no phone and I do not speak French or Arabic, I was relying on Habib for a little assistance, but this was clearly going nowhere so I took matters into my own hands. After we returned from the medina I spent the next 4 hours on the phone with Amman, Beirut, Tangier, Casablanca, and Fez attempting to glean some kind of information as to the whereabouts of my luggage. Royal Jordanian Air was very helpful, telling me that they sent my baggage from Beirut to Tangier. Of course when I called Tangier they said they didn’t have it and when I called Casablanca and Fez they said they didn’t have it either. They kept telling me that they were waiting to hear from Beirut even though I informed them that I had already spoken with Beirut and that they had sent it on to Tangier.

After these exchanges the story changed to it most likely being in Casablanca, but the Casablanca office that I was speaking with was not the airport office and evidently the airport office didn’t have a phone so the only way to reach them was via telex. First of all, how is this possible that the Casablanca airport office doesn‘t have a phone and secondly, what is a telex?  It was a mind numbing and immensely frustrating experience so I spent the rest of the evening catching up on my blog since I was so behind.

My fellow travelers were so sweet, offering words of encouragement, a clean shirt to wear, and even some ice cream for dessert. Aw, thanks you guys. I really appreciate it. I met a nice guy from Israel in the lobby as well who was sharing his story of having his passport stolen while in India and I was reminded of how minor the lost luggage situation was in the grand scheme of things. Deep breaths, Tiff. If it’s lost, it’s lost, but don’t lose hope. In my heart I kept hoping that it would somehow work out and I even visualized myself seeing my luggage and embracing the Air Maroc employees who were helping me. Here’s hoping for the best.

The next morning we headed to Volubilis, the best preserved Roman ruins in this part of northern Africa. It was much smaller than Jerash, but still beautiful. Take a look.

After Volubilis, we visited Meknes, specifically the mausoleum of the man who created Meknes, Moulay Ismail.

This sun clock actually keeps perfect time.  Impressive! 

After Meknes it was off to the capital city, Rabat, where we visited the exterior of the Royal Palace and

the Mohamed V mausoleum just in time for the 5 PM flag lowering ceremony. The mausoleum was beautiful, and arriving at dusk, the temperature was perfect.

These guys serve water in those little bags.  We mainly saw them wandering around in search of tourists they could charge to take their photo, but I snapped this shot with my super stealth and lightening fast speed.  Yeah, puppies!  You are welcome. 

Throughout the day I was calling Casablanca’s random and useless office that isn’t the airport office to see if the airport office had responded to the telexes and each time I was told no. I kept my cool and politely and patiently expressed my concern that I had been in Morocco for 6 days and only had two days left before leaving the country and that I really needed to speak with Casablanca, asking if there was anything we could do other than send telexes, which were being ignored. One lady finally took pity on me after my 435th call to the office and passed it over to her manager who was going to call the Casablanca airport office. Hooray! I knew there had to be a phone. Sadly though the Casablanca airport office didn’t seem to ever answer their phone so we still had no updates.

Super.  (insert a round-off, back handspring, back handspring, back tuck)

In Rabat, a few of us hit this “Irish bar” that had some lounge singers jamming out to Bob Marley tunes. Not exactly what I was expecting from an Irish bar, but a great vibe nonetheless. It was certainly nice to kick back with some drinks after my 700 calls with Royal Air You Suck.

In the morning we were headed to Marrakech via Casablanca so I told Habib that I was going to bag the sightseeing in Casablanca and head to the airport to speak with them directly since they were not responding to telexes or answering the phone. This was my last hope and I needed to be there in person. Habib said the airport was on the way to Marrakech so it was no problem for us to take the bus. Wow, I was honestly taken aback by his helpfulness. Good vibes, positive thinking, visualize the outcome you desire. Here we go.

Casablanca is a lovely town on the waterfront.  I was kind of embarrassed to see two McDonalds with their golden arches obstructing the seaside views, but we had lunch on a nice rooftop with a cool breeze. After lunch we headed over to the Hassan II Mosque, the 3rd largest mosque in the world after Mecca and Medina. It took 10,000 workers, working around the clock, 6 years to build the mosque. It is a sight to behold and breathtakingly gorgeous on the inside and out. The interior can house 25,000 worshippers, while the outside can accommodate 80,000 more. Wow! Evidently the mosque is at full capacity during Ramadan.

This sliding ceiling weighs an impressive 1,100 tons.  Whoa!  

Here is a pic of the ablution hall.

Here is a pic of the hammam, which has sadly never been used. It is gorgeous.

After the mosque, which was a huge highlight of the trip for me, it was off to the airport to discover the fate of my luggage. This was it, the moment of truth. I was still holding on to hope that my bag was going to be there and took a deep breath as I entered the airport.

When I reached the Air Maroc lost baggage room I eagerly searched the 200+ bags and didn’t see my bag anywhere. There were about 150 bags laying on the floor outside the room, but again, no bag. I asked if this was the only lost luggage room for Air Maroc and was told that, yes, this was the only room. Next door to this room though was another room and when I entered it and inquired if this was for Air Maroc I was told yes. Um, OK, whatever.

After searching the 300+ bags in this room, sorted by arrival dates stretching all the way back to July, and not seeing my bag, I finally started to lose hope. I spoke with the employees there and asked if they would mind calling Fez and Tangier one last time to see if by chance it could be there. The lady assured me it wouldn’t be there and kind of rolled her eyes and me, but the man was willing to humor me more and made the calls. Of course the answer from both airports was no.

While they were making the calls I was thinking about what I had in my luggage and the one thing that was irreplaceable was my journal, including loose pics of my mom. Of course, the pics could be replaced, but my journal could not. In all honesty, I suck at writing in my journal, but following my mom’s accident and subsequent passing I had done a lot of writing in my journal.

I’m sure you are all wondering why the hell I would put my journal in my checked bag, but after almost a year on the road with no screw ups, you get tired of lugging around super heavy carry-on baggage and start to fill up the checked baggage with as much stuff as possible. The realization of this loss coupled with exhaustion and frustration resulted in my eyes filling up with tears. I wasn’t bawling or making a scene, but silent tears just rolled down my cheeks.

The employees didn’t really know what to do with me at this point, suggesting that I don’t cry and nervously looking at each other. The girl disappeared and the guy got on the phone again so I took the opportunity to walk through the room one last time to see if maybe I could have missed my bag. As I came around the corner the guy looked at me, gave me a thumbs up, and then told me to follow him. Huh? You’ve found my bag? Really?  I embraced the woman and the man in a huge hug, profusely thanking them from the bottom of my heart for their help. They were massively wigged out by the personal contact, but seemed to appreciate the fact that I was so relieved.

We walked over to the baggage claim area and through the black flaps on an empty conveyor belt, my bag miraculously appeared. It was literally like divine intervention that day. I was so grateful. I triumphantly burst through the baggage claim doors to the cheers and clapping hands of my fellow travelers who saw me with my backpack. Hot diggity dog!!!! Let’s go see Marrakech!

The entire ride to Marrakech, I was filled with such overwhelming gratitude and appreciation. Everyone on the bus was sharing in my relief and joy. We even stopped to see this gorgeous sunset.

That night we had the most delicious meal of the entire trip thanks to Nat’s great recommendation. I had the chicken tagine with caramelized pumpkin and some white wine. It was perfection. I’m a freak about anything with pumpkin and this meal did not disappoint. After the meal we decided to grab some drinks at this swanky rooftop bar offering great views of the city. We were reunited with Julia and Rex who bailed on the bus and made their own way to Marrakech after one too many episodes with the one and only Habib. They immediately embraced me and we did the happy dance about my luggage.

After drinks on the roof, we headed to another bar called African Chic, which was so much fun. Up until that point, we were all commenting that we hadn’t really gotten the pulse of the Moroccan people yet. We got a taste of it in the medina in Fez, but just barely. In most of the other countries I’ve visited I immediately feel the soul of the people and get a vibe from the various cities, but this wasn’t really the case in Morocco. Of course I realize that my experience was likely influenced by my luggage situation, but even my fellow travelers who didn’t lose their luggage felt the same way. Once inside African Chic though we totally got the vibe. The music was blaring and the crowd was getting down on the dance floor. Later in the evening an eclectic and absolutely fantastic band took the stage, busting out one jam after the next. It was fabulous. Finally, the heartbeat of Marrakech.

The next day we did some light sightseeing around the city and then spent the rest of the day by the pool.  Actually, I didn’t make it to the pool because I needed to catch up on some administrative, real world things and our hotel actually had wifi so I watched my friends enjoy the pool.  Here are some pics from Marrakech.   

Here’s a pic at the Saadien Tombs. 

This pic is inside Bahia Palace.  Everything inside this palace was so ornate with incredible attention to detail. 

Here’s Sandip getting ready to enjoy some snails.  He was kind enough to share and I have to say that they didn’t really taste like much, but I was happy to have a bite.  Thanks, Sandip. 

At night the famous Djemaa el Fna Square fills up with food stalls in a matter of minutes.  We had another yummy dinner and then spent some time walking around the square to check out the snake charmers, performers, games, etc.  The square is abuzz with activity and one can definitely feel the energy.

Of course you know we had to grab some drinks on our last night in town and Nat led us to yet another fabulous location.  We enjoyed a few rounds of cocktails and then said our goodbyes.  Julia was sweet enough to take some of my things back to the US that I would prefer not to lug around.  Thanks so much, Jules.  Heads up, Sandy, a small package is coming your way. 

A warm goodbye to my new friends.  I know Morocco posed some challenges for us, but I think we made the most of it and had a great time.  As I am flying Air Maroc to India, please keep your fingers crossed that my luggage makes it.  I can assure you that I’ll be carrying as much as possible in my carry on baggage so that if and when it should get lost again I’m better prepared. 

I loved meeting you all.  Safe travels and please keep in touch.