Saturday, September 12, 2009

Schedule: Independent Marrakech Day Trip

So last night when I got back, I sold my trip to Rabat and decided to do a day trip to Marrakech with some friends instead. So after going to bed at midnight I was up bright and early the next morning at 5:30am in order to meet my friends in the square to head to the train. Sally and Sarah decided not to go, which was a major bummer, however Heidi, and myself met 2 other girls, Lauren and Amanda, wanted to go too… so we had a group. The train left at 6:50am and we had to walk to the front of the port and then catch a taxi. Oh boy. Negotiating time, the local taxi’s love to rip off the foreigners, especially girls. Well we didn’t let them get the best of us. It was 10 durhams apiece. Not too shabby. That is about $1.50 American.

So we got to the train station and bought our tickets (90 durham) and we were set. We had conquered that much of our trip. The next part was easy. We just had to sit and wait and admire the view for the next 3 hours until we reached Marrakech. Now despite that I was completely tired I did all that I could to stay awake. The sights were beautiful and it was really neat to see all the free-range animals, cows, goats, and sheep mostly.

The train ride was nice and it was a great relief to finally get to Marrakech. YAY we made it this far. From being with my Moroccan family the night before, the gave me the hook up on a great place to eat when we first got here. Sega Fredo. It was delicious, free, and I was so happy to have a good trustworthy meal. Thank you Mustapha. Now it was time to find the souks, ( little shops ) in the medina (the old part of town). So after walking a little ways we ran into a man that wanted to be our tour guide. Ha ha. He was very funny but we decided that we wanted to face Marrakech on our own, so he pointed us in the direction of the old medina and we were set.

We walked around for hours and hours. It was great. However, it was very very tiring. All the vendors wanted to do was completely rip you off and so you had to barter your way through everything. I have never been so hassled in my life. It was crazy. I found a couple of great gifts, I am very pleased. I can’t wait to show everyone.

So after being there for hours and having to sneak photographs of the people we were all finally ready to leave. We had had enough of the henna ladies, the snake charms, monkey people, and the man who made dentures. Oh boy what a day. On our way back we got completely turned around and ended up on the wrong side of the medina. Without a map we figured that we would just try to see if we would recognize anything. Nope. We finally settled for a taxi and made our way back to the train station. We got there by 6pm and we had an hour until the train left. So we decided to eat dinner… at McDonalds. It was pretty funny. But I didn’t feel too bad because we weren’t the only students in there. :D It was just that time when we all were waiting to go home.

On the train ride home Lauren and Amanda fell asleep and Heidi and I made small talk all the way home. It was nice. I learned a lot today. It was very long but very educational. The Moroccan culture is very different and very pushy. They all are trying to make a dime in any way possible. I mean most the items that I picked out the wanted like 220 durhams and I ended up paying 100. So I must say I am a very strong girl as with the other girls that I was with. I would say that the best part of the day was when Lauren was bartering and the vendor said “you are strong girl… do men like that in America?” We all just laughed and it completely made my day.

Yay for a good day!

An adventure all of our own