Get to Know the Real Morocco

Morocco took me on a quite an adventure. I had such high expectations for this trip but was disappointed upon arrival. That quickly changed, and my love for Morocco started to grow. Now, I can confidently say my week in Morocco was my favorite trip of the semester and contained the single most amazing thing I have ever done in my life. Let me tell you why.

Morocco is full of mystery and lots of adventures to explore. You’re sure to get lost at least for a couple minutes while there, and that’s part of the magic. You‘ll most definitely be harassed and pressured by the merchants in the main square, but this game can be quite fun if you know what to expect. Thirdly, people will absolutely try to scam you and ask for prices five times higher than needed, but who doesn’t love the competitive side of bargaining?

Morocco can be a lot. What it’s a lot of is up to you. Our first night there, my group felt overwhelmed by all the people in the main square in Marrakech coming up to us and shoving menus and sales pitches in our faces. Insults were flung our way when we turned down workers, and plenty of catcalls came from everyone else. Coming off a day of travel from a very different country, we were flustered. Once we settled into the rhythm of Marrakech, though, we looked forward to our walks through the markets amidst all the craziness. We learned to play with it and have fun. Most of the catcalling was more humorous than offensive, and the constant sales pitches opened doors for us to create some competition between the merchants.

It was actually through catcalling that I learned a great deal about what Moroccans associate with the US. When someone said, “Hey girls...cheeseburger,” “Skinny price for skinny Americans,” or “Monsieur Trump,” you can clearly tell what others think Americans find important. Let me tell you, you get a lot more respect when you say you’re from Canada or Australia than the US. Either way, the constant comments flung at us became running jokes and ended up adding to our experience in a positive way.

As far as the constant pestering to give our business to each merchant, it can be frustrating at times. Making eye contact or smiling at someone is seen as an invitation to flirt or approach you, but it also feels wrong as an American to ignore everyone talking to you. Still, it can be very amusing when you have the intention of buying something. One of the best purchases you can make in Marrakech is simply the fresh juice in the main square. There are rows of juice stands that all sell relatively the same thing at the same price. On our last night, we ran an experiment. We stood between several juice stands while the workers shouted at us to come over to their stand. We kept looking back and forth between different stands, making it obvious we wanted juice but waiting to choose a stand. After mere seconds, they started getting creative and offering free samples, dancing goofily, and, eventually, even offering a buy one get one free deal. They completely ignored all the other customers just to get our attention. It was very amusing for us and the goofy employees, and we managed to get a free juice out of it! Even if you don’t get one free, spend the dollar to get one (or 40 cents for the most amazing orange juice). It’s beyond worth it.

So many people worry about buying food and drinks from street vendors because of the cleanliness and food storage risks, but these stands have to be good to survive the competition. Plus, each juice is made fresh right in front of you. I knew to try the 40 cent market orange juice from reading another traveller's blog, and I am so glad I did. Don't miss out! I also tried a sugar cane juice from a shop near the main square for 70 cents, and that was fantastic also. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was better than the juices in the main square, but it was refreshing and fun to try something so different. Then again, you can do that in the main square too. I tried an avocado juice at one of the stands, and it was surprisingly good. I think it was a mixture of avocado and apple. Regardless of what was in it, I loved being able to try so many new things that were all very budget friendly. If you're looking for a low budget trip, Morocco will be your best friend.

Another Absolutely Worthy Expense

I will encourage you, however, to splurge on a 3-day Sahara desert trip. I went on one with Marrakech Travel Services and got two camel rides and a night sleeping under the stars in the desert out of it. Breakfasts and dinners were also included. They tend to take you to restaurants that are more expensive for Moroccan standards (i.e. $7-10) for lunch, but there are always cheaper places nearby that you are allowed to go to. Just be prepared to stand your ground when you break off from the group ;) Other than that, I have absolutely no complaints. The drive to and from the desert can get long at times, but they take lots of stops on the way to the desert especially to break up the drive. The stops are all very worthwhile too! I got to see a very picturesque village where lots of movie scenes have been filmed, hike through a beautiful gorge, and explore the Hollywood of Morocco.

None of them compared to the desert, though. When we arrived, per Moroccan culture, we were treated to mint tea and snacks. After a while, we mounted our camels and rode off into the sand dunes where we watched the sun set. This was the most amazing part of the entire trip and definitely ranks up there as one of my favorite things I have ever done. There are no words to describe the way the sun lit up the dunes and made them glow orange. The sand was incredibly refined and soft, too. Sitting at the top of a dune, watching our camels sleep peacefully at the bottom, feeling completely blissful in the sunshine, I could not have been happier. It all felt like a dream. I still have trouble believing I really got to do that. Not to mention, I got to sled down the dunes and struggle to run back up them. And I got to do this all with three people from my study abroad group who I have come to love and several others who I met on our desert trip and instantly bonded with. I love travelers! There's something about just being up for anything and trying everything without giving it another thought that is so inspiring and invigorating.

After the sun had set, we got back up on our camels and finished our trek to the campsite where local Berbers welcomed us with mint tea. We sat around the fire on little cushions while sipping on tea until it was time for a classic tajine dinner. They even gave us free water and let us take extra bottles!! After dinner, we all went back to sitting around the fire, but the Berbers put on a great performance for us this time. They pulled out the drums and several other instruments. They performed several songs, some of which we are pretty sure they were making up on the spot, and then allowed us to go up and play the instruments with them. There was so much excitement and joy in that campsite that it really didn't matter how badly we played or if the Berbers were making up songs on the spot. To us, it was all perfectly fun and exciting, and that's all that matters. It got even more exciting, though, when we were all encouraged to get up and dance. We ended up having a conga line of sorts, which had happened just two nights before when we ate dinner at our hostel and there was live music. I'm not sure if this is normal for Morocco or if it's just something they do for tourists (wouldn't surprise me), but it's a lot of fun. It's a little awkward at first, but, again, it's Morocco; don't miss out.

*Someone else in my group took this picture, and the sky looked a bit different, but still...Wow!!

After the music died down, we transitioned to the star-gazing period. I have been lucky enough to see really good stars before, so the sky wasn't a huge surprise to me, but it was still gorgeous. We could clearly see the Milky Way, but we couldn't find many of the typical constellations (even Orion's Belt) because there were so many stars we usually can't see to find the ones we're used to seeing. It was one of the best problems you could have. We just rested in the middle of the Sahara desert in the incredibly soft sand for hours, staring up at the vast sky until we were ready to go to bed.

You had the choice of sleeping in a "tent," which was more like a very simple room if you ask me, or outside on a blanket. Without hesitation, I chose to sleep outside. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much with the stars to look at and with how cold it gets at night in the desert, but it was so worth it. For a while, some of the Berbers stayed outside talking in their native language, which is French in an Arabic accent. That was quite a challenge to understand! They weren't talking to us and didn't expect us to understand them, but we tried nonetheless. Every time we made out a word, we got very excited. It was a good time. I now know that they use a lot of informal French words and that purposefully adding an Arabic accent completely changes the language.

The next morning, we got up early and rode our camels to a new spot on the dunes to watch the sunrise. This was also beautiful; we were in the Sahara after all. It didn't rival the sunset, but it was still stunning. Once the sun had risen, we rode the camels back to where we would meet the van after breakfast. The breakfast did not disappoint. There was fruit, bread, muffins, orange juice, tea, and more yummy goodies (some of which were easy to pack away for later too!).

The car ride back to Marrakech was much more direct than the way there. We didn't stop to sightsee, but we did have a couple stops at lookout points on the road for pictures and an excuse to stretch our legs. We had a couple meals, napped some, swapped pictures, and then we were back! We dropped one couple off in another city along the way also, so if you wanted to use a desert trip as transportation to another part of Morocco, just ask your travel company. Odds are, they can arrange that very easily!

Getting back to Marrakech was a great feeling. There was something so magical about the desert, but it was also really fun to come back to a city that we had explored and learned our way around. It felt comfortable but still alive, and we still had two days to explore it more. It was incredible.

Moroccan Musts

1. Go to a perfume shop. If you are a LUSH fan, you will love the perfume shops in Marrakech. These stores have perfume bars, pure argan oil, and lots of other amazingly scented essential oils, and all of them can be tried out. It is a full experience, though, so be ready when you go in. They'll welcome you in and have you sit down on a bench in the store. Then, they'll pull out some jars of various spices, creams, and scented crystals for you to smell and learn about. The crystals and creams all have medical benefits whether its relaxation, headache relief, or skin restoration. They put some of the jars right up to your nose and tell you to smell it, and it's so much stronger than you'd expect. It's actually comical and painful at the same time. They have others that they put into a cloth and press against your nostril and tell you to take a really deep breath in. It honestly feels like something you'd see in a movie when a criminal is drugging someone. Anyway, you inhale and then feel a pop and your eyes start to water for a bit, but it does leave you feeling very clear and headache-free. After this phase, they will start serving the tea. One time, they put a single tiny eucalyptus crystal in our tea, and I had to drink it with my eyes closed because the scent was so strong that I could feel it in my eyes when they were open. This is a really good time to learn how they make their tea if you plan on buying some. They have a special process of brewing the water and leaves together for a couple minutes, pouring all the tea out, putting it back into the pot, and repeating the last two steps a couple more times. While you sip your tea, they will either move into the perfume bar or oil phase. They will try endless scents on you, especially by the time you have tried the perfumes and the oils. Every time we left one of these stores, every part of my arms had a different scent on them. We always got to the point where they'd apply scents on top of the others because we couldn't find a new spot. It was kind of amazing! If you are looking for a completely new experience but don't want to spend much, this is perfect for you. We did it twice in one day because we had so much fun!

2. Don't accept tea or samples in stores unless you are going to buy something. Going into perfume shops is a blast, but know that if you accept the samples or drink the mint tea in any shop in Marrakech, you will be expected to buy something there. Most stores sell some 10 durham ($1) things, so it is still a pretty cheap way to get tea if you accidentally mess up. I knew this rule beforehand, so I can't say what would happen if you didn't buy something. I do know, though, that culturally you shouldn't accept the tea and then just leave. It's seen as disrespectful.

3. Bring your student card. This is a must for any vacation, but I figured I'd add this as a helpful reminder. At many of the gardens and other attractions around Marrakech, your student card will get you 50 percent off.

4. Do a 3-day desert trip. As I have already explained, this is really a must. If you go all the way to Morocco, you don't want to miss this. You can try a 1-day trip, but you won't get to go to the Sahara Desert, and I have heard those end up being really rushed. If it is possible, go for the 3-day trip. You won't regret it!

5. Eat tajine and drink mint tea as much as possible. These are the staples of the Moroccan diet, so whether or not you want to eat tajine or drink mint tea, you will. The advice I will give, then, is that you should try it in lots of different places and try different types. Mint tea tastes very different place to place based on how much sugar they put in and if they use honey. It's always very good, though, and I am not usually a fan of mint. Tajine also comes in many forms. You can have chicken, veggie, beef, and so many other types of tajine. In fact, tajine really just references the type of dish it's served in. My favorite tajines are the ones that come with couscous. You get more food that way, too, and it's usually the same price! The other advice related to this is to find a restaurant with a terrace in the main square at least once. Tajine will be served relatively everywhere, but some of our favorite nights were spent sitting right on the edge of a restaurant terrace, people watching in the busy square while talking and eating yummy food and drinking great mint tea.

6. Try lots of flavors of juice in the market. Ok, the juice is literally 40 cents to a dollar, and, if you play your cards right, you might even be able to get one free. Basically, you have no excuse not to try lots of different types of juice. My mentality was that I should try the types I had never heard of because I wouldn't be losing much if I didn't end up liking it. I never had one that I didn't like, though. They were all amazing, and I tried lots of new types of fresh, fantastic juices in the process.

7. Remember the 30% rule when you bargain. Prices in the market may seem reasonable to an American or European citizen, but you have to remember that everything is crazy cheap in Morocco. Most meals are $2-4 after all. When it comes to the markets, the prices are marked up a lot because you are expected to bargain. Some merchants will pretend that they won't bargain or they will pretend to be incredibly offended when you suggest a lower price, but they honestly expect you to bargain. I even bargained when it came to buying postcards. There was one stand selling each postcard for 5 Durhams (50 cents), and I managed to get two postcards for 4 Durhams (40 cents). Later when we returned to that same merchant, we couldn't even get one postcard for 40 cents. He pretended to be very offended that we wouldn't pay the full price. He clearly didn't remember that he had sold postcards to us at a reduced price that morning. That just goes to show that, one, you can bring the price down a lot and, two, a merchant who is acting offended is most likely faking it. We encountered that quite often. One of the best bargaining techniques is actually leaving, but you have to be prepared to not end up getting it. If you are too attached to something and they can tell, you will have a much harder time bargaining. When I went to India this past summer, someone told me to always start bargaining at 30 percent of the listed price. This was the most helpful piece of advice I got for that trip, and I got to use it in Morocco also. Use your judgement though. If something only costs 10 Durham, asking 3 is probably too low. More often than not, though, you can get the price down to 30-50 percent of the listed price. It's also not a bad idea to look around other stands to get a good idea of what price something is going for to help in bargaining, but don't bargain somewhere you don't plan on buying something or the merchant will likely get upset with you.

8. Dress modestly. I wish I could say this was obvious, but I was surprised how many people were walking around in shorts or short dresses. While there's nothing wrong with those clothing articles most of the time, Morocco is a Muslim country, and it is important to be respectful. Also, catcalling is common there, and dressing modestly will help you feel more comfortable. We dressed in flowy linen pants and modest shirts every day and still faced this, but comments were less about our bodies and more about our smiles or being from America.

9. Trust your gut. Any busy touristy city will have problems with safety, but it is not something to worry about if you are careful. We had two incidents that could have ended differently, but we trusted our guts and came out ok. One time, we noticed we were being followed while we were in an area we weren't so familiar with and where there weren't many people, so we tried to get back to an area we knew as quickly as possible. The police showed up and the person following us bolted away. Apparently, he was selling drugs. The police officer tried to show us the way back to the main area, but we didn't know if we could trust him because the whole situation felt weird. We managed to break off and look up another way back on our own. Another time, two men kept trying to convince us to go into their store. When two of the four people in our group entered the store, the one man lead them down a hallway that went out of sight of the entrance, and the other man stood by the door. There might not have been anything wrong, but the other girl who hadn't gone in and I looked at each other and knew we both felt really weird about the store and the two men. We stopped walking before entering and the other two quickly got out. Who knows what was going on. It could have been completely innocent, but I'm glad I trusted my gut instead of potentially putting myself in a bad situation. Morocco is not a dangerous country, but there are risks like everywhere else. Be aware of your surroundings. Don't go down empty streets. Be careful who you smile at. Most of all, just trust your gut. You'll be abolsutely fine.

10. Always have a water bottle with you. Morocco gets hot in the afternoon, and you shouldn't drink the tap water. Large bottles of water can be bought for 6 Durhams, so we pretty much always had one of those with us. One person would carry it, and we'd all share it. We'd buy a new one when or right before it ran out. Stay hydrated. On the heat note, though, it was pretty comfortable a fair amount of the time. In fact, desert guides will try to tell you that sunglasses and scarves are necessary, but they're not (especially if your camel rides are at sunset/sunrise). The most important thing is just to be drinking lots of water.

11. Go to a traditional Hammam. Morocco is famous for its spas, which are called Hammams. I had never been to a spa before, but everyone else would also agree that a Moroccan hammam is a completely unique experience. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone who is considering going, but just be ready and willing to do whatever. I will say, though, that some of the really traditional ones do not seem as clean, so finding a Hammam geared towards tourists without being incredibly fancy is probably your best bet. Also, those ones are more likely to have men and women separated, which can make the experience more comfortable. Just as a side note, you will spend a lot of time in a sauna. If you have never done a sauna before, it might be best to start with the 30 minute hammam. It's easy to get light-headed from the heat and dehydration if you're not used to it. This experience was relaxing, memorable, and very bonding all at once. I'd definitely recommend trying to incorporate a trip to a hammam during your stay. Remember to bring your swimsuit!

12. Take the public bus from the airport. For just 30 Durham ($3), you can get from the airport to the city center without worrying about falling into a taxi scam. If you end up traveling at a time that the public buses are not running, prearrange a ride through a car service. The taxi might work out, but they are also known for scamming tourists. The bus was a very easy option. When you leave the airport, walk past the taxis into the big parking lot. It'll be to your left in the parking lot. Walk past the tour buses, and you'll eventually see the ALMA buses. That's what you want!

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Go to Morocco, Please!!

I cannot stress enough how amazing this experience was. I would recommend it to everyone and anyone. Not only is Morocco a cheap country, it is also gorgeous, bustling, and vibrant. Too many people only see the risks in going there, but that shouldn't hold you back from going. If you are smart about how you act and where you put your wallet and if you always trust your gut, you will be fine. I will say that I am glad I did not go alone, but I am incredibly glad I went. Now that I have been, I cannot imagine missing out on experiencing Morocco.