Asleamu Aleikum Everyone,
This week I had planned on writing about a few aspects of Moroccan culture that I find peculiar but after this amazing weekend, I will withhold that post for later in the week and talk about the amazing trip that I returned from late last night.
First I want to talk about at least a few things that happened this past week.
One was a dispute I witnessed as I walked home from school at night through the Medina. Apparently two men in a car nearly hit a man in a wheelchair. This is where the dispute started and I joined the growing crowd around the men. The men in the car were screaming at the man in the wheelchair, and the man in the wheelchair was screaming back as an unarmed police officer tried to break the two up. After the men in the car spit at the wheelchair man (common insult here) they got back into their vehicle and began to drive off...this seemingly ended the dispute and the crowd began to disperse, which is where the next bit of action came in. The car, blocked by the crowd of people became stuck as everyone cleared out, this time the man in the wheel chair launched himself towards the car, taking the metal arm of the wheel chair with him, and smashing the car windshield. This escalated things quickly, with the men getting out of the car screaming as a police officer stood between them and the man, now laying on the ground screaming.
A few members of the crowd helped the man back into his wheelchair, and a friend quickly wheeled him away. It was at least ten minutes before the police officer began to seek the man, and when the owners of the car realized he had been wheeled off, began yelling, prompting the police officer to handcuff him.
Later in the week on the way to KFC via the tram, which is located in Agdal, a very very modern section of Rabat, I walked into a protest outside the parliament building. They love to protest here.
We left a little after 7:30am for our 10 hour ride, (not going to say who caused the tardy departure), we stopped every two hours or so at gas stations and rest stops, our first significant stop was at Al Akhawayn University, located in Ifrane, in the Middle Atlas Mountains. This University opened only in 1993 as a joint project by the kings of Morocco and Saudi Arabia. It is a western style university, and the students live on campus, unlike other universities here in Morocco. English is the language of instruction along with Modern Standard Arabic.
I was happy to see the Moroccan Special Olympics team, which was competing at the university and it was such a sight to see these athletes competing with their parents and fans cheering them on. In a country that I feel sometimes does not provide services like this often, I was enthralled to see the looks of happiness on the competitors faces.
How the journey works is that after leaving Rabat, you are driving through desert like conditions, this lasts for a few hours before driving up into the Middle Atlas mountains, which is an intense green, with tons of sheep, herders and grazing donkeys. You drive along narrow roads snaking through the mountain, fear gripping you every time the driver begins passing someone in the opposite traffic lane. After going through the mountains you descend into what is similar to what you encountered on the other side of the mountains, before driving into straight desert.
After departing the university we ate lunch at a nearby restaurant, before re-boarding our two large passenger vans and continued onward. We stopped again at the Ziz Valley for an amazing view just as the sun was setting, the first of many amazing sights to be saw on this excursion.
After getting back on the vans we continued until we reached our first hotel, by far the nicest one I have seen since arriving in this country. It had a pool, air conditioning, and a buffet dinner and breakfast. We spent the night hanging out with each other and another group of international students until going to sleep to continue on the next morning.
The next morning we left and continued on, stopping at a fossil factory where they collect fossils from the desert and then polish them and fix them up to sell to tourists, we then continued to a small shop in the town of Risanni, the main market for the surrounding Saharawian villages, where I purchase my first jalaba(robe) in Morocco.
After eating dinner at the hotel, everyone went to bed early as we were waking up at 4:30am for a sunrise camel ride into the dunes. This was made worse by the confusion of Moroccan daylight savings time which was supposed to set in that night, however upon waking up the next morning, we found out the King decided to postpone DST until next month....maybe.
After remounting our camels we headed back to the hotel, where we ate, showered, and headed back to the jeeps, but not after filling a glass Arabic Coke bottle with Sahara sand.
We headed back to Risanni where we explored a mausoleum of a former king, and then went to the Souk al Ahd (The Sunday Market), before departing for Rabat, stopping again in the mountains to see the wild monkeys that live there.
We finally got back to Rabat near 11pm.
I will try to post again this week with a culture blog, next weekends plans, climbing Jibal Toubkal, the tallest mountain in North Africa
Allah Ma3ck
Kevin
Arabic Word of the Day
جلابة- Jelaba
traditional Arab robe
This week I had planned on writing about a few aspects of Moroccan culture that I find peculiar but after this amazing weekend, I will withhold that post for later in the week and talk about the amazing trip that I returned from late last night.
First I want to talk about at least a few things that happened this past week.
One was a dispute I witnessed as I walked home from school at night through the Medina. Apparently two men in a car nearly hit a man in a wheelchair. This is where the dispute started and I joined the growing crowd around the men. The men in the car were screaming at the man in the wheelchair, and the man in the wheelchair was screaming back as an unarmed police officer tried to break the two up. After the men in the car spit at the wheelchair man (common insult here) they got back into their vehicle and began to drive off...this seemingly ended the dispute and the crowd began to disperse, which is where the next bit of action came in. The car, blocked by the crowd of people became stuck as everyone cleared out, this time the man in the wheel chair launched himself towards the car, taking the metal arm of the wheel chair with him, and smashing the car windshield. This escalated things quickly, with the men getting out of the car screaming as a police officer stood between them and the man, now laying on the ground screaming.
A few members of the crowd helped the man back into his wheelchair, and a friend quickly wheeled him away. It was at least ten minutes before the police officer began to seek the man, and when the owners of the car realized he had been wheeled off, began yelling, prompting the police officer to handcuff him.
Later in the week on the way to KFC via the tram, which is located in Agdal, a very very modern section of Rabat, I walked into a protest outside the parliament building. They love to protest here.
The Tram
Not the same
Protest
Now on to the Sahara.We left a little after 7:30am for our 10 hour ride, (not going to say who caused the tardy departure), we stopped every two hours or so at gas stations and rest stops, our first significant stop was at Al Akhawayn University, located in Ifrane, in the Middle Atlas Mountains. This University opened only in 1993 as a joint project by the kings of Morocco and Saudi Arabia. It is a western style university, and the students live on campus, unlike other universities here in Morocco. English is the language of instruction along with Modern Standard Arabic.
The University
The Pool
The Green of the Mountains
After departing the university we ate lunch at a nearby restaurant, before re-boarding our two large passenger vans and continued onward. We stopped again at the Ziz Valley for an amazing view just as the sun was setting, the first of many amazing sights to be saw on this excursion.
The Valley
After getting back on the vans we continued until we reached our first hotel, by far the nicest one I have seen since arriving in this country. It had a pool, air conditioning, and a buffet dinner and breakfast. We spent the night hanging out with each other and another group of international students until going to sleep to continue on the next morning.
The next morning we left and continued on, stopping at a fossil factory where they collect fossils from the desert and then polish them and fix them up to sell to tourists, we then continued to a small shop in the town of Risanni, the main market for the surrounding Saharawian villages, where I purchase my first jalaba(robe) in Morocco.
Culture
We then switched from our vans to 4x4 off road "jeeps", these took us for our first venture into the desert, to the village of Bamberra, a small Gnawa village on the edge of the sand dunes. The Gnawa are descendants of slaves brought to Morocco from Sub Saharan Africa, and are black and speak their own language along with Arabic. We went and listened to their music, where they move their entire bodies except for their heads, and then visited the village school.
Foxes for Hire
Gnawa
The Village
We then went to another hotel, literally right on the edge of the sand dunes (as in the back door), where we were to wait for our sunset camel ride into the desert where we were to spend the night. This plan unfortunately never materialized, as a sandstorm set in, keeping us from going out that night. A sandstorm is hard to imagine if you have never been in one, but sand was everywhere, I went for a walk into the dunes with my friend, and when I came back, sand was in my hair, my mouth (caking my teeth), in my pockets and everywhere else imaginable.
Camels during the Storm
Getting on our camels in the dark, and heading out into the desert was an experience. But the real magic happened after climbing the tallest dune and watching the sunrise over one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life. The sand dunes went on forever, and our guides pointed to the distance where Algeria was within view (15km away). Watching the sun come up was a testimony to the beauty of our world, and as a human I was in awe.
After remounting our camels we headed back to the hotel, where we ate, showered, and headed back to the jeeps, but not after filling a glass Arabic Coke bottle with Sahara sand.
We headed back to Risanni where we explored a mausoleum of a former king, and then went to the Souk al Ahd (The Sunday Market), before departing for Rabat, stopping again in the mountains to see the wild monkeys that live there.
Monkeys
We finally got back to Rabat near 11pm.
Playing with the gas station strays makes the trip more enjoyable
I will try to post again this week with a culture blog, next weekends plans, climbing Jibal Toubkal, the tallest mountain in North Africa
Allah Ma3ck
Kevin
Arabic Word of the Day
جلابة- Jelaba
traditional Arab robe
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