morocco updates

Today I had so much delicious Moroccan tea, which we now know is referred to as Moroccan whiskey. I am addicted. Something about the mix of green tea, mint leaves, and sugar is just PERFECT, and they serve it EVERYWHERE. I have had tea with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and even in some stores while we're in the middle of bargaining a deal, they offer us tea to entice us to stay and keep arguing. It is glorious.

In other news regarding culinary delights, I tried pastilla today which is a traditional Moroccan savory pie. Usually it is made out of pigeon, which I was actually excited to try just to be able to say that I had eaten pigeon, but the pastilla today was made of chicken. Oh well, it was INCREDIBLE. It is ground up chicken with onions and curry and other spices, but then it is mixed with peaches and cinnamon, and fried in this batter that kind of reminds me of Chinese egg rolls. Then it is sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon. It is INCREDIBLE. It is so many flavors and textures all at once, and it was just so incredible.

Today we also learned a little bit about the politics of Morocco - my favorite thing to ask locals about when I travel to foreign countries. So first of all, it is called the Kingdom of Morocco, as in... there is an actual royal family, which is such a foreign concept to me! There is a king and a queen and a prince and a princess, and they have palaces all over Morocco. Every store that we go into has pictures and newspaper clippings of the royal family hung up, and there is this lovely picture of the King holding his 4-year-old son, and it is just adorable. We were asking the shopkeeper about the royal family, and she just could not stop talking about how wonderful they are. She explained that they are really down-to-earth and just walk around cities, shaking people's hands and talking to people. The queen was actually educated overseas and was the top of her class and has a degree in engineering, and all the Moroccan women respect and look up to her because she is a good, progressive role model for women. She is referred to as "Moroccan Diana," which I think is beautiful.

We are in Tangier now, which is definitely my least favorite city. It reminds me too much of New York City and is far too touristy. I miss Fes and its traditional qualities that made me feel as if I had stepped into the 1300s. Plus, the taxi drivers here are so mean and always out to make a buck at the expense of foreigners, and it is SO HARD to find a taxi driver who will charge you a reasonable price... either because the meter is "broken," or because there is allegedly an extra fee for baggage, or because he got lost and/or misunderstood where we wanted to go and drove around in circles with the meter running the whole time. All of these are tactics to take our money because they think we don't know any better, and it is just so frustrating trying to get around and explore a new country, when everyone is out to take your money and take advantage of you.

One great thing about Tangier, though, is that it is the actual city in Morocco where Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsburg, William Burroughs, and plenty of other artists from the 1960's, visited and even spent some time writing. In fact, Burroughs' Naked Lunch was written in a cafe here in Tangier! Today we walked past the hotel where all of them stayed - Hotel El Muniria - and it was just so cool to feel that sense of history. Appropriately enough, I brought my copy of On the Road with me to Morocco, because it felt very fitting for my own travelling adventure, as well as to channel some of Kerouac's own emotions and aspirations for travelling. However, long story short, it is pretty inspiring to be in a country that so many people once regarded as a "hippie haven" or an escape for free spirits and wanderers.

So it will be back to Senegal on Monday morning, and I am really not looking forward to cold showers from a bucket, once again. I have really been enjoying the hot water at our hotels and in fact even taking some luxurious baths just because I can! On Sunday we are planning to go to a hammam, the traditional Moroccan bathhouse, where we will get scrubbed and massaged in this hot room. I am REALLY looking forward to that luxury before I return to dirty, roughing-it Dakar.

I will be sad to leave Morocco... this country is definitely amazing, and I feel like I have only touched the tip of the iceberg in terms of exploring it. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for an adventure, but one week is simply not enough to do all the great things there are to do. Inshallah, I will return here again one day to continue to explore and get to know the country. I have a feeling that my experiences in Francophone Africa are not coming to an end any time soon, so I predict that I will be back before I know it...............