Morocco, Morocco, Morocco, what an experience. I had a wonderful time on the camel trek. We spent two nights in Marrakech and one night sleeping in tents with Moroccan nomads. The camels were so funny and riding the camels was definitely the highlight of my time here. Marrakech was an interesting place. It only rains in Marrakech twenty days of the year and we happened to pick one of thoses days to visit. We managed to make it to the Souks (the outdoor market) just in time for it to rain. I was buying a scarf as it started pouring. The vendor was so nice and pulled out chairs for us. When we thought it had slowed down we left his tent and headed toward the busses, however they didn’t come for another 30 minutes and by the time they had finally arrived we all were so drenched that there wasn’t a single piece of dry clothing on anyone! That evening we went to a dinner and show that reminded me of Medieval Times, which wasn't exactly my favorite part of the trip. Every five minutes or so a group of Moroccan signers would parade through the dining tent for entertainment. I didn’t find it entertaining it actually made me uneasy. After dinner we watched a horse show with a “flying carpet” with a couple on it in the background, a little belly dancing show, a fire juggler and to top it off a very anticlimactic firework show.
Within thirty minutes of getting back from the camel excursion I got to join another field program called Dinner with a Moroccan family that was delightful. A Moroccan man married an American woman from Pennsylvania and I was so interesting to learn about the Moroccan culture from an American and Moroccan point of view.
I made a new friend Molly who speaks French so I've had no problems getting around, but I do feel uncomfortable here when I am walking around. It is so chaotic between the cars driving wherever they please, the motorbikes and donkey carriages driving through groups of people, and all the street vendors and snake charmers trying to force you to buy things from them including a picture you take on your own camera! Their culture is very aggressive and would take me more than 5 days to get used to. Overall, I've had a wonderful time in Morocco. We will leave today after I get back from my last field program here at the Coca Cola plant. I believe on ship time is 1800 hours (6 pm), then 7 days at sea before Accra, Ghana.
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