Morocco was not Europe at all... in Spain I felt safe and at home. In Morocco, I would never go out alone, I always was with at least 2 other people, and never out at night. Women are definitely lower on the hierarchy than men in Morocco. It was about 100 degrees outside, and we could not wear shorts, had to keep our shoulders covered and sometimes wear scarves to cover our hair (always in a mosque). The first day, Evergreen, Laura and I set out on a train to Rabat, the capitol. None of us spoke French, had any cash and were not prepared for Morocco. Crossing the streets was taking your life in your hands. There were no lights telling us when to cross, and it seemed people just beep their horn for fun. We were scared to death running across the street, then getting stuck in the middle as mopeds swerved around us and cars beeped as they whizzed by us. Somehow we make it to Rabat, and we walk to the Chellah - some ruins of an old village. We try to pay, but the ATM gave us big bills, and the clerk made a big deal out of the fact we didn’t have smaller change...this keyed in a “tour guide” who right off the bat said I’m your guide....we should have known better. He spoke broken English, but did give us information about everything, though we should have keyed in when the he had a few shouting matches with the guards. At the end of the tour, he tried very hard to rip us off and we ended up giving him about a $12 tip. We then walked back towards the train station, and stopped to get something to eat, then walked thru the dirty market place. We made it back to Casablanca, luckily meeting some other SAS students in the train station to walk back with in the dark. The port is big in Casablanca, so we had to run to catch the last shuttle bus to take us to the boat.
The next day, I left for Marrakech. Katherine was on the same trip as me, but we got separated. I ended up sitting with a girl from my small group meetings, Lauren. We stuck together most of the time, and also met a girl named Caroline. At the hotel, we had random roommates and mine was named Twin and she goes to JMU! Small world!
We went to the Market, in which we experienced bartering for the first time, snake charmers, and men with monkeys and snakes, trying to put them on your shoulders...I was yelled at for taking a picture of a snake charmer because he demanded money, and I refused to give it to him. The market place was the scariest place I have ever been! They yell at you and if you even touch something they try to make you buy it; women grab your arm and start doing a henna tattoo, then make you pay them, even if you didn’t want it. I tried to ignore the vendors yelling, and one even stuck his hand out to shake mine and I kept walking and saying no and he grabbed me by the arm and wouldn’t let me go...it’s not a pleasant experience. I am a pushover, and was ripped off almost every time, even with the help of Lauren and Caroline. We spent a night at a nomad camp as well, which was fun, but people had money stolen from their tents.