Uno Rabat

Day 45

After a four hour train ride we checked into Hotel Central. It was by far one of the grossest places I have ever stayed. However, the price and location were right, so I couldn´t turn it down.

I was dying to see a movie in English and we spent some time looking for a theatre. There wasn´t anything that wasn´t dubbed or in French. Instead we wandered the medina for a bit. We were not hassled here like we had been in Fez, in fact, no one really noticed us.

We had been recommended a place called the Goethe Institute for dinner. I was under the impression that we would be drinking German beer and eating German food. It turned out to have a more Moroccan and Spanish menu. It also seemed to be a trendy place for expats and tourists.

Neither of us were feeling like a night out so we played Uno in the room for a bit before calling it a night.

The King and I

Day 44
As we had decided to skip out on Marrakech we got up early to take an hour long train ride to Meknes. Of course we had a leisurely breakfast with lots of mint tea first. The same guys that had pestered us the day before about a tour did it again. We told them that we had done it alone.

When we got to Meknes it was odd to see that the streets were blocked off and there were gun toting soldiers all over the place. After asking around for a bit we found out that the king was coming. We were about 30 minutes early and decided to get a spot and hang out. Just as we were about to give up he came by. I got lucky and got a picture of him waving out of the window.

Our main objective was to visit Habs Kara, or the prison of Christen Slaves. Moulay Ismail would receive foreign ambassadors in the pavilion that was above the prison. The ambassadors never knew how close their countrymen were. The slave quarters were frightening. They were dark and dank, but Al insisted on exploring them fully. It was very sad knowing that 60,000 people were once chained to the walls in a standing position here.

I wanted to check out the souks, but Al didn´t want to get hassled. Eventually I won and we wandered around for a bit. The food souk was full of cow and goat heads and smelled awful. There were several stands with live chickens, and other stands that killed the chickens. The rest of the souks were quite boring, they had household goods and things we just didn´t need.

We decided to call it a day and headed back to Fez. We had an early train the next day and after dinner at a place close to the hotel we called it a night.

Escaping the Maze

Day 43
We were up early and ready to check out Fez. They guys at the hotel tried to pressure us into hiring a guide through them, but we refused. Over breakfast at the café next to the hotel we introduced ourselves to two guys who were clearly tourists. I was thinking that maybe we could split the cost of a guide. They turned out to be Belgian and had done the tour before through the same hotel we were at. They said that it was mostly shops and not much history.

The guys at the hotel didn´t like that we were talking to the Belgians. They told me that if I wanted a tour I needed to talk to them. We told the hotel guys that we would be doing the medina on our own.

Al and I decided that the best thing to do would be to go to the tourist info center and hire a guide through them. When we went there we were told that we could have either a 3 hour or a 5 hour tour. If we picked the 5 hour tour we would need to buy dinner for our guide. We asked if we would get to pick the restaurant. The guy didn´t like that question and told us that we could just get a guide at the gates.

After figuring out that we couldn´t possibly fit in Marrakech and a desert tour we took our chances and headed to the medina. We hadn´t quite decided if we would get a guide or do it alone yet. As soon as the cab stopped kids were running up and opening our doors. They asked for money, but we brushed them off. A guy named Mohammad approached us. He was an unofficial guide, but he spoke good English and told us the tour was the same price no matter how long it took. Plus, we didn´t have to buy him dinner.

Mohammad lead us around the labyrinth of streets that date from the 14th century. We walked by a school with Donald duck painted on the wall. Our guide pointed out that the door hinges were often in the shape of the hand of Fatima for good luck. We ducked into two medersa´s, or schools. Both were museums. The first was in quite good repair and had a display on musical instruments. I never caught the name of the school. The second medersa was called Sahrij and had been built in the 14th century. Even though it was under restoration the cedar woodwork was still stunning.

We also saw more mosques than I care to remember. The Andalusian mosque, was built in 849, and was quite attractive. We were, of course, not allowed inside.

My favorite part was the tanneries. The guy there explained to us that the hides were first washed in pigeon droppings and then white washed. After that the color is added. The whole process takes about 3 weeks. The leather guy didn´t do the hard sell thing and we left without any problems.

The cheapie sunglasses I had bought the year before broke in the beginning of our tour. I can´t not have sun glasses, so I shopped around for a bit. The first guy wanted 180 dirhams, or US $23 for a pair of fake Prada´s. He tried to tell me that they were real! I ended up spending 30 dirhams, or about US $3.75 for an oversized pair of shades.

The police in Fez are really trying to crack down on faux guides like Mohammed. The people who hired him wouldn´t get in trouble, but I have heard that unofficial guides are often arrested. This means that Mohammed couldn´t really be seen with us. He kept looking around and always walked way in front of us. A few times he completely disappeared. One time I thought that we had lost him for good. Al and I were checking out some sign, I don´t remember about what, when some kids kicked a soccer ball to Al. We both passed the ball around for a bit. When we stopped the kids pulled key chains out of their pockets to sell to us. Al pulled a Happy Meal toy from my lunch out of his pocket and gave it to the smallest kid. They all forgot about selling us stuff and quickly became engrossed over the small toy. When we turned around Mohammed was gone.

We figured that he would just find us like he had before and wandered slowly through a shop lined street. Different people kept hassling us with our guide gone. Eventually we had wandered far enough that people were asking if we needed a taxi. There are no cars in the medina so we could only assume that we were just about out. We both felt bad, Mohammed was doing a good job and seemed like a descent guy. We wouldn´t want to run out on him before paying him. This caused us to turn back. After a few minutes we saw Mohammed running down the street to find us. I was relived. I would have felt awful if we had not paid him.

The last real stop on the tour was a rug and blanket weaver. They gave us tea and pulled out about 12 different rugs and blankets explaining what the symbols on each one meant. When they were done they wanted to know which kind we liked best. Al told him the ones he liked. They wanted something like 2000 dirhams for a small blanket and a jacket that Al was interested in. There was no way we were going to do that so they asked for a counter offer. We gave the ridiculous offer of 200 dirhams. He told us that we were killing him. I told him that we just didn´t have the money and we got up to leave. As we were walking out he asked us “what is your problem, you come to Morocco with no money?” I told him that we had enough to see the country, not to take it home with us.

At this point we had been walking around in the heat for about 3.5 hours. We were both tired and told Mohammed that we were ready to get a cab back. He lead us out of the maze and we gave him a good tip. He took a picture of the two of us. By accident we had both worn shirts with my logo on it. We were one of “those” couples for the day.

After showering it was time for a Moroccan meal. We found a great restaurant that served a 3 course meal. All of it was good, but the chicken was out of this world. We finished off the evening with a couple of beers at a café overlooking the main boulevard. When the outside closed we moved indoors. I was very unhappy to see that there wasn´t any toilet paper in the bathroom. A woman, dressed very proactively in a bar of mainly men, handed me some tissues. I thanked her for them. It´s not every day that a (most likely) prostitute helps me out.

Two if by land, one if by sea

Day 42
After discussing our options far later than we should have we decided to go forward with our plans to visit Morocco and were up before dawn to catch a bus.

We had to take several different types of transportation to get to Fez. First we spent about 2 hours on a bus to Algerceras, then we spent another 3 hours on a ferry, we ended with a 6 hour train ride from Tangier to Fez.

Immigration to Morocco was painless. Once through we were approached by a guy who told us that he was just there to help and that he was an official guy. He gave us good information (except for an incorrect train time) and didn´t ask for any money. I guess he was telling the truth.

We did not have such a nice experience on the train. Some guy sat in the compartment that we were sharing with an elderly couple. He heard us speaking and in very good English told us that he was about to marry an Australian and that he worked at the Tangier tourist booth and was hoping to open his own tourist company at some point. He gave us the name of a place to stay and the name of a guide and his number. We didn´t trust him. He did find out from us that we lived in NYC (we didn´t mention my trip) and, upon hearing Al speak Spanish to the elderly couple, that Al was Uruguayan. The shady guy eventually left saying he needed the bathroom. He was gone for about 2 hours.

Eventually he came back to just leave again minutes later. We figured that he had found an easier target. At this point another guy comes in to the booth. He starts talking to us, ask us where we are from. When we say NYC he tells Al that he doesn´t look like he is from NY, but rather from South America. That was just too weird, and we figured that the two shady guys were in cahoots. The second guy left and we didn´t see him again.

Eventually the elderly couple, who were on the train until 11pm at night, figured out that there was an empty compartment and went to move. We offered to do so instead. When we got to Fez we both needed the bathrooms and were behind the rest of the passengers in departing the station. I didn´t see it, but Al saw both shady guys walking together, when they saw us, one of them jumped behind a column. Clearly they were trying something, what we didn´t know, and I guess it didn´t matter because they didn´t get it.

After wandering for a bit we settled on an uber cheap but not so great hotel. We were too tired and it was too late in the day to accomplish anything more than dinner and passing out in our room.