Horse Madness

When I was checking into a hotel an hour south of Casablanca the other day, an employee of the hotel suggested I take a bus about 10 miles outside of town to attend a festival there. As it turned out, it wasn't so easy getting out there because there were hordes of others also trying to get a bus or taxi. After an hour or so I managed to get a ride on a motorcyle cart, along with a dozen others. The festival, an annual event to show solidarity among local tribes, was huge. Here are some statistics from last year's event:

-- Over 20,000 camping tents
-- About 400,000 visitors
-- 1,300 horses

Safi

Safi, a large port (and pottery) town about 150 miles south of Casablanca, is another place not recommended by my Lonely Planet guidebook. In many ways I like visiting these nonrecommended towns better than the recommended ones. Obviously one aspect will inevitably be the absence of many tourists because they are steered clear by their guidebooks, which, in the case of Safi anyway, gives the few tourists who do visit a chance to see a bustling working-class town without all the frills and glitter put in place to attract foreign visitors. I have noticed in the markets here that there are less handcrafted items and more Chinese made goods like clothes, toys, household appliances. Probably this is partly due to the lack of tourists, who often buy the more expensive handcrafted items, and partly because Safi is a port town and thus a lot of the cheap manufactured goods arrive by ship. In Safi there seems to be an extrordinarily high number of destitute people begging on the streets, and one thing I've noticed that I haven't seen before is people approaching customers at streetside cafes and asking if they can drink their complimentary glass of water that is served with the coffee or tea. Also, the other night I was at a cafe having tea when an old guy walked by my table and grabbed up the sugar cubes from my saucer before quickly moving on. Another first for me.

Africa's Windy City

Essaouira, about 300 miles south of Casablanca on the Atlantic coast, is supposedly the windiest city in Africa, and during my stay here it certainly seems that way. It was very windy the past two days, is very windy now, and likely it will be the same again tomorrow. The wind is relentless, and is said to have driven people mad. Other than being one of Morocco's premier tourist spots and a haven for artists, one claim to fame of Essaouira is that Jimi Hendrix spent some time here back in the 1960s. Some say that his Essaouira visit was the inspiration for the song, "Castles Made of Sand," but as it turns out that song was written in 1967 and Hendrix didn't visit Morocco until 1969. My hotel room here is pleasant enough, but due to budget constraints I chose the one with the "mini view," meaning that I get a sea view while standing in the middle of the room, or if I sit straight up on my bed, on top of two firm pillows, I can just manage to see the Atlantic beyond the 20-foot wall of the old city. Twenty dollars more would get me Room 12, the exact same as my current one, save that it is two flights up and thus has an unobstructed "panoramic view" of the sea.

Agadir

Even though my guidebook has nothing much good to say about Agadir, a touristy seaside resort town on the Atlantic, I decided to bus there from Marrakesh anyway, just to spend a couple of days and see what the town was like. As it turned out I liked the place so much I extended my stay to four days. Agadir is the place where many Moroccans like to come to lounge on the beach, buy touristy junk, eat at seaside restaurants, etc. There are a number of large upscale resort hotels here, but the place also has a kind of Coney Island "seedy around the edges" feel to it. In 1960 Agadir experienced a devastating earthquake that killed some 20 thousand people and, unable to manage with the devastating effects of this calamity, the authorities "sprayed the area with lime and DDT, and consequently left the dead where they had been buried." At that time people would probably have found it hard to believe that Agadir would one day become Morocco's premier beach resort town.

Marrakeshi Roadside Rest

The High Atlas Mountains

Imlil is a small village in Morocco's High Atlas Mountains, about a 2-hour bus ride south of Marrakesh. The town is at an elevation of almost 2,000 meters, and even in the summer you can see snow on nearby Mount Toubkal, the highest mountain in North Africa. I ended up spending 4 nights in Imlil, going for mountain hikes during the day, then before dinner stopping at the local hammam (Moroccan public bath) for a scrub. When I first arrived in Imlil I bought a trail map of the region, but then decided I would try hiring a guide for a few hours to see what that was like. For 350 Moroccan dirhams (about 45 US dollars) you can get a mountain guide in Imlil for a few hours, including lunch. I instead went for a budget deal. I asked around town and was eventually introduced to Hussain, an older man from a nearby village, who was willing to be my guide for about half that amount (excluding lunch, and bring your own water). Hussain proved to be very familiar with the local mountain trails and villages so I got a good hiking tour of the region. The photo above is of Hussain, and I included the one above that because though it's common to see flower planters and sandals made out of old tires, that's the first time I've seen them used for pitchers, cups, and water pots. Also, those little brown clay pots in the waterfall photo are a kind of old-fashioned Crock-pot for making tajine, a popular Moroccan dish made by slow cooking vegetables and/or meat with spices over charcoal.

The thing about Morocco ...

I have been in Morocco for about 3 weeks now, and my plan was to move on to Tunisia after about 4 weeks. The thing is as I travel in Morocco I keep changing my travel itinerary, adding more places to explore. Considering the many places to see in Morocco: the Atlas mountains; the numerous fascinating cities like Fez, Marrakesh, Tangier, Meknes, and Casablanca; the Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines, two months now seems like a more adequate amount of time for exploring the country.

Rather than depart for the High Atlas mountains this morning as planned, I decided to extend my stay here in Marrakesh because voting is taking place today on the new proposed constitution, so likely the city will be very lively this evening after the voting is done and, as appears inevitable, the constitutional referendum has been approved by the people. It seems the King/government has been putting out a lot of propaganda encouraging the Moroccan subjects to vote yes, but some reformers are boycotting the election today, claiming that the proposed constitution is the same old same old, failing to take the required steps toward true democracy. One clause mentioned in the proposed constitution states that rather than continue to consider the King as "sacred," he would henceforth be regarded as the "Commander of the Faithful." :
http://en.news.maktoob.com/20090000848224/Morocco_urges_voters_to_back_curbs_on_king_apos_s_powers/Article.htm