Mules, Camels, and Tents in the Desert: Marrakech

Saturday, March 12 - Tuesday, March 15 2011

Why limit ourselves to just Europe?  Certain parts of Africa are popular destinations for many Europeans (think of it like Europe’s Mexico).  A group of co-workers approached us with the idea to visit Marrakech, Morocco, one of the many Easyjet destinations at our fingertips.  Sure, why not - who would pass up a good time in a unique place and have the opportunity to get to know some of our Geneva crew a little better? 

Arabic Coca Cola

So what should we expect with a trip to northern Africa?   We didn’t really know what to think.  Aren’t parts of the Indiana Jones series set in Northern Africa?  Will it look like the scenes from the famous old movie Casablanca?  Based on our limited research (this was still a time where work was crazy for both of us, leaving little time to plan), we knew that the official languages are French and Arabic and that their currency is the Dirham (about 8-1 compared to the Swiss Franc).  Luckily our friend, Chris, proactively did a bunch of the trip planning for the whole group (we’re so lucky he’s our friend).  So, what’s first?

The 10 of us - 5 couples, 4 of which were married less than a year ago, (it was slightly odd being the “old” married couple of the group, at nearly 4 years of marriage) all left Geneva early Saturday morning on a direct flight to Marrakech, to return back on Tuesday.  The first leg of our adventure was an overnight excursion – possibly one of the most unique excursions we’ve even been on!  From the airport we met our two tour guides and two drivers.  We all piled into two SUVs and headed off.

Our drivers were great, super nice.  One of them didn't really speak any English, yet his cellphone ring tone was Celine Dion's "Because You Loved Me"-- we got a kick out of that.  


Our tour guides were amazing— super fun to be around and very informative.  We learned quite a bit about the culture and landscape of Marrakech and surrounding Morocco on our drive.  It was impossible to ignore the small pockets of villages as we drove up to the Atlas mountain range - we were told the structures are over 600 years old, and are inhabited by the “Berber” people.  The Berbers were the original inhabitants of the region until the Arab invasion in 680 AD.  Over the years the Berbers have continued to live in the hilly areas (at least those Berbers in proximity to Marrakech) while the people living in the more urban areas tend to be of Arabic decent.  It was amazing to see the primitive cultural aspects that remain with the Berber tribes, like washing clothes in the rivers and using mules for transportation.  At the same time it is ironic to see most villages have satellite dishes mounted on the roofs of their 600-year-old homes in order to get TV reception. 

After a long uphill climb we made it to our first stop – the base of the highest village in the Moroccan Atlas mountain range.  So how do we get to the top?  Most people would do the most sensible thing and hike…but when you are on a crazy excursion they give you mules to ride up the mountain!  Mules can be tricky - yes, you are saddled and everything, but if you’re a large man (like Dave), it becomes difficult to stay completely balanced going up and down steep slopes.  It didn’t help that Dave’s mule kept veering towards the edge of the steep cliffs… good thing Dave’s not afraid of heights or anything (actually he is, what a little girl).  The highlight of the ride had to be winding through the narrow streets of the village where sometimes you couldn’t see anyone else yet the mule would stay on course.

Top of the world
(... or Morocco)

“These aren't the droids
you're looking for…”

At the end of the ride was lunch…but not just any lunch - it was at the highest point of civilization in Morocco (we sat on the roof of the tallest building in the highest village).  Yes, we were channeling Star Wars a little bit with the blanket get-up…   We enjoyed another mule ride again on the way back down to the SUVs for the next leg of our journey.

 

On our drive back down to the desert, we saw one of the more beautiful sights we’ve ever seen, as the sun peaked through the rain clouds over the Moroccan lowlands…

Getting to our next stop was a race against the clock.  Pretty much the only thing we knew about the overnight excursion beforehand was that we were going to be riding camels!  (When else would we have that chance?!)  The said 'camel ride' was scheduled right before sunset and we were pretty much at sunset when we arrived at the camels.  Of course they wouldn’t let us get on without the proper attire.  If you’ve ever wondered what Ang would look like as an Arab, now your mind can be at ease. 

 

The camels were HUGE!  Our butts were easily 10 feet off the ground when the camels were fully standing.  So how did we get on, you ask?  Here’s a little glimpse of the mounting process.

That camel ride lasted past sunset and into dusk, although we don’t think that was the original plan.  It turns out the tents that we were staying in that night (more on those in a bit) were a convenient camel’s-ride-away from our starting point.  We even did a little off-roading on the camels through a field to get to the tents faster – the handle bar came in handy during that part!

Back to those tents.  We weren’t expecting much when we heard that we’d be spending the night in tents in the desert.  Little did we know we had a private desert retreat all to ourselves!  The sleeping tents themselves were pretty outstanding too – definitely the first tents we’ve been in with a toilet, shower and queen-sized bed.  We were treated like royalty the rest of the night with a huge spread of delicious food and a great atmosphere (including a couple fire pits and clear night for viewing the stars).

The inside of our tent

The awesome dinner tent

The "tangines" that they cook in

Breakfast

 

 

The next morning we woke to an incredible view of the Atlas Mountains right outside our tent.  After a traditional Moroccan breakfast and tea (more about the tea later) we said goodbye to the compound and onto our next stop, which was a typical Moroccan village outside of Marrakech.  It’s very humbling to see how people outside of Western civilization live (especially after getting spoiled the night before).  No, the village wasn’t stricken with poverty (by Moroccan standards), but by American standards it wasn’t far off…  The people were very kind and hospitable, generously offering us fresh flatbread & tea that they had made themselves.

In the final leg of our adventure we did a little off-roading.  This was clearly one of our tour guide’s (Mark) favorite part of the trip as he took over for the regular driver and went nuts up and down the steep desert hills (so much that the driver of the 2^nd SUV was nervous to follow).  We never felt unsafe though; it was a good time!  One of the perks of off-roading was getting away from the main roads and seeing the uninhibited beauty of the desert landscape. 

  

An interesting side note about drivers in Morocco:  More than once we noticed some questionable driving decisions made by those surrounding us on the roads (several times that we were passed on blind corners, etc.), to the point that audible “holy crap” comments were coming out, not just thinking internally.  The interesting thing our driver told us is that people in Morocco (and it may be true for other Islamic believers) drive recklessly because they are very much in the mindset that their god is in complete control of their life and whatever happens was meant to be.  Interesting logic.

Our tour guides & drivers

Wow, we’ve already written this much and that was only the first 24 hours of our trip!  Honestly though, it was an incredible tour and worth every penny.  In the past we’ve shied away from organized tours because they aren’t cheap and can sometimes be a little corny.  But tours like this one make us think twice because there is no way we could have experienced everything we did, the way we did it, on our own.  Another reason it was so great was because of Mark, the owner.  He was an amazing host and he & his wife even came along with us for dinner the last night we were in town – who does that??

View from the rooftop of our riad

After our excursion we were dropped off in the middle of Marrakech and the craziness began!  If you don’t like crowds and feeling out of your element, then downtown Marrakech is not the place for you.  To say that white Americans not dressed in Moroccan clothes stick out like a sore thumb is an understatement. :)  The secret with any foreign city though is to look like you know what you’re doing and then people leave you alone.  In Marrakech this is particularly important as we were told locals actually try to deceive you and get you lost in the complex street system so that you’re forced to pay them in order to get to your destination.  From our experience while there, this was very true but we were fairly warned ahead of time and therefore didn’t bite.

Our “hotel” in Marrakech was actually called a “Riad”, which is a large house owned by a rich family who turned it into accommodations for guests (they say that the Riads are personalized by the owner for the unique enjoyment of their guests… we’re still not sure how it differs from a small hotel).  They are usually shaped like a square, with a center atrium as the main hangout area with rooms all around.  It was very quaint and the best part had to be the two turtles moseying around the common area.  We wondered how often they get stepped on because at times they are literally hanging out in the middle of the walking lanes. 

We should mention that one of the most famous attractions of Marrakech is bartering in the souks.  Souks are small market shops (it’s safe to think Indiana Jones at this point to have a good mental picture of these shops).  The culture is all about bartering to get a fair price.  Mark told us that we should always aim to talk the merchants down about 50% off the first listed price.  Personally, Dave found this really annoying but Ang was ok with it (and she drives a pretty hard deal from Dave’s perspective!). 

Culturally speaking, everyone is a salesman and it gets to be really old after a while.  For example, our hotel owner told us that a city tour is a good way to see everything and get our baring straight in the confusing streets.  Sure, sounds good.  Well, the tour was three hours long and most of it was our group being subject to different salesmen trying to push their products on us.  Very annoying.  But, hey, if bartering for stuff is your thing then you would love it!  We unfortunately didn’t get to see as much of the city as we expected on that tour.  Lesson learned.

Poor man's security
(click on photo to see zoomed in image)

We tried to take in as much of Marrakech / Moroccan culture as we could in that short period of time— we walked around the city, ventured through the souks, bartered with the locals and also decided to embark on the adventure of a traditional gommage body scrub at the spa in our Riad/hotel.  We use the term “scrub” loosely.  Imagine the roughest sandpaper you’ve ever used.  Then imagine it being rubbed via human force all over your body.  At times it was soothing, but most often it was all we could do but wince in pain—haha.  We just kept looking at each other with “do I still have any skin left?” looks on our faces.  After the scrub when you rinse all of the dead skin off, it’s pretty gross.  Little chunks of balled up skin layers everywhere.  We have to admit though—our skin felt so smooth afterward!  And Dave survived his first (and likely only) spa experience.

Overall the trip was a great time and an awesome chance to get to know some of our co-workers and their spouses better (and it worked – we would now consider them among our closest friends here in Geneva).  After arriving back into Marrakech from the overnight desert excursion, each couple spent most of the following days exploring the city separately and then we all met together for dinners so it was a nice mix of alone time and group time which we will reminisce about, years down the road.

Oh, almost forgot about the tea!  We must have been served this tea well over a dozen times over the 3-4 days we were there.  It’s a sweet, mint tea.  At first it was really good but then it started getting a little too sweet - understandable as they must put a few cups of sugar into every pot they brew.  The interesting thing about the tea is that in the “old days” when manual labor was really common, the tea was necessary as an energy drink to keep people fueled.  But now, even though manual labor jobs are less common in the city, the tea intake hasn’t lessened and the population is getting a little heavier and diabetes is becoming a problem.  Their teeth aren’t all that pretty either we must say.  Maybe they should stop drinking so much tea…