The Berber flag.
Berber writing which goes left to right unlike Arabic.
My new necklace - the Berber symbol which is the Z in their alphabet.
A funky washroom in one of our guesthouses.
Wim and I.
The group including Rachid in his traditional clothing.
Here are some random thoughts on the trip to Morocco:
Morocco
is a country in transition from the past to the modern world.
Everywhere there are signs of progress, however, as with most
countries in the world the gap between rich and poor is widening. It
seems to me that rural areas are changing more slowly than the cities
where growth and advancement is huge. Probably a lot of the youth of
the rural areas have migrated to the cities to find work.
Morocco
receives thousands of tourists every month and they have gotten more
tolerant of the tourists and their dress codes. Many still don't like
their photos taken but they are getting used to that too. I found the
majority of Moroccans to be tolerant or friendly to tourists. The
ones who work directly with the tourist industry are very friendly
because they know that is where their bread is buttered.
Moroccan
food is delicious, but seems to suffer from a lack of diversity. They
don't have the same multicultural cuisine that the west now has. The
traditional meals are still tajines, which are stews of different
meats and vegetables or couscous with fish, lamb, beef or chicken. As
a result we got a bit tired of the menu. And after all of us got sick
at some point, we were suspicious of salads, teas and fruits. I
remember the traditional Moroccan tea as being mint tea with lots of
sugar. Now you can still get mint tea but there is no sugar in it
unless you ask for it. I asked Rachid about this and he said it was
because of oral hygiene awareness and diabetes. In some of the
tourist hotels they offer different tourist food like pizzas and
burgers. And in the cities the American junk food restaurants have
arrived, McDonald's, Burger King, Kentucky Fried and Starbucks.
They
have men in yellow vests who help people park in tight spots on the
roads. I think it also solves arguments. I couldn't work out if they
did it for tips are not.
In
the van the first day we were reading a Lonely Planet guidebook and
it stated that about 20% of the country's income comes from tourism
and that about the same percentage of people work in some aspect of
the tourist service industry. It also said that unemployment in the
youth is at about 45% and in a recent survey over 50% of the young
people said they would emigrate if they had the opportunity. The
youth age group is the one that is changing the most and accepting
western ways. They all have cellphones and most wear westernized
clothing, especially in the cities.
In
the rural areas there are still many people, especially the older
generation, wearing traditional clothing. In the cities the older
generation is changing too. Where you do see more traditional
clothing other than rural areas is in the medinas and souks.
When
I was here years ago, I found the medinas and souks dark, mysterious
and slightly intimidating and the vendors were very aggressive.
Inside there were many different types of artisans plying their
trades and making all manner of things. Today by contrast, the
vendors are much more polite and will take a 'no thank you'
reasonably well and will sometimes even wish you a good day or say
'you're welcome'. However, I saw very few artisans, except in areas
where the government is sponsoring schools or shops that are
maintaining the arts. I think that in most shops the product they are
selling has been mass produced somewhere else, probably offshore and
that many of the stalls are owned by a few people who hire people to
man the stalls. I wonder how many people sit in these stalls trying
to sell crap and not making any money all day.
There
are cats everywhere. They are very important to Moroccan people. I
even found one in my departure lounge at Marrakech airport. There are
some dogs too, but not many. I watched as many people fed the cats,
especially people in Essaouri who would provide them with fresh
sardines. I would imagine that they help to keep down mice and rat
populations as well.
The
cities are becoming quite modern with lots of cars and other traffic
like scooters, bicycles but there is still room for a number of
donkey carts. Casablanca has a very modern street car line and they
are building a high speed rail line from Casablanca to Marrakech and
Essaouira that will collapse the travel time from overnight to just a
few hours.
They
get most of their energy from hydroelectric power but recently their
reservoirs have been going down and they see the need for other
sources. As a result the Moroccan government is joining the renewable
energy business as well and is building the largest solar power
facility in Africa which will supply a significant percentage of
their power. They also have a number of turbine farms to supply
energy to certain areas.
The
weather has been mostly hot with sunny blue skies. We did have a
little cooler weather in the High Atlas Mountains and on the coast in
Essaouira we had overcast humid weather in the high 20's. The first
day in Marrakech was the same but then the sky cleared and the
temperature went up in the mid afternoon to mid 30's.
Many
areas in the Sahara and Atlas Mountains have lots of fossils and
minerals for sale. There are stands and vendors everywhere trying to
sell fossils of trilobites and other ancient shell animals.
I
asked Rachid what he thought the country needed to take the next
step. His answer was good education for children. He said the country
needs to better train their teachers and to fund education more fully
in order for the children to progress. The literacy rate is still
lower than world averages.
I
also asked him if there was an worry about Morocco joining the Arab
Spring of 2010. He said no because the king has the power centrally
located unlike other countries like Egypt where the army has its own
power. He said that people are aware and becoming a bit resentful of
the wealth of the king. Each of one of the four imperial cities has a
palace, at least one of which is large enough to house an 18 hole
golf course on the grounds. The people are beginning to question why
the king needs so many palaces, especially when for example,
Marrakech and Essaouira are only a few hours apart. It remains to be
seen anything will come of it.
All
in all, this was an amazing trip. Rachid was an amazing guide and the
trip offered a wide variety of activities that show cased Morocco in
a number of different lights, including the old and the new. We
visited most regions and many different environments and we got to
mingle with the locals in the small guesthouses, trains and in the
medinas. Great trip.
Thanks Joe i have never been , this has been a great education
ReplyDeleteI see your necklace collection has started
A very interesting reflection on your travels in Morocco. Thank you!
ReplyDelete