What a day! Samantha, Alison, Adam, and I got up early and took a 3 1/2 hour train to Marrakech. It was mind-blowing. We rode through the African countryside, and even though Morocco is not Subsaharan Africa, it was the image I had in my mind of Africa. There was endless desert, with people riding on donkeys through the dunes. Tiny remote villages of shacks were sparsely developed in the middle of desolate nothingness. There was an endless amount of sand and cacti. I can't believe people actually live this way. I'm still trying to process it. There was nothing around for miles, and the ground was not fertile.
Upon arriving in Marrakech, Adam split from the group and went off on his own adventures, meanwhile, the three of us ran into a tour guide who offered us a fabulous deal. We got driven around for the day to all the highlights of the city, for only 150 Dirhams (~$20). Our first stop was for lunch, and I got Tangine, which is a traditional Moroccan dish of chicken and a special sauce. It was incredibly delicious. After lunch, we headed to the Jardin Majorelle garden, which was so neat. It was a garden composed of various cacti, palm trees, bamboo, and other plants. It was one of the coolest gardens I have ever seen. So pretty and so different.
Our next, and most exciting stop of the day, was to the Palm Grove, which is an endless stretch of land filled with palm trees in the dry desert dirt. It was unlike anything I've ever seen. It was ther that we got to ride camels! What a great experience! I had so much fun on my camel being led around the Palm Grove. I can't wait to post pictures! It was rather eye opening though. It made me sad to see the stereotypical man in a straw hat leading camels around in the heat all day. That is this man's livelihood. Not everyone in the world has the choice to pick a different career if they don't like what they do. I can't imagine being out in that heat all day...especially during Ramadan, when they can't eat or drink (not even water) until sundown.
After our camel trek, we were taken to another garden, which was not very exciting. That was short lived. From there we headed to the Medina, the old city, which is surrounded by city walls. Our driver took us to the Berber Pharmacy, which was extremely cool. It was a shop of entirely natural herbal substances used for cooking, medicine, and cosmetics. We were given a presentation about various items, and it was all so interesting. I ended up buying some eucalyptus (sp?) oil for myself since I get sick alllllll the time, and that will help with my sinuses, as well as a couple gifts for various people. I had a blast at the Berber Pharmacy, and wish I could have spent a little more time there.
The girls and I then went on to explore some more of the Medina, including the plaza and the souqs. In the plaza there were monkeys and snake charmers!!! That stuff is real! I did not get close to the snake charmers as I hate snakes, and I've heard that they will put them on you and then make you pay to get them off! Scary! I wanted to hold a monkey, but we didn't have time as we had to head back to the train station to catch our train back to Casablanca.
I had the best time in Marrakech. It is SO much nicer than Casablanca. It is such a lively, historical city. It is beautiful. The culture is wonderful. It is so different from anything you would see in the United States. Samantha was making a joke about how anything that can get you from one place to another is allowed on the streets because you would look at the roads and see cars, scooters, bicycles with motors on them that you can still pedal, horses, donkeys, camels, pedestrians, and various other vehicles all going down the street together. It was great. The people are wonderfully friendly. I haven't met anyone in Morocco that I was put off by. The use of both Arabic and French makes for an interesting mixture of languages to hear all around.
I felt some growth today. On the train ride to Marrakech, I decided to write a list of goals. I'm extremely proud of it. I'm not going to write it all out, as it is long, and some of it is personal, but I'll share some of the good ones: Make others proud, but most importantly, make myself proud; keep priorities straight; be a strong, independent woman, take the time to make myself feel beautiful; show my parents how much I appreciate them with the little things; take what I've learned at SAS and integrate it into my everyday life, live life with no regrets--live and learn.; be inspired. inspire others.; follow the news, know what is happening in the world around me; 4.0 semester GPA; get certified in advocay training; start planning for my future (ie moving to California), and finally...love myself, love others, love life. There are a bunch of others, but that is quite a bit of them.
My next moment of growth really stemmed from the culture shock of what I witnessed out the window on the train. It was real life. It wasn't a movie. People really live like that. I am once again reinforced with how blessed I truly am with my life.
Another significant growing moment in my day was when I was discussing some issues with my friends that are extremely important to me. Later that day, Alison came up to me and said, "You know, you really opened my eyes about that. I had never even thought about it." and she thanked me for bringing that awareness to her. I felt so proud of myself and so strong and powerful in that moment. Something I said and did had that much of an impact on someone else. It's an amazing feeling to know that you brought someone to a new level of understanding, awareness, and compassion. It does my heart well.
I have so much to say...so many passions are ignited in me right now...so many...but unfortunately, I can barely keep my eyes open. I am completely exhausted, and need to get to sleep ASAP. Tomorrow will be laid back. I plan on finding wifi, making sure that my affairs are in order before I leave Morocco as the next time I have interent access won't be until I get into Boston (wow...), and knocking out some school work. I have two exams, four papers, and a research project to tackle within the next few days. It's about to get crazy. For the time being, however, my priority is to get to sleep! Goodnight, World!
No comments:
Post a Comment