Salam ar bad
Salam,
It is in the beautiful city of Buenos Aires that I find the time and peacefulness to tell you that we are still on the road again!
But it is not today that we will share with you the secret of the Argentinean capital with its local music bands performing in parks or street corners, the proud and sensual postures of the tango dancers, or even the colorful houses of the Caminito….. No; today we will share with you the glance we experienced of the magrheb through our trip in Morocco.
We started our moroccan experience in the famous city of Casablanca; capital and business center of the country;
We have to admit that the glamour fame of the city did not rightly prepare us for the modern, crazy, noisy and smoky city that rose in front of us;
After the “must to see” stop at the mosque Hassan II and a quick visit of the city and especially the old medina, we made our way down towards the windsurf moroccan capital of Essaouira.
“Take it easy”, being the theme of this Moroccan trip … so we did!
We spent hours wandering around the labyrinth of the medina; fighting our way through the multitude of handicraft street shops; the discreet offers of “candy, chocolate, marijuana, hashish, ice cream …..”; and of course sharing the long and nice beach with horses, camels, kites and nervous soccer players.
It is during one of those walk that we found the best fish restaurant that our path ever crossed. The concept is simple; a fish market, a BBQ and a couple of tangling tables. You buy directly your fishes to the fisherman who quickly prepares it for you. You walk 10m and give your fresh purchase to the BBQ man who will perfectly cook it while you wait eating a small salad and some amazing olives.
The cost is close to nothing and the food is simply superb.
After a couple of days, we met another frenchie (not too difficult to meet frenches in Morocco = 3 tourists over 4) who happened to be a kite surf instructor …. You guessed right; the next morning I was on the beach trying to stay on the sand while the kite was trying to reach the sun.
After a quick check up of the wind, Christophe (frenchie teacher) decided to take the landrover to reach a more wind exposed and remote beach located a few kilometers away in the middle of the dunes.
As soon as the landrover emerged from the small dirt road into the beach; we fell, face to face, with a furious ground battle opposing Moroccan troops against British ones ……… from the 12th century !!!!
Horror and stupefaction; Richard the 1st was trying to make its way to Jerusalem to free the holy city from the barbarians! Maybe Mohamed and Tony should have a little chat about it.
Indeed the BBC was making a movie about the 3rd crusade and its British leader; Richard 1st (lion heart).
Here we were, beyond the camels and antic soldiers, flying our kite high in the air, adding a touch of modernity in this middle aged world.
A few days later we made our way to the famous Marrakech with the idea of catching up with HK friends; the Guillot sisters; Misses Emilie and Alix, who happened to have a family reunion in Marrakesh at this time.
After a wander of the medina including the huge center place of Djema el f’na and the more than harassing souks; bumping into as many tourists (mainly French) as Moroccans; we met the sisters at their uncle ryad (house arranged around an open air middle space) that has been converted into a discreet hotel.
Beautiful, …. Simple luxury in the heart of the medina. Good address for medium/high budget travelers passing by Marrakech.
The constant harassment of the touts as well as the crazy number of tourists pushed us away from the city towards the mountains of the high Atlas.
Based in the tiny village of Imlil we spent a few days trekking around; through nice berber villages, snow peaks mountains, and large green valleys, all around the north African highest peak: the Jebel Toubkal (4165m) (inaccessible at this time of the year).
Our impression of Morocco was really mitigated. On one side; the country is absolutely beautiful, its culture and customs are really interesting and unique, the art is colorful and architecture is brilliant.
One the other side; we found a really nervous atmosphere concretized with daily small fights, heavy harassment, and little interest for individuals.
As tourist, you will have a huge dollar sign hanging around your neck.
I know that some will jump up the roof reading this; and that we met other travelers with a complete different vision; but it is what we felt.
Tourism is ultra developed; and by definition has a huge influence on the relationship between locals and travellers.
I wish we had more time to explore a bit more the culture, and therefore understand better what lay behind the tourist screen.
Here we are, half way through the trip,
Welcoming the new chapter with open arms: South America !
One life ! (merci timan)
On the road again,
Nicolas and Danielle
posted by Dannic @ 7:32 AM
0 comments
