Sunday, May 31, 2009

Rain a little rain for me



It’s raining today in Marrakech. And it is oh so very refreshing! Yesterday was so hot that I felt like peeling my skin off just to get some relief and all those lovely Moroccan ladies walking around in honest-to-God thick velvet jellabas seemed like a new breed of masochists.

I don’t think I could ever live in a place with no regular rain. I love rain. And not the “dribbles a bit” - kind, but proper “wet-in-5-seconds” flood. Among other things it’s awfully fun to jump around in puddles, forgetting that I’m supposed to be 26 years old serious young woman and instead pretending to be 5 again. Plus, rain puts things in a bit of a perspective for me – I always feel very grateful for having a warm comfortable home where I can sit by the window with a cup of hot steaming tea and watch millions of drops hit the ground while creating a monotonous ambient symphony on the background. Back at home i have soft pillows on the window sills specially for sitting and feeling all snuggly and cozy, though nowadays they are all pretty much hijacked by our lovely yet sometimes annoying cats.

But today I was taking great pleasure in sitting on the rooftop of my hotel and soaking in the freshness that was pouring down from the sky. And feeling grateful for being able to be here and thanking in my head all those people back at home who were supportive and helpful. But most of all feeling thankful to Jevgeni for understanding my wish to go away for a bit and letting me fulfill my dream of traveling on my own for some time, no matter how weird it might’ve seemed and how difficult it might’ve been to explain to others.

You know, husbands come in all colors, shapes and sizes, but it’s the capacity of being flexible that you single girls should keep an eye out for.




Saturday, May 30, 2009

Relax, (wo)man



I love being in Marrakech right now. I'm completely free to do or not to do anything. It's chilling on it's purest form. My two previous trips to Morocco have also been very relaxed and chill, but this was kind of "organized chilling" - today we cruise around in the city and do nothing and tomorrow we go to Essaouira. Something like that. If you have limited time, you don't want to waste it all on doing nothing, no matter how enjoyable doing nothing can be. This time i don't even have an outbound flight bought, not to mention having plans of where i want to go or what i should to do in Morocco. I don't even know for how long i'm staying here or where to next. I will be in Marrakech until Jevgeni gets here and afterwards .. well, i guess we'll see.

So now, i'm at liberty to wake up exactly when i want (no dorm-neighbours or early check-out), eat for breakfast what i want (no lack of money to afford any tasty food) and spend the rest of my day exactly how i want (no travel-mates). Mmm, priceless.


My very own hotel-room

After my first night in Marrakech i took up a mission and walked through 20+ hotels in the market-side medina (meaning „old town“ in Arabic) trying to get a sense of room prices. The lowest rate i found in close proximity of Djemaa el-Fna was 70 DH (~ 100 EEK) for a night, so i exchanged hotels. There actually were also a bit cheaper options available (65 DH), but i didn’t like the idea of walking in dark and empty side-streets alone after midnight trying to find my hotel. Some small streets look a bit dodgy already in the daylight, i doubt darkness would add any charm to them.

The hotel i chose was ~ 3 minutes walk from Djemaa el-Fna and on a very lively street, so i was content. It turned out to be accidentally a very good choice. Though very basic, it is still a solid nice place, also a significant improvement over my previous hotel-room and all that for much less money. In my new room i actually have besides the usual stuff a sink, a table and two windows, one for the street and one for the courtyard (usually such places only have windows to the courtyard, if even that). But the best thing of all – i have an electrical plug! which for some reason was missing from my previous hotel room. The cleaning ladies are scrubbing floors and washing sheets all day long and most of the clientele seems to be muslims, meaning no annoying bunches of tourists. It looks like the hotel is constantly about half empty, which means the showers are clean and mostly available. During the day the place is almost abandoned, so i can sunbath on the rooftop terrace in an actual bikini without being bothered (most of the time).

For 20 DH hotel’s cleaning lady agreed to wash all my clothes. What i did not think about was that of course she will hang everything to dry on the roof along with the rest of the linens. Seeing all my colorful strings there flapping in the wind made me extra grateful that the hotel was not over-crowded :).
Note to myself: Ragne, next time you organize yourself a laundry day, to avoid embarrassment, take care to be far away from the hotel until sundown.



Sunset view of Koutoubia Minaret from the rooftop of my hotel












Koutoubia Minaret, famous landmark of Marrakech, in daylight










Thursday, May 28, 2009

As-Salāmu `Alaykum!



I’m intrigued by Arabic language – it sounds very rough and agressive, yet you can say very beautiful things in it. And that written script! It’s flowing, artistic and absolutely captivating, like your very own secret language, assuming that you live in the middle of nowhere like Estonia with maybe 2 Arabs of our own :). It is very peculiar to see a simple laborer, who’s hands are rough from hard work and clothes could use washing to pick up a pen and write those beautiful precise markings with casual ease and such calligraphic elegance. On those moments i always think that i’m a former art student, this should be easy for me to do – and yet my version resembles more child’s scribbles than artistic calligraphy.

I signed myself up for an Arabic course last year, but decided to give it up quite soon. My teacher, though nice English bachelor himself, had a very dry approach to this complex yet incredible language and i think he utterly failed to insprire his students. His idea of teaching was just translating the texts and repeating the words, he didn’t see any point in active learning like practicing in pairs etc. You could feel that he doesn’t really like the language and it’s only means to employ himself for him. I decided that i want to learn it from somebody who is either a native or/and very passionate about Arabic. I’m in no special hurry with learning it and i can wait until my paths cross with someone who can and wants to inspire.

The language barrier in Morocco is a funny thing though. People in Morocco speak a local dialect of Arabic, indigenous people also speak Berber. Due to French occupation in the past, the influences of it's culture make Morocco quite different from the rest of the African countries. Today French language is being taught in schools, so most young Moroccans also speak it. People in up north, in the areas that were originally colonized by Spain can also speak some Spanish. While i know few phrases in Arabic, it’s far from speaking the language. My knowledge in French is lacking completely. An average Moroccan does not speak English, but funnily enough most of them know how to say that they speak a little. Experienced sales-guys often speak a bit of many different languages, but even so, every once in a while you are bound to meet a vendor with almost zero English skills. So if you try to talk to them, for example ask a question or two, the vendor quickly realizes that his 14-word vocabulary isn’t enough to get you to buy something, so he calls a friend who’s vocabulary is 19 words. Soon another friend is called and so on so forth. You can spend quite some time observing how the chain goes on and on. But all the joking aside, i have never in my life met people who seem to have so highly tuned genes for picking up new languages as Moroccans do. It’s easy to impress a random American by telling him i speak 3 languages and i’m on my way of getting a hang on the 4th, but Moroccans wouldn’t even blink an eye on that number. I’ve lost count how many times i’ve met some young Moroccan guy who speaks besides Arabic and French most other Roman languages as well. Italians are good cooks, Kenyans excellent runners and Moroccan appareantly have severe multi-lingual tendencies. And that makes me so jealous! „Well, at least i can draw good .., that is also not a widely spread talent ..“ is what i tell myself on these moments. Sigh ..

Some people have complained Morocco being impossible to travel in if you don’t speak any Arabic or French. I so disagree. If you’re just a traveler, not trying to make business business with the locals, then English + pantomiming is enough. At least i feel no need to start learning French just because i’m visiting Morocco. The people speaking to you in French are mostly 1) salesguys giving their pitch or 2) local playboys, both which i’m very happy to miss. So not knowing French has rather some serious pluses :).

I do recommend to use occasionally some Arabic, specially when you go shopping. When you walk into the shop saying „As-Salāmu `Alaykum“ or more often just „Salām“ you are one very big step closer to a more reasonable price. „As-Salāmu `Alaykum" [asalamu 'leikum] is a Moroccan greeting meaning "Peace be upon you", equivalent to a respectful hello. The correct response is "Wa `Alaykum as-Salām“ [wa 'leikum asalam] meaning "and on you be peace". The shorter form of both is just "Salām". To get the pronounciation right, i recommend listening to the people on the street. If your tongue doesn’t bend to speak Arabic then „Bonjour“ is another option, but forget „Hello!“. This will brand you as a dumb tourist who is most likely first time in Morocco. If you e-mail me, i can even share some newly acquired Arabic cursewords and few sharp ways to send somebody to hell when they are getting on your nerves :). So far i’ve practised them on the late night horny guys who keep tailing me around.
I actually have even more handsome >> collection of cursewords, insults and other creative phrases in Spanish, with audio track and all, though i never had the need to use them neither in Mexico nor Cuba.

Same goes to taking taxis. „Salam“ will get you a metered price, whereas „Hello“ means that they will try to sell you a fixed price trip, charging 20-30DH for one way, which can easily be 5 times the real price. Within the city always insist on using a meter, going on a ride without a meter means that you will get overcharged. And even if you're ok taking an unmetered taxi, always agree on a price beforehand. Some drivers target only tourists and refuse to use a meter. The hell with them, just get another taxi. Don’t even start arguing with them, they are not going to give you a fair price anyway. Sooner or later you’ll get a taxi driver that is, if not to say honest, then at least not so greedy. Getting a metered taxi might be more difficult if you have big travel bags with you and your destionation is airport or bus/train station. They will figure that you must be in a hurry and tell you without blinking an eye the price of 50 or 60DH. Just try again until you get a reasonable taxi driver. It might take you 10 minutes or so.

As the old saying goes: „Never run after a (wo)man or a taxi. Always wait for the next one.“

Here are few sample rates to get an idea about the prices in Marrakech:
(1 DH = 1,44 EEK)
from Djemaa el-Fna to the bus station ~ 8DH, .. to train station ~ 10 DH, .. to Supra Tours ~ 12 DH, .. to the main post office, with McDonalds over the street ~ 7DH and so on. If you have business from/to the airport, don’t bother with a taxi. Taxi from the airport is always unmetered and they charge a lot. Special airport shuttle bus no. 19 is on route between airport and the city. It takes about 10 minutes to get to Djemaa el-Fna and afterwards it makes a pretty hefty circle through Gueliz. Costs 20DH one-way ticket and 30DH return (the ticket is valid 2 weeks). It goes in every 30 minutes, the earliest bus from Djemaa el-Fna to the airport goes at 6:15 am and from the airport to Djemaa el-Fna 6:30 am, runs both ways until midnight. The bus-stop at the airport is on your left when you exit the building and on Djemaa el-Fna it’s where all the other buses stop, by the park.









A guy painting a lantern




Guys were very happy to get photographed, whereas women looked like they would gladly kill me if given a chance


A little girl selling fresh cilantro on the market


I think it's genius to add to the menu that the food is mad cow and bird flu free! :)


Written English is often very .. creative in Morocco












One of my favourite photos. The woman's glance is so so poisonous.


Monday, May 25, 2009

Home sweet home

Oh, you just cannot imagine how good it is to be back at home! Ups, did i say home? I meant Morocco  of course. The truth is my heart leapt with joy when i arrived in Marrakech. Though me and particularly the city of Marrakech have not been the best of friends in the past, i think it’s all about to change, now that i’m staying in this city at least for the next 2 weeks, waiting for Jevgeni’s arrival.

First time i visited Morocco was in June 2008. I would never have guessed that this noisy, loud, hot and difficult country will have such a hold over me that even before the year passes i’m going back for the 3rd time. And i feel so pleased to be back - amidst all that roller-coaster of color, art and people. It feels like i’ve been away for way too long already, though it’s only been 5 months since my last visit. I can’t explain the hold Morocco has over me. It’s like a love-story that keeps burning with a bright flame, enticing and intoxicating me. I feel so unbelievably comfortable here and that’s the most difficult part to explain to other people. They generally seem to think there has to be more to it – like i have a Moroccan lover waiting for me or something. If i try to explain that the place is just too enchanting with it’s colorful and interesting people, wafting scent of tajines and spices in the air, mosaiclike ornamental art, captivating music, grandiose but refined architecture and delicate handicraft, then people look at me like: [cheesy smile] „Yes, yes ahah, but is there somebody .. hehe .. special?“ [cheesy smile]. Or another wave of genious comments have been „You’re not part of a jihad there, haha, are you?“. So i’ve given up trying to explain why i like Morocco and why i want return here every once in a while, because most people will not hear me anyway. They hear what they want to hear and that’s almost never what i’m saying.

















When i observe tourists in the airport, they are generally spooked and sometimes even scared. Being in a new muslim country where people are often a tad more social/agressive and in your face than you are used to with can be intimidating. And wealthy middle-aged western tourists are generally known to be a rather fragile bunch. The positions on the social latter they have back at home are void here, they are automatically categorized as „stupid white tourists“ and taken advantage of which is often a national sport in Morocco (if you yourself let it happen, of course). They grip their bags tightly when they walk out of the airport - towards their first scam encounter in Morocco, which is the airport taxi drivers. There’s no chance in this universe that an airport taxi driver will cut a fair price to a first-time-in-Morocco-tourist, though it’s entirely another case if the tourist in question will actually be able to realize the extent the overpricing taking place :).

Though Morocco is definitely a country where people tend to assume that white = rich, the attitude is not nearly as heavy-duty as for instance in India or Cuba. For example the concept of “tourist on a budget” was completely alien to Cubans. You can explain it to them, but they just don’t seem to be able to grasp it, the mentality of “white equals rich” is too deep-rooted. In Morocco it depends on yourself how you will get treated. If you stand up for yourself and don’t let people overcharge you for goods and services, then you can get by very nicely. Of course tourists get overcharged by definition, but there’s a vast difference in sums and it depends directly on how you handle yourself.

While visiting shops, markets etc the most common questions from a salesguys is „where are you from?“ and „so .., is this your first time in Morocco?“ which upon answering truthfully will increase greatly prices offered to you. The first question serves the purpose of finding out if you are from a wealthy country and are you likely to have money. Tourists from the countries like Germany, Canada, UK etc are considered much bigger prizes than the ones from Poland or Czech Republic for example. Nobody has ever even heard of Estonia, which doesn’t mean that they will not try to flatter you with stuff like: „Ah yes, Estonia! I have a lot of clients from Estonia. Estonians are very nice people“, which will make any Estonian snicker in disbelief and thus prove to you that the guy is inventing stuff as he goes along :). The second part of the question is for finding out how inexperienced you are when it comes to knowing Moroccan prices. If you say that you are first time in Morocco, arrived just yesterday, then there’s a certain price level for you. They will give you an appearance of bargaining, but you will never even come close to the price of a experienced traveler, not to mention one for the locals. So, never say that this is your first time. Or mention at least that you’ve been traveling in Morocco for few weeks already ( = you are familiar with the local way of life), but be also prepared for follow up questions :).

I usually warn the salesguy with my cutest smile not to give me a tourist price, because i am not one and i actually live in Marrakech for quite some time already (or Fes, Essaouira, any city of your choice). They always ask what do i do here, i say that i work as an English teacher. Since i don’t know much about local schools, it’s safer to say that i give private lessons. The next question is usually where do i live. I know Marrakech enough to mention some credible neighbourhood or street name, if you say you live in a hotel, you are still a tourist for them. At this point the price has dropped about 2-3 times and you can carry on bargaining already on the normal level. If you have pretty light-colored hair, now’s the time to unbind them and let them flow freely – this always works wonders for getting the price you want :), hehe. Telling them that you live in the city is also good for making sure that they will not sell you a bad quality item. If you are a tourist and they sell you a cardboard „leather“ belt which breaks in few days, the risk for them is small. But if you casually mention to them that you live in the city, they know not to sell you anything blatantly fake or defected, because you might come back and create a scene.

Also, one of the most effective ways of getting the price lower is walking out of the shop, but leave that for a last resort, used only when all other ways of bargainings have been exhausted. If you have bargained with a sales-guy for the last 10 minutes, he will definitely not let you walk out of the shop without lowering the price at least somewhat. But when you have only once asked about the price and then walk out in hopes that he will run after you, then you may not achieve the desired result. And most important – do all that with a smile. Bargaining is a game for them, they are not looking for a business approach, but some entertainment.

Though i generally don’t like the business of bargaining, it did drive me totally up the wall in Ireland & UK how fixed and organized everything was. In Morocco i feel that i have some control again, even if it might be just an illusion.

I love that i’m back in a country where 1) i can afford a private hotel room, no more those damn dorms! 2) i can manipulate the prices of products and services by being extra blond, lovely and cute with the salesguys. I can be almost candy sweet when i need to, specially when a person i’m talking to is pre-inclined to like me (a blond blue-eyed white woman), as guys in various southern countries usually are.

„Really?“ she asked smiling cutely while rolling a lock of her blond hair around the finger. „You think i’m very pretty?“. Hiding her blue eyes she said blushingly: „It’s the nicest thing anybody has ever said to me ..“





I arrived in Marrakech around 9 pm, took a bus from the airport (bus nr. 19, cost 20 DH one-way and 30 DH for return ticket) to the city’s main square Djemaa el-Fna and started looking around for a hotel. Pretty soon i found a random hotel for 100 DH (1 DH = 1,44 EEK) a night, which was ok enough for the first night. Youth hostels as such are not widely spread in Morocco, though you can find some if you book online. But there’s really no point to book a place in a crappy over-populated dorm for 150-200 EEK/night, when there’s an abundance of hotels in the central city area for as low as 100 DH/night (about 144 EEK) for a single or double room with a shared bathroom. Those dorms are more for people who feel petrified with the idea of arriving to an Arabic country and not having a confirmed booking waiting for them. Morocco isn’t Europe, when it comes to accommodation, the same rules apply as they do in other southern countries like in India, China, Mexico etc. There are very many walk-in options, not to mention that in the last resort you can always find somebody to take you to a decent place and even with the guide’s commission you will still get a cheaper price than in those youth hostels. Hotels around Djemaa el-Fna usually have pricelists on the wall by the reception desk, so you don’t even have to worry about bargaining if you don’t want to.

After i found a room, i dropped my bags and headed for a dinner on the famous night market of Djemaa el-Fna. Now, while being impressive sight of lights, smells and people, this place in the same time is not for the weak hearted or should i say for the weak stomached. Words like hygiene and cleanness are not really associated with it and if you want to eat on Djemaa el-Fna you better not pay attention to small little details like cook handling the money with the same hands he later serves you food with etc. The word on the street is that since Djemaa el-Fna square has no running water and every food-stall is given only one bucket of clean water in the beginning of the evening, then all the dishes, hands etc are being washed in that one bucket all night long. Some say that left-over food from the previous night is mixed in with the new one in the following evening. The freshly-squeezed-orange-juice-vendors use local not-so-clean tap water to make ice-cubes and often dilute the juice with it as well. So you see – there are many reasons not to eat on the nightly food market, but there are also so many reasons to say „to hell with all that!“ and gorge yourself full. My advice is that if you indeed do decide to experience the madness of the Djemaa el-Fna (congratulations for having cojones) - bring your own hankies and don’t pay too much attention to the dirt & lack of hygiene, but enjoy yourself. Even if you do end up chained to a toilet the next day, at least enjoy the process of getting there and make it worth your while! :)




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


When you go to eat on the Djemaa el-Fna, i recommend bringing some change with you, having lot’s of coins is the key for quick transactions. Specially if you eat in more „local“ food-stalls, which btw are far better than the touristy ones. The vendors are deliberately not very math savy and if you don’t speak any French or Arabic, it might be annoying to sort things later. I suggest to keep an eye on the menu and give them the exact sum. They are not necessarily trying to deceive you, but most of them do operate under the assumption that the tourist is rich and any excessive money is a tip for them.

The universal travel truth „eat where the locals eat“ is 100% true here as well. On Djemaa el-Fna i usually pick a food-stall which has mostly locals sitting by it. I definitely keep away from the stalls with agressive salesguys with good English, the food is never as good as the talk. They target tourists and they don’t care if you didn't like the food and you're not returning the next evening, which is by far not the case with the food-stalls that locals prefer. A lot of people think that Djemaa el-Fna is purely a tourist place, in reality it’s also very popular among locals, because the food is good and on the cheaper side. During the day the Djemaa el-Fna square is mostly empty, only some henna-girls and monkey/snake guys pitching their stuff to tourists + orange juice vendors. Around 6 pm the food-stalls start to arrive and the place fills up with chefs cooking vigorously and delicious smells floating about. The earliest clients are usually tourists, but around 10 pm locals outnumber the tourists already. All that commotion ends by midnight just to start all over again the next evening.

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The photos i've used in this post and will use in future posts as well are mostly from my previous trips to Morocco. The full gallery is available on my travel-photo webpage: http://www.norvidia.com/

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Note: This article is part of the Lonely Planet Blogsherpa Travel Blog Carnival #10 "Your favourite place", hosted by Anne-Sophie Redisch  from Sophie's World. Follow the link to see more photos and read stories about what are the most favorite places of Blogsherpa bloggers in the whole wide world.
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