Morocco

Jay O's photo

My two friends who worked in a travel show invited me and our other friend to tag along in their shoot. We'd pay for our own tickets, food and in-between rides but we could bunk with them in homes of Pinoys whom they'd meet along the way.

Originally, they were going to Greece, which got me all excited. Then it became Madagascar, from which I backed out. Then finally, it was Morocco. I wasn't all gung-ho about it like my friend, but I decided to go anyway because I was aching for an out-of-the-country trip. And though Morocco wasn't in my list of must-sees, it sounded exotic enough.


Jay O's photo

We stayed there for almost two weeks, riding buses and trains, cabs and planes. And as usual, the trips were long--from 5 to as much as 16 hours. During my whole trip, I only slept on a real bed for 2 nights. The rest were spent on the floor, couches or in vehicles. But it's all part of the experience :-)

1st stop: C A S A B L A N C A
I wasn't the type to do research on a country I'd be visiting so I was surprised to find out that Casablanca was actually in Morocco! It was a cute, clean city peppered with cafes that cater to all social classes. A Pinoy told us that just for 8 dirhams (roughly around P40), an out-of-job Moroccan (marami dito ang jobless) could buy a cafe au lait and spend the whole day sipping and people-watching.

We visited the grand mosque. Although Morocco is a Muslim country, it's westernized compared to its middle east counterparts. The men are allowed to have multiple marriages, but they usually stick to one wife for economic reasons.

This is the pigeon park, which they say, is reminiscent of Italy.

We found the above fruit seller near the entrance of the medina. He sold cactus fruit which tasted like kiwi. Enterprising Moroccans are so used to tourists that they demand for money every chance they get. After we took pictures of this dude, he demanded payment.

Then there's the Candolin beach which looked like Miami, Florida with rows of palm trees along the pavement. It was summer there so the beach wass teeming with sunbathers, swimmers...

Jay O's photo

...and wannabe soccer stars. If Pinoys are crazy about basketball, Moroccans are mad about football.

Jay O's photo

Casablanca was our homebase. After a gruelling overnight or balikan trip, we went home to Casablanca. It was where we met and bonded with Pinoys. Mostly we stayed in Edgar's apartment, tucked away in some corner unknown to cab drivers. Because the Moroccans speak French (not English), they couldn't understand us and we couldn't understand them. We had to call our host everytime so he could give instructions to the cabbie. But by the end of the 2-week trip, we learned to utter the words le socrat, rue atabari and post maroc effortlessly and we arrived home on our own.

Every breakfast, we feasted on french bread, croissants, butter, cheese and steaming mugs of Nesquik c/o the ever gracious Edgar.




Mawj's photo

I'll be posting about Marrakech next :-)