It is FINALS times!!!
This weekend we went to Azrou. A major Peace Corps city south of Ifrane. Azrou means rock in Amazigh, which is what Azrou was built on. One big rock. It also supposedly is related to the fact that Azrou will always stand like a rock.
We mostly came here to buy souvenirs. We bought shoes, hands of Fatima, prayer beads, knives, everything Moroccan. It was amazing. The last time that I used my Arabic in full conversations. It felt great. At AUI it was hard from time to times to employ the newly learned knowledge mostly because many did not speak Modern Standard, and I did not speak enough derija. For some weird reason most of Azrou's people understood me, and I understood them. Great!
Sadly I need to return to my studies, two more finals left for freedom.
I will write one or two more posts recapping my experience, once I have been away from it long enough. Right now it feels like one of the best times of my life.
Best regards from the Middle-Atlas,
Diogo
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Thursday, May 8, 2008
A little piece of heaven
السلام عليكم،
this weekend I did my last major trip. It was the May 1st weekend, Hannah, one of my great friends from Germany, visited, and we thought the beach would be a great place to go. First we all headed to Marrakesh for a day in order to enjoy the greatest juice, and the lovely Djma al-Fnaa. Since our end-station was Essaouira, we had to go through Marrakesh anyway. There we explored the modern side of the city. We hung out in the Ville Nouvelle, Gueliz, and tried to get into some clubs. Problem were my shorts and flip flops, here if you want to go to a club you need:
-gelled hair,
-slick shoes/kicks,
-pants/dark jeans, and
-sunglasses,
as you can see, I probably had neither. Well, nonetheless we had a good time. I even bought something in a store, in which Sarkozy shopped. High class I know.
Anyway, on Friday we bolted fro Essaouira. What a gorgeous place!
As you can see, beautiful. We were in this tiny nice hotel called Hotel Cap Sim, and the lady there, was a typical Moroccan woman. She was friendly and helpful, always ready to poke fun at some of us, and she was correcting my Arabic (ma ahla).
A little bit about Essaouira, it is amazing. It is a small town at the beach, which back in the days was an important trade port. Occupied by the Spanish for a time, who built the fortifications seen on the left, around the old city.
The charm of this city is that it is a lot like Chefchaouen, but it has an upside. It has a beach right there. The people there are very relaxed, laid back, and do not try to harass you just for walking past their store. That is topped by the fact that it seems like everyone in that town a) loves music, b) is having a great life, and c) hope you love the town as much as they do.
As every hippie place, there is always this one funky restaurant/cafe to go to. We found our Essaouira version in a back alley. They offered funky juices, great organic dishes. I had sweet rice, with dates, raisins, and almonds. The dish was accompanied by a lemon, garlic, carrot juice... yum! After that experience we went to the beach, and I got to eat something I have not had in a long time, SUGAR CANE! I used to drink its juice in Brazil, found it here again, and this guy told me to peel it, and chew around on it. That was just perfect, sitting at the beach with sugar cane. I even got to share it with some little Moroccan kids. It was interesting to see that they actually had a sharing system. I cut it in four pieces for the four little boys. Suddenly a fifth one showed up, a friend I assume, and the biggest of them told all of the others to share a little with the fifth boy, so that everyone can have some. So much for the Western conviction that the Arabs, or the Middle East and North Africa is irrational and primitive.
Essaouira is also known for its silver works. The jewelry rocks, if you like very alternative things. Another thing Essaouira used to be known for was its Jewish community. The city still has a giant Jewish cemetery, with a very nice woman working as caretaker.
On our way back we crashed at this awful hotel in front of the Casa Voyageurs train station.
That was my weekend.
مع سلاما من المغرب
this weekend I did my last major trip. It was the May 1st weekend, Hannah, one of my great friends from Germany, visited, and we thought the beach would be a great place to go. First we all headed to Marrakesh for a day in order to enjoy the greatest juice, and the lovely Djma al-Fnaa. Since our end-station was Essaouira, we had to go through Marrakesh anyway. There we explored the modern side of the city. We hung out in the Ville Nouvelle, Gueliz, and tried to get into some clubs. Problem were my shorts and flip flops, here if you want to go to a club you need:
-gelled hair,
-slick shoes/kicks,
-pants/dark jeans, and
-sunglasses,
as you can see, I probably had neither. Well, nonetheless we had a good time. I even bought something in a store, in which Sarkozy shopped. High class I know.
Anyway, on Friday we bolted fro Essaouira. What a gorgeous place!
As you can see, beautiful. We were in this tiny nice hotel called Hotel Cap Sim, and the lady there, was a typical Moroccan woman. She was friendly and helpful, always ready to poke fun at some of us, and she was correcting my Arabic (ma ahla).
A little bit about Essaouira, it is amazing. It is a small town at the beach, which back in the days was an important trade port. Occupied by the Spanish for a time, who built the fortifications seen on the left, around the old city.
The charm of this city is that it is a lot like Chefchaouen, but it has an upside. It has a beach right there. The people there are very relaxed, laid back, and do not try to harass you just for walking past their store. That is topped by the fact that it seems like everyone in that town a) loves music, b) is having a great life, and c) hope you love the town as much as they do.
As every hippie place, there is always this one funky restaurant/cafe to go to. We found our Essaouira version in a back alley. They offered funky juices, great organic dishes. I had sweet rice, with dates, raisins, and almonds. The dish was accompanied by a lemon, garlic, carrot juice... yum! After that experience we went to the beach, and I got to eat something I have not had in a long time, SUGAR CANE! I used to drink its juice in Brazil, found it here again, and this guy told me to peel it, and chew around on it. That was just perfect, sitting at the beach with sugar cane. I even got to share it with some little Moroccan kids. It was interesting to see that they actually had a sharing system. I cut it in four pieces for the four little boys. Suddenly a fifth one showed up, a friend I assume, and the biggest of them told all of the others to share a little with the fifth boy, so that everyone can have some. So much for the Western conviction that the Arabs, or the Middle East and North Africa is irrational and primitive.
Essaouira is also known for its silver works. The jewelry rocks, if you like very alternative things. Another thing Essaouira used to be known for was its Jewish community. The city still has a giant Jewish cemetery, with a very nice woman working as caretaker.
On our way back we crashed at this awful hotel in front of the Casa Voyageurs train station.
That was my weekend.
مع سلاما من المغرب
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