The Great Escape

I did it! Along with my travel partner and fellow PCV Anna, I took to my heels for two and a half weeks of vacation. We couldn't have had an easier time getting out of Benin. Our flight left before dawn but we had no trouble getting out of bed and through the airport process. The airplane food on Royal Air Moroc was incredible. We hadn't seen anything like it in over a year. The plane was even comfortable. We were off to a good start.

Landing in Casablanca, things went smoothly. I checked no luggage (it's a hereditary obsession) so I skated through customs with the wave of a uniformed hand. Things get better when a train was leaving just as I changed my dollars to Dirhams. Anna and I jumped aboard and were off on the second leg of our journey in a new land.

We took another train for Marrakesh and met some Algerian restaurateurs also vacationing in Morocco. They couldn't have been nicer and it was a really interesting culturral exchange. We looked at photos and were told that we must pay their country a visit some day, perhaps. But for now we simply absorbed the Moroccan country side.

The train floated smoothly amongst the rocky, burnt orange hills. The broad slowly winding rivers were bordered with rugged, weather-beaten trees and spatterings of farmland enclosed with fences of cacti. Soon we found ourselves in Marrakesh.

Arriving in Marrakesh we were charged with energy. The city was beautiful and though our loads were heavy we decided to walk through the Ville Nouvelle. the Ville Nouvelle is comprised of new buildings and developments, grand hotels, malls, an opera house and all the trappings that come with large-scale development. Coming from Benin it was like a walk through a wonderland. I would eventually develop a hunger for something more traditional and historic, but for now I was content to be walking down clean streets and taking in the landscaping. The first thing we did was head straight for the supermarket. The plan was to buy supplies for three days of hiking and set off again immediately for the countryside.

An hour and a half later we decided to scrap the rest of the day's itinerary and spend an extra night in Marrakesh. We found a hotel in a small back alley away from most of the other tourist trap joints and got a room. The hotel was beautiful. Two floors, built in a traditional Moroccan style with rooms opening to a small tiled courtyard in the center. Our room had high ceilings, was beautifully painted and impeccably clean. We had a window to the alleyway decorated with ornate filigree. We couldn't have been happier. We showered, and took off to see the evening scene. The sun was coming down and it was almost time to break the Ramadan fast.

Arriving at the square in the center of the old city we took in the bright lights and chatted with a number of guys who do nothing but try to get passersby to eat at this or that stand. After a while we told one of them we would be back soon and made our first foray into the alleys that make up the market. Too thin to drive a car through, the Moroccans have no problem zipping up and down the thoroughfares on scooters and bicycles. Making things more treacherous are the shops that line either side of the street and the bright colored goods they are stuffed full of. We ran into some friends from Benin and made plans to meet up later. We walked until we couldn't ignore the growing void in our stomachs and we turned back.

At the “snak” (small grill-fry stands serving all kinds of street food) we were treated to the complimentary bowl of zesty Moroccan olives, a pepper sauce, a tomato sauce, and some thick Nan. We dug in as we waited for our waiter to bring us some grilled meats and sauteed eggplant. When he did, we could hardly believe the feast we had ordered. We enjoyed everything so much but eventually reached our limit.

We met back up with our friends from Benin and went out to a local club full of Moroccan kids sitting around drinking coke and smoking. It was a pretty tame scene. We didn't last too long, the trip was long so we went to get some rest.