21 May 2009

المغرب/maroc v

(I'm SORRY! I'm really, really bad at this!!)

So the next day Michelle and I took a 60 cent taxi to David and Sarah's hotel, where we left our bags to walk around the Medina a little bit more and visit the Mellah (Jewish quarters). It was definitely different not having a guide with us, but I think that since we had had the first day entirely guided, it made things much more comfortable. I think that one of the strangest things is the bars where women are not allowed. They were literally filled with men drinking tea spilling out onto the sidewalks. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a hundred men in each bar.
We split two taxis from the Blue Gate to the Royal Palace (the petit taxis are only allowed to carry 3 passengers - we were 1 too many). It was really beautiful, but to be honest I really liked the dusty old Medina much, much more. We asked one of the guards how to get to the Mellah, and he directed us down the street. This street was completely lined with shops and very, very crowded. We walked to the end, where there was an arch leading to another store-packed street. Here we asked a man how to get to the synagogue. Upon hearing this, another man came up and pulled us off down an alley, telling us, "My sisters, my brother, you come with me. I show you everything. I grow up here, I tell you everything. Don't worry." We tried to tell him we really only wanted directions, but he was extremely insistent. We walked through a labyrinth of tiny streets and at least a dozen little jewelry shops displaying gold necklaces, rings, and head ornaments. He kept repeating, "Come, my sisters." And his friends kept popping out and telling us what a good guy he was and how for only a small tip he would tell us all about everything we wanted to know. But the truth is he was leading us farther and farther from anything we knew and I realized we would NOT be able to find our way back without him. We somehow finally managed to convince him to take us back to the main road.
We walked and walked and finally got back. At this point we had about a half hour to get back to the hotel, get our things, and catch the six hour train back to Tangier. Once in Tangier, we had yet another adventure... We wanted one last authentic Moroccan meal before we left, so when the first taxi driver asked us where we wanted to go, we had a restaurant picked out and asked him to take us there to eat. Unfortunately, the place was closed. We asked him if he knew of anywhere that had good, cheap Moroccan meal. "Ohh, yes! My friends' restaurant, very good, very good. Very poor. You like seafood?" (Ummm, whaaaat?) Yes, we like seafood, but when we got there after about a half hour of driving around Tangier (though I never intended to actually visit Tangier, I have seen everything there is to see there...), we discovered that apparently this man took "authentic Moroccan food" to mean fried fish and tortilla. The very LAST thing any of us wanted was typical gaditano fare... They did, however, have couscous on the menu, which I really wanted. Of course, they were out of couscous. How is this even possible?? Couscous is to Morocco as fried fish and bread is to Cádiz!!!! Literally, it's the most common meal there. We ended up actually getting a delicious shrimp tangier that was fantastic, so I guess it worked out...
Unfortunately, when we paid and went to find the taxi driver (who had insisted on waiting for us, and initially wanted us to actually LEAVE all our bags in the back of the car - uhh, yeah right!) had vanished. None of his friends knew where he had gone. And we only had 20 minutes to get to the ferry... We stood out in the street, desperately trying to get two petit taxis, when finally the guy came back. He took us to the port, where the second we got out of the taxi, some guy grabbed us saying, "Come with me, you going to Tarifa? You come with me. Ferry canceled because of bad weather, I will help you." We shook him off, assuming that it was a scam.

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