{"id":29,"date":"2015-08-18T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-18T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emlajolie.com\/?p=29"},"modified":"2021-06-11T04:39:38","modified_gmt":"2021-06-11T04:39:38","slug":"travel-marrakech-morocco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emlajolie.com\/2015\/08\/travel-marrakech-morocco\/","title":{"rendered":"travel: marrakech, morocco"},"content":{"rendered":"
August 18, 2015<\/em> \u2013 I am so incredibly happy to be writing this for you all to read. I am also really sad – hence why it’s taken so long – because writing this all down made me insanely nostalgic. I spent about a week in Morocco last December and it quickly became one of my fondest memories and favorite places on this earth. Simply put, I fell in love with the country, its people, food and just everything. And I want to tell you all about it!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n *This is a LONG post, so saddle up and get ready* <\/a>We flew into Marrakech from Paris – for extremely cheap, even though we definitely paid the price of taking the flying McDonald’s..<\/p>\n Upon arrival, one of my roommate’s debit cards was eaten by the airport ATM, and of course it was way after hours, but we made friends with a security man who sorted out the situation as best as he could. With drowsy eyes and a stack of Moroccan dirham, we grabbed a cab, negotiated a price and sped off to our inner-city hostel.<\/p>\n Now, Marrakech is a maze. Literally. There are no street signs at times, and I’m convinced there are underground tunnels that locals use because they pop up out of corners far too often. Our cabbie dropped us at the entrance of a pedestrian street, what we would soon learn to be the first of many confusing paths. Two boys sitting on the curb immediately hopped up and started leading us down the road.<\/p>\n Two things I know you’re thinking right now. Well, in true pack fashion, we huddled together, taking care to survey our surroundings just in case. I had an insane amount of adrenaline rushing through me from my heightened night senses in a new city. I kept seeing the hostel sign along walls we passed, so I figured it was okay. And truth is, they were scrawny, I knew we could take them.<\/p>\n So we arrive at the hostel entrance and our unrequested tour guides hold their hands out for cash. Lesson #1: Morocco is HUGE on tipping.<\/p>\n The next morning, we woke up early early early for our trek into the desert. I’m not even sure what I packed exactly and it certainly ended up biting me in the behind, but we met our friendly, charismatic driver, Abdullah, at the hostel entrance and just knew this was going to be a trip.<\/p>\n And it was. An hour into our drive to the Atlas mountains west of Marrakech, we encountered a traffic jam. Most of the car was napping when we stopped, and our driver got out to see what was the matter. Any guesses? A landslide. Yes, I know, how often does that happen? Apparently the storms from days before had been strong enough to crumble several sections of mountain road, enough to keep us – and several other caravans – at a standstill for four hours. What was amazing, though, was how people didn’t seem to mind entirely. At first, there was frustration, but then people seemed to just shrug and take the opportunity to socialize. Being from a Western country that places a high value on time, this was strange. But there was nothing we could do, so we kept busy listening to music, chatting and walking around the area.<\/p>\n Luckily, a convenience store was located nearby (true to its name!) so we grabbed snacks, making the most of the random cheese and bread they sold. Other tour groups were saddled together in the line, and at one point we music battled an older bunch with Abdullah’s traditional Moroccan music. It felt like a giant, impromptu street party. Although we were anxious to get into the mountains and on with our tour.<\/p>\n Eventually, they let us through, only to be stopped again shortly after. Seeing a theme? And suddenly, we are off into the mountains again! We sped through the traditional tourist stops, gawking at views and then hopping back on track. I will never get over how incredibly large those mountains were, and the crystal clear sky as their backdrop.<\/p>\n
\n**The photos are also not of the best quality… #iphone5problems<\/p>\n
\n1) Why did we follow them? It sounds super sketchy…
\n2) Have we ever watched Taken?<\/p>\n
\nWe made the best of it again, taking the opportunity to use the bathroom (Turkish toilets, anyone?) and snack again. We switched over to our music by this point, and Abdullah hosted a jam party to Taylor Swift as his fellow driver friends looked on in envy – I got the sense that college-aged, American females were not a key demographic of desert tours.<\/p>\n