Visit to Morocco - some observations

I'd never been to a developing nation before so the trip was all new to me. I guess the honeymoon with my first husband to Mexico might have been close, but we stayed in Cancun, in the resort area and really didn't see the parts of Mexico mainly experienced by locals.

I think the first thing that caught my attention was the number of hitchhikers along the highway. I remember seeing a few when I was a child in the US, but not to the level that is seen in the Casablanca area. They were predominantly young, standing with their thumbs out, waiting to hitch a free ride to somewhere else. Given the speeds at which traffic could be flowing and the hitchhikers' close proximity to the road, I was expecting something bad to happen.

The sidewalks in Casablanca, or at least the area where our hotel was located, were sometimes non-existent. There were basically 2 routes to walk to get from our hotel to Rick's Café. One route went through Ancient Medina. Even in Morocco's official tourism app they warn tourists about visiting that part of the city. Not at night, and even in the day time one must be careful about one's safety. There were sidewalks in this area, but very narrow, barely wide enough for 1 person in places, and often obstructed by vehicles. The other route went past the harbor area which was in a state of upheaval. Most of the time the sidewalk didn't exist, just dust and rubble, and nothing much to look at. We walked this way our first day in Casablanca and my black shoes were a solid gray by the time we got a place that was more "civilized". I was also surprised at the area where Rick's Café was located, basically a slum. The restaurant did a fine job of making sure the sidewalk in front of it were kept clean and clear, but the rest of the little block was dirty and a little dodgy.

Many buildings in Casablanca seemed to be abandoned construction projects. The frame was there, some scaffolding may have been sitting around, but no work was being done. It was as if either whomever started the project got bored or ran out of money, or maybe both. There is a mall near Rick's Café that appeared to be completed, had a huge sign for an athletic store on the outside, but appeared to be empty. I couldn't figure out if it had yet to open or had just closed.

Litter and graffiti were common sights in Casablanca. Plastic bottles, plastic shopping bags... Any food that may have been abandoned was consumed by the numerous stray cats. I actually appreciated the cats because that made me feel that the rat population was being kept in check.

There were parts of Casablanca that weren't as bad. If you went further down the coast past the Hassan II mosque it was more developed, cleaner, less half-completed construction. The mall in this area was open and had many high end stores. An interesting note... There is an x-ray device like in airports at the security checkpoint as soon as you enter the mall. I wasn't sure if that scared me or made me feel safe. Also, as soon as one enters the Casablanca airport one's bags are x-rayed, and carry-ons are x-rayed again at the usual security checkpoint. I guess one can't be too safe?

Mall where bags are x-rayed upon entry

When flying out of Morocco make sure to allow more time than you usually would. The queue to have all your bags x-rayed as soon as you enter the airport adds time. The normal security checkpoint is another bottleneck. If there is an issue with someone's bag the line is held up while it is being checked. They only have 1 person working the x-ray machine and he will sift through the offending bag, not letting anything else pass until he is done.

While hubs and I were standing in this line 2 women at the front of the line got into what sounded like a heated argument. They were about 4 people apart, but yelling at each other around the people between them. Interestingly enough, nobody seemed interested in interfering with them. They were speaking in Arabic, so I have no clue what they were actually saying, but their body language indicated they were NOT happy with each other.

Your boarding pass and passport are checked numerous times at the airport. Our  passports and boarding passes were checked after going through the body scanner and again immediately after passing through immigration control. Apparently you just can't leave the country.

By contrast Marrakesh and Rabat were cleaner, more vibrant, definitely more touristic. But even they had their dark sides. One thing in particular in Marrakesh made me feel very sad, and still does. There was a large open square where street performers (for lack of a better description) hung out. In this area were snake charmers, which I was surprised to see. In my head those only existed in India. I wasn't too thrilled to see them, either, as I'm not a big fan of snakes and there were many cobras on the ground in 1 state of enchantment or another. But what made me sad were the monkeys on leashes. They would be whipped about in arcs as their owner quickly turned or dragged against their will. They obviously knew how to protect themselves for they would grab the end of the metal chain near their necks with their human-like hands to mitigate pain.

People offering to play tour guide, with nothing stated upfront, would expect remuneration at the end.  They came across as just friendly people, willing to offer some help, lulling one into accepting their services. Also, if you took a picture of someone they would expect to be tipped. You didn't have to be in the picture, but as long as they were then money was to be exchanged.

We were able to thwart 2 attempts of extortion, if you will. When we visited Chella in Rabat a "kind" man offered to play tour guide. We repeatedly begged off, thanking him but making it clear we didn't need or want a guide. It took a little doing, but he finally gave up. I noticed he had quickly succeeded with another couple. It may have been my imagination, but I got the impression that they didn't tip him at the end as the 2 parties seemed to part ways unhappily. The second attempt was shortly after our tour guide in Marrakesh had warned us about the picture taking, in the same square as the cobras and the monkeys. Some random guy walked up to hubs, he took off his fez and put it on hubs, putting his arm around hubs and mugging for a photo. We had not approached him to do this. I laughed but left my camera alone. Our guide interceded explaining that no money was due as no picture had been taken. Mr Fez finally walked away, but in a snit.

On the flip side, there were 2 occasions where we were backed into a corner. One was at the entrance to Chellah. I wanted to take a picture of the entrance. However, a man stood there, banging a drum and twirling the tassel on his head covering which was firmly affixed to his head. I bit the bullet and took the picture, handing over a few coins when we passed as he had stopped banging the drum and twirling his tassel so that he could thrust his open hand towards us.

Entrance to Chellah

The other time was in Kasbah of the Udayas also in Rabat. Our driver dropped us off at the entrance and we wandered in. I wanted to go down a specific street but we kept getting told to go in a different direction. This is all just a ruse to get you confused and have someone "rescue" you by giving you an unsolicited tour of the area. Now, we did learn a few things about the area that we wouldn't have known had this man not been "kind enough" to "help" us. When we got to the end of "tour" hubs hands our "guide" the equivalent of about €2. The man looks at hubs and says "you can give more than that" - lol

A picture from Kasbah of the Udayas

I'm glad we went on this adventure. It gave me a greater appreciation for what I have and where we are currently living. (But it's not going to stop me from complaining 😉)