Today we were finally allowed off the ship after being docked in Casablanca all night. Our initial thought right when we got off the ship in the port was just one of…wow. Our ship docked right in the industrial port of Casablanca, no beautiful tourist welcome center or passenger terminal. Just thrown in with all the containers and heavy machinery of the port. In the United States something like that would never happen, they would never allow people to be that close to cargo or heavy machinery both for safety and security reasons. We had to walk about 15 mins just to exit the port, an area with no sidewalks and barely paved roads as well as overwhelming smells…we knew instantly we were in a third world country. Initially we thought we were getting the wrong impression of Morocco, that we were just forming our impression of the country just based on the port, a scene that would probably be familiar in any port in Baltimore or Charleston. There was a group of about 16 of us going to the train station and one of the guys in the group instantly stood out as the kid that was going to piss everyone off the entire trip. He did exactly what SAS said not to do in terms of getting a taxi. They said to only use the small "petit"taxis rather than the large vans they have as the small ones have meters and are less likely to rip you off. It was very overwhelming with many taxi drivers being very pushy about taking a taxi. The kid found a taxi at 5 Euro a person and finally got it down to $5 USD a person, still a complete rip off for a 10 min taxi ride. Finally, we made it to the train station and first went to the ATM to get money. The exchange rate there is 1 USD= 8.6 DH which works out highly in Americans favor and was a nice relief compared to the Euro exchange rate in Spain. It took a while to buy train tickets because there were many SAS kids in the station and no one really knew what they were doing. As we were waiting for the train, a man came over near us and placed down a large package and then disappeared for about 10 mins. We didn’t know his intentions or if something like a "suspicious package"is even a big deal in Morocco but we weren't taking any chances as there had just been a bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Casablanca in 2007. Myself and Phil went up to one of the Police there and asked if he spoke English, of course he did not but as he searched for someone who could translate the package was mysteriously moved so who knows what it was. We all went to the bathroom before we left and had swarms of flies in it as well as squatters which we basically just holes in the ground. We then got on the train which costs 125 DH (so only about $14 USD for a 3 hour train ride)for first class or 80 DH for second class. It was interesting that after we bought our tickets they started to tell guys that there were no first class tickets left, but were offering them to ladies which conflicted with the mindset of that men are superior to women in Muslim countries. Of course they do not label train cars so it was a scramble for all the Americans to try and find their correct train cars and I found what I thought was my correct seat but eventually had to move several times. There was 6 people in each little cabin and it ended up being myself, 2 other SAS kids and then one of the professors and his wife and only one random Moroccan man. It turns out that the professor is our global studies professor and him and his wife are my "extended family"on the ship, we have our first event on Sunday. Only 5 mins outside of Casablanca the landscape was deserted, there were random houses and villages and no matter how poor the house and the people, they always somehow managed to have satellite TV on their roofs. The countryside was very green since it is located in a Mediterranean climate (learned that in Global Studies) and so the winter is the rainy season. Morocco definitely does not have the feel of an African country but rather that of a Middle Eastern country, actually pretty similar to Israel in the less developed areas. After 3 hours we finally arrived in the Marrakesh train station, complete with a McDonalds and KFC. We ate at McDonalds and it was pretty similar to the US besides everything being in French and Arabic. After lunch we got in a taxi to the Blue Bay Resort which was located about 25 mins outside of the city near a new Futbol stadium they are building. It was an absolutely breathtaking place, only about 1 year old and looked like we were living like kings at $50 a night per person. There was nothing around the resort, it was in an open area with the Atlas Mountains in the background and had a very similar feel to that of Arizona. From the start it was very chaotic at check-in, the receptionists barely spoke English and then also some people from the train had decided to come to the hotel as walk-ins but this really confused the receptionists. She ended up messing up peoples rooms and also did not make the people who walked-in prepay for their room…more on that later. After we got settled in myself, Phil, Lauren Butin and this girl Allison were all sharing a room and we decided to go into town at about 3 pm. The receptionists called 3 taxis for 4 persons each. When the taxis arrived there was more than 12 people waiting outside so this confused the taxi drivers because they didn't know who had called the taxis and thought we were just stealing the taxi from these other people. It ended up being a hugee ordeal between us and the drivers because we just wanted them to go to town already, we kept saying there are 4 people in the taxi ready to go so lets go already. We even offered to pay them double if they just went already. Eventually after about 30 mins they decided to go. Our taxi drivers name was "Jafar"like the character in Aladdin. He was also our driver for the rest of the trip everywhere we went. Morocco is full of crazy drivers and puts NYC to shame, they do not care how fast they are going, what side of the road they are on or if there is someone already in the lane they are trying to get into. We finally reached the Medina which is a giant square with lots of street performers and shops. As we got out of the taxi, our driver recommended this man who came over to the taxi to show us around the "souks"(the shops) for 3 hours for only 50 DH which is not even $6 USD so we agreed. He ended up taking us to some back alleys which we thought at first was sketchy but ended up being very legitimate. He took us to places we would have never found ourselves and he also fended off pickpockets and people who harassed us for business. A sign of good bargaining is to be offered Morocco's famous mint tea, we went into a shop and I got leather shoes for about $35 and a blanket for about $45 and we earned our tea. They have a very good business strategy and that is of great hospitality, they try and make you very comfortable in their shop to relax you and be very personable and then you are more likely to buy things. After that I asked our guide where I could go and buy the tea which was really good and doesn’t taste at all like mint. So he took us to this pharmacy with lots of herbs and spices and the guy who worked there insisted on doing a demonstration about all the different herbs, spices and medicines. He kept having us smell all these different things and rubbing different spices on us…it was very strange but a good experience. He also offered massages in the place for $3 so we all took him up on that. Once we were done at the pharmacy we took a taxi back to the hotel. We had dinner which was included in the cost of the hotel and then went to the bar at the hotel and hung out with the owner of the hotel's son.
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