Morocco

I just got back from five days in Marrakech and Fes. Since it's pretty boring to go through and explain every detail from my trip, here are some highlights:

In Marrakech, there is a huge plaza where street vendors and performers hang out. You can buy fresh squeezed orange juice for 3 Dirham. To give you an idea of how cheap this is, a US Dollar costs around 7 Dirham and a Euro is about 11.

Food in Morocco is amazing. They only have a few dishes they offer: Tajines (a bowl of meat and vegetables), Cous Cous (a bowl of meat and vegetables over cous cous) and desserts (such as orange slices with banana and cinnamon). This is actually perfect, because you run no risk of getting something weird and these dishes are pretty much the same everywhere.

In both cities, but especially Fes, people will try to help you find your way then demand money. Usually they don't actually know where your destination is, but they will walk with you for a few blocks, inform you that where you want to go is "closed," and then force you to give them money.

We went to a Jewish synagogue in Fes where an old man gave us a tour in French. We don't speak French. Mostly he just pointed at photos on the wall and talked about them (in French, of course) really slowly until we smiled and nodded.

There don't seem to be pay phones in Morocco, but there was an entire park devoted to free internet in Marrakech. The park is giant and has stands every few hundred feet where people could check their e-mail. Finding a free stand is difficult.

On our second day in Marrakech we ended up walking really far away from the city's center. While wandering around, we walked past two teenage boys. One of them tried to grab my crotch. He failed, and I don't really understand the etiquette for that, so I let it slide.

Everyone has donkeys. And Crocs.

In the square where one can purchase orange juice, they also have dried fruit stands. One of the more unique items is a giant banana necklace.

Snake charmers DO exist.

Children think it's really fun to run up to you and say "Bonjour," especially in Fes.

When people would figure out that we were from the US, they would tell us how much they like Barack Obama.

Marc successfully showered without taking off his sweatpants. Apparently, he only washed his hair and doesn't understand why this is weird.

Overall, Morocco was an extremely cheap and interesting country. I think of it as Mexico but better. I might need to move to Fes.