Merry Christmas from Dakar, Senegal

AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

Morocco - Our First Sight of Africa

Morocco is so incredibly unlike any other country I have ever been to. It was our first port outside of the European bubble and the difference was dramatic. First of all, I was culture-shocked. The way of life, social rules etc. are very different in Morocco. Dress is extremely conservative (to the extent that wrists and ankles must be covered at all times). This is especially important for women. Also, no dating permitted! Marriages are one hundred percent arranged and it’s the man’s family who must initiate these arrangements. Once an offer is put forward, a woman’s family will research about the man and their daughter will have an opportunity to speak to him in private for about an hour before she makes her decision. Girls usually marry when they are eighteen or nineteen and never after they turn thirty. Moreover, men always marry younger women. Women also will not be able to marry if they are not virgins. In fact, a certificate of marriage will not be signed if it is not medically proven that she is a virgin. If she is not, her family will disown her and the marriage will no longer be considered. Polygamy is also an acceptable practice here, however, the King has made laws to discourage the idea (that is, restriction on the number of wives, formal permission from all present and future wives to give consent etc.).

The education system here is mandatory, but not enforced. There is still a tremendously high illiteracy rate and many children do not go to school. Women can go to school, but they generally prefer to quit their studies if they receive an offer of marriage.

There is very little "starvation" in Morocco. The reason for this is because of the community based culture of the country. If you are hungry and you go to a restaurant, someone will feed you. They are also very careful about equal division of water and crops in smaller villages. Morocco is also unique in the way that they are nearly completely self-sufficient for food and producing exports.

As visitors in Morocco, we were very noticeable. Wherever we went, people stared. My blond hair was a particular attraction. We were also offered hundreds of camels for some of the girls on the ship. You don’t know whether or not to be flattered when a man in a shop asks you “How many camels?”

There is also a great bartering culture in Morocco. No shopping is at a fixed price. Although I am not very good at it, it is still a lot of fun! You can joke around with the shopkeepers (some invite you to drink tea with them), they are generally quite nice even if they are sometimes pushy.

On the way to our desert camping adventure (the best port program ever!), we stopped in several small towns and villages. We saw tree-climbing goats, visited hand-made carpet shops and factories and went to a pottery town to learn how they made pottery by hand as well as got henna tattoos from the pottery painter. We bought oranges for $0.80 a bag, ate dates from street vendors and bargained our way through the souks (large markets). Souks are really cool: imagine everything you can buy at the Canadian Superstore and garage sales Moroccan-style - outside, messy and alive with interesting smells and spices in the air.

Dear future Class Afloat Students,

Save all your spending money for Morocco!!!

Sincerely,

Floaties of 2011/12

The only trouble is, we have so little space in our trunks we cannot buy anything too big, bulky or fragile. Everything is inexpensive and beautiful. If only, if only …

Imagine, we did all of this even before we arrived at the desert (which was the coolest part of all)! We pulled up in the bus and our fleet of camels were ready for us. My first camel (I named Gary) was EXTREMELY uncomfortable. I was falling off the entire time and everyone made fun of me! (Especially all the horse-riding Calgarians.) The second camel was a lot better and really fun to ride. It was pretty surreal though, like being in a movie. We alternated between walking and riding for a couple of hours until we arrived at camp.

 

The camp was a u-shaped compound with mud huts on the left and right and one large room at the back, which was the dining room. The walls in the huts were covered with brightly coloured fabrics. It was a lot fancier than I expected – we even had beds! At sundown, we sat on the highest dune and embraced ten minutes of silence (an absolute record for our crew!) as we watched the sun sink behind the vast desert. After sundown, as it was still light out, we had dune battles. We jumped off the dunes, pushed each other playfully and rolled down the sand hills. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! After that, there was sand EVERYWHERE. It likes to collect in pockets, hoods and everywhere else it shouldn’t. It was still light out after that and we spent some time sitting amongst the dunes, reflecting about our journey thus far and talking about life.

Dinner was CRAZY. I have never eaten so much food in my life. We had bread, soup, tajean (cooked meat) and cous cous followed by a large array of fruits. It was all DELICIOUS. In the end, I honestly could not move. I felt a little panicked about it actually, and my friend and I had to lie down before the dancing. There was a huge bonfire in the center of the camp. All of our guides and the people who ran the camp played Moroccan music and sang while we danced around the flames until the wee hours of the morning. It was fantastic! The next morning a group of us woke up really early and watched the sunrise together. It was spectacular. Beautiful. Wondrous. The Sahara Desert is a magical place.

Later that day we rode the camels back to the buses and continued to visit little towns all the way home. Yes, the ship really feels like home now. During the last hours of the bus ride we were very anxious to see her three masts again.

Morocco was my favourite port so far. I loved it so much and I will be back! I am afraid that I am now officially addicted to travelling and I can’t wait to see the rest of the world. I will carry these memories with me forever!