Riffs on Morocco

(For readers new to the blog, a "Riffs" post is nothing more than broader observations about the country/location we are in.  They are just one man's opinion -- and occasionally one woman's opinion.)

Marrakesh and the Atlas Mountain Berber towns are much cleaner than expected.  I hate to say it, but we expected dirtier, dustier, and more graffiti.  Instead, there is very little litter, not much dust (except where you will have dust, such as small roads, etc.), and very little graffiti.  

Another surprise is just how green it is here.  There are many palm trees, flowering bushes, large rosemary bushes.  It is spring, so the flowers are beginning to bloom.  Again, our expectations were dead wrong – Carol and I expected semi-arid, but flying in the land was quite green.  Yes, there are areas of the country that are desert, but not around Marrakech.

The traffic is unreal.  Not because there is a lot of it. . .traffic actually moves pretty well. . .this is more about the nature of the traffic.  Cars, trucks, motor scooters, and bikes come flying every which way.  It seems like controlled chaos. . .without any control.  Occasionally there is a policeman standing at major intersections, but he is neither directing traffic nor enforcing traffic laws (we saw cars pulled over for speeding, for instance, but not by the intersection police).  

Every ride seems like we will be t-boned by another vehicle, or that a motor scooter (which are plentiful) will get hit as it is crossing in front of us.  Riding in a car in Marrakech is a thrill ride in and of itself.  Again, traffic keeps flowing, but there are not more crashes are beyond me.

Lanes and traffic lights only seem to be a suggestion, not a requirement.  The motor scooters themselves cross over to the right side of the road even though they should be on the left.  Intersections and circles work somehow, although it is all a big game of chicken.

The idea of stopping for pedestrians at a crosswalk is clearly ignored.  On the other hand, pedestrians cross the street random places.  Unlike Yangon where people crossed in large groups, here people play Frogger, crossing one at a time, stepping out halfway into the road as traffic bears down from three sides (even though it is only a two direction road, it always seems as though some vehicle is going in a direction not meant by the road).  

I joked with Carol that they probably don’t even report news about accidents and pedestrian fatalities, because those must be every day occurances.  Alas, my timing was poor, as shortly after we saw the aftermath of a motor scooter accident, with the poor driver sitting up dazed in the street.  

I asked Rasheed if Moroccans felt more Mediterranean, more African, or more Arabic.  He said they are a blend of all three.  Closer to the Med, they are a bit more Mediterranean, and closer to the south they feel more African.  With Morocco being a crossroads of history (bordering both the Med and the Atlantic), he says that Moroccans are very welcoming of other people, as so many of their customs are a blend of different cultures.

Rasheed also was very critical of Saudi Arabia, decrying the Islamic extremism of the people there.  He took great pains to focus on Morocco being much more focused on following the Koran, rather than making up rules and saying that’s as God wants it to be.  We feel very welcome in Morocco, and have no sense that we are viewed as strange outsiders.  

Our friends John and Lisa said matter-of-factly that we were going to buy a carpet, even if we think we won’t, because the carpets are so beautiful.  They were wrong. . .we bought two.