Where’s Megan?

As I took the ferry from Spain to Morocco, I was mentally preparing myself for the touts, scams, and “fake guides” I’ve heard all the warnings about. I arrive in Tanger, and these turn out to be comparatively minor problems, and easily dealt with – “No thank you”, repeat 5 times.

The major annoyances are my fault: 1) I don’t speak French or Moroccan Arabic, and 2) my stupid blonde hair and pale skin. To a young Moroccan male, the sight of a western woman elicits stares, smiles, nudges to friends, and occasionally rude comments. (It doesn’t help that it seems the main pastime of men is just standing around or sitting in cafes, watching the street.) To them, western women are perceived as easy, having lots of boyfriends (and want another, apparently), and basically just not bound by the cultural rules of Muslim women, who they don’t have much interaction with and would never let them get away with this kind of harrassment.

So what to do? The standard advice is to just ignore it, which I’ve been doing. It’s highly unusual for it to go any further, but it’s annoying to feel like you’re walking down the street naked. I highly recommend the experience for those with social anxieties, as instead of imagining everyone’s looking at you, they actually are! I’m getting used to it, but I have a feeling someone will be getting a private lesson on “respect” very soon. And when it all gets too frustrating, I find a nice spot in a cafe terrace so I can do the watching instead.

Ok, now on to the good stuff! I stayed a minimum amount of time in Tanger before catching a bus to a more relaxed environment.

Fun Fact: Residents of Tanger are called Tangerines!

Here’s a nice view of the Strait of Gibraltar from Tanger. If you look hard, you can see distant views of Spain on the left.

I spent a couple days in Chefchaouen, a town in the Rif Mountains where all the buildings are painted blue and white. Seriously, it’s like a winter wonderland (or Shellie’s closet! : )

I could take a picture down every alleyway and they would all look the same. Different door styles, different shapes, but all blue. It’s awesome. The town is also popular with hikers, who explore the mountains around town, and pot-smokers, who explore the famous hashish fields in the mountains. All of this adds up to a beautiful, relaxing town. I walked up to a ruined Spanish mosque which had great views of the city.

From Chefchaouen, I headed to Meknes, which is near Fes but much less touristy. I was able to wander through the markets hassle-free because the products were mainly targeted to locals, and few people spoke English so if they were talking to me, I didn’t know! It was great.

So how’s the food, you ask? Great, I answer! Here’s a photo of a typical Moroccan meal, with bread, olives, and a tajine (stew with things like chicken, prunes, veggies, etc.). I ate most of it before remembering to take a picture… sorry, that’s very rude of me.

I like wandering the markets for random food items, like this stall with amazing pyramids of olives:

(This kid was refreshingly not at all interested in selling me olives. I rewarded him by buying his olives, and he seemed pretty amused to get his picture taken)

and a booth with at least 50 different little cookie things:

I don’t feel right taking pictures without buying something, so to get these shots I was forced to buy a bag of olives and a box of sweets. I hope you’re happy.

I leave for Fes tomorrow and am hoping to take a cooking class there. Another nice thing about Morocco is that it’s surprisingly inexpensive. I’ve spent 5 days here and have yet to break $100. So as long as I don’t buy any carpets, I’ll be in good shape!

Tags: Meknes, Morocco, Tanger, Tangier, Travel

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 29th, 2007 at 1:32 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.