It goes without saying that Morocco is hard work. It will take weeks to get over arriving in a new place and thinking "shit, here we go again". The threat of waking up and having a freezing cold shower is a very real, daily possibility. You get sick of carrying emergency toilet paper but it's your best friend when you're out and caught short - I still can't actually envisage "sloshing" with my left hand. Being able to open your mouth again in a shower is heavenly. My few day test on the Meknes water had, umm, loose results. However it was all worth it and we would do it again in a heartbeat. Maybe I wouldn't do the water thing again.
The Ticks
- Eating everything with your hands. There's a unique type of pleasure associated with slowly tearing your bread into pieces to then mop up meat juices along with picking up a chunk of meat and jamming it in your mouth shortly after.
- The pace of life. People talk about 'dropping down a gear or two '. In Morocco you're driving an automatic car and it's in Drive however you haven't actually engaged the accelerator pedal and the car is just slowly moving along.
- So many cats! Kittens, pregnant cats, cats with balls (!). So. Many. Cats.
- It's a meat lovers paradise. Meat at every turn. What's not to love.
- Buying the food that you want to eat then taking it to the cafe whose coffee you want to drink. Simplistic genius.
- The warm appreciation associated with using just a few basic Arabic words. Anyone who tells you you can get by with just French is correct. However you will win absolutely no respect.
The Crosses
- Cat penises.
- The constant threat of being ripped off and the very blurred line between genuine, just being a nice guy assistance and assistance with ulterior motif.
- Every Moroccan had way too many "friends".
- Cold showers. I hate those guys.
- Hocking up oysters/coughing/snorting/sniffing/general unpleasant bodily sounds.
- Moroccan travel sickness. Not a fun thing to bear witness to.
The Food
This is ridiculously difficult so I've split it into three categories.
The Highest Deliciousness to Price Ratio
The 10 dirham stuffed pancreas and spleen sandwiches in Fes are hard to beat. Buying these was one of the few times in Morocco where we went, "surely it can't be that cheap" and it actually was that cheap.
The Tastiest
The tanjia from Stall 13 in Marrakesh. One of those situations where your expectations are high and then the final product blows those expectations out of the water.
The Most Adventurous
Definitely the Ball. Acquiring it, having it prepared and eating it is still all a bit too surreal.
The Drink
It has to be tea. It's everywhere, you can't escape it, but why would you want to?
Maroc whiskey isn't just about what's in the cup it's everything else that comes with drinking a cup that makes it what it is. The care that it's made with, pouring it back and forth between cup and teapot to carbonate it and to ensure that the sugar is mixed through evenly is ceremonious and immensely therapeutic in itself, and the best bit is yet to come.
Sitting there, slowly sipping your tea and watching whatever interesting scene your mind can conjure up unfold in front of you is easily one of the world's most pleasurable experiences. We will sorely miss Moroccan tea and the joy it brought it us on the daily.
