Morocco – Port of Entry: Casablanca

So I arrived safely in Casablanca, Morocco.  I had scheduled a couchsurfing stay with a guy named Anas who goes to university in Casa.    He told me that I should take a train from the airport to a station nearer to his apartment.  I managed to do that without too much difficulty, and even exchanged money and got a SIM card before I left the airport.  Way to go, me!  Although, I told Anas what time my plane arrived, I don’t think he quite understood that I still had to go through customs and find my way to the train station etc before I would make it to him, so he had been waiting for me for a while by the time we met up at Casa Port, the station near his house.

Luckily, he is a super-nice, extremely patient guy and I had gotten that Moroccan phone number, so we were able to communicate while I was en route.  His English is pretty good and we are able to understand one another for the most part.  He says it’s a good way for him to improve his English skills, having someone visit who speaks that language.  He also speaks Arabic/Moroccan Arabic and French fluently. (Moroccan Arabic is a different dialect than Arabic, I’ve learned, but both are spoken widely here, and are relatively interchangeable, from what I understand.  In addition, he is learning German and hopes to study in Germany within the next year or so.  So we were usually able to find ways to get our points across, occasionally even finding words had cognates in French or German or Spanish (of which I know a little), and when we couldn’t, we turned to trusty Google Translate for help.  Sometimes, things were simply comical, but we managed!

When we arrived at his house, we found Anas’ uncle, Tayeb (who speaks only Moroccan/Arabic and French) and Anas’ former English teacher, Mohammed, a lively, engaging guy.  The two men went out for a bit to run errands while I got settled, and when they returned, Tayeb cooked us chicken tangine, a traditional Moroccan dish, made in a small clay oven, usually with vegetables and meat.  It was absolutely delicious!  We also had some Moroccan mint tea, sweet and tasty!  The best part, though, was when Anas tried to explain tangine to me.  When I asked what it was, he said, “You know, it’s like this…” and put his hands together, fingertips touching to make a pyramid shape.  I finally got out of him that it could be chicken, “you know, like this.”  I couldn’t imagine what chicken was triangular, or pyramid shaped, but I settled back to wait and find out.  When the food came out, I discovered that a tangine is the way that Moroccans cook their food in a cooker, usually on the stove or fire.  The cooker has a plate/bowl where you put the food, (usually vegetables and often meat, sometimes couscous) and a lid which is shaped like a cone, which was the shape Anas had tried to describe for me.   mmmm….tangine.  Meat, veggies, and spices.  Delicious.

The next morning, Anas had planned to take me out and around a bit in the area since he didn’t have school over the weekend.  We got up and went around the corner to a shop for coffee and breakfast.  I had a delicious type of yogurt that was a little sweet, and tasted kind of like mishti doi in W. Bengal.  I enjoyed it immensely.  When I asked Anas what it was called he told me it was yogurt.  I’m not sure if it’s a special kind of yogurt or if all the yogurt here is sweetened like this.  Either way, I’ll eat this for breakfast anyday!

Anas’ friend Youssef met us at the coffee shop and then we were picked up by Hachem in his car with his friend Fadwa.  The five of us drove to the next town to the north, Mohammedia, to spend the day at the beach.  It was quite beautiful and we had a delightful time!  The area was clearly very good for surfing and there were beautiful shells all along the shoreline.  The weather was gorgeous, too.

Later that afternoon, we came back to town and Hachem dropped Anas and I off at the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca.  This is the biggest mosque in Casablanca.  It is enormous, touristy, and beautiful.  We arrived almost at sunset, which made for some stunning photos.  Non-muslims aren’t usually allowed into mosques, and it wasn’t until we returned to Anas’ house that night, that I found out from Mohammed that they actually allow people into that mosque at certain times during the day for tours.  We hadn’t been there at the right time to go in anyway, but it’s too bad I missed that chance.  I don’t know if that opportunity is available anywhere else in Morocco (or anywhere).  Nonetheless, I enjoyed looking at the mosaics and gorgeous architecture. The people were fun to watch as well.  We continued on after the mosque to the city center, the old medina area of Casablanca.

One thing I noticed is that all of the kids I saw seemed to be happy here in Morocco.  I didn’t see kids who were crying or whining at their parents.  I didn’t see parents yelling at their kids or dragging them along through the squares and scolding them. In fact, most seemed to be running freely, at quite a distance from their parents, having a great time, playing with other kids, while the parents kept an eye on them.  It was nice to see, and I enjoyed walking around there as well.  We stopped in a coffee shop where Anas’ father used to come when he had lived in Casablanca during his college days. We sat for quite a while talking and Anas explained a lot of things to me about Moroccan culture.  It was a great discussion. After we went back home, we found Mohammed and Tayeb again and spent time hanging out with them and were lucky enough to have another delicious chicken dinner!

Sunday, I got to meet more of Anas’ friends.  First, he had someone over that he knows from couchsurfing minglers, a Spanish guy named Julio.  That was great, as I got to get some good input from both guys about couchsurfing and some ideas about where I could and should go while I’m here in Morocco.  For lunch, Tayeb made couscous.  It was incredible!   It took a few hours – he made it from scratch!  Moroccan food is served in one plate, and everyone eats from the same plate, sharing the meal together.  This couscous had vegetables on it and chicken with onions in the center. It was extremely flavourful!

Later, Yeonjoo, a girl from Korea came by and we had a great chat and then two more of his friends trickled in, Haitam and Othman.  Both of them have been friends with Anas for a while and they had come in from other towns via train.  The other two guys ended up crashing overnight, as we all stayed up very late into the night, partying, laughing, singing.  At one point, the boys treated me to an improv musical performance (see it here) , on traditional instruments!  It was great.  Also, Haitam cooked dinner for us – some of the best linguini with crème fraiche and fish I’ve ever had!  The fish was covered with melted cheese, the alfredo sauce was perfect – it was incredible.  It was served in the Moroccan shared dish style, amazing!

I definitely enjoyed my time with the Anas and his friends.  I am very glad I got to know them and it was a nice way to learn several things about the country as I arrived, such as how some of the taxis worked and some cultural questions etc.  Anas was so sweet and welcoming!  The next morning, he took me to the train station and helped get me on the train to Rabat, which is the capital city of Morocco.  I’m looking forward to seeing that town.  I’m staying with a couple who live in the Kasbah, she’s from Spain, and he’s Moroccan.  Apparantly there’s an international music festival this week in Rabat, too, so maybe I’ll get to see some of that….