Bargaining & Zip Lining in Marrakech!

February 6, 2009

Sorry I have not written in a while. I have been in Marrakech for the past couple of days and have not had my computer. These past few days have been awesome!!! First I will start with Wednesday. I woke up at 6am to get ready for my trip to Marrakech. There was a group of SAS students going for a treasure hunt and zip lining. We got on three different buses, and I have to say mine was the best. Our tour guide was Les McCabe who is the dean. So my bus had about 12 people on it including the McCabe family. I was the last on the bus and got the very back row in between his children. Erin who is 16 and Ryan who is 14. I had sooooo much fun!!! The bus ride was 4 hours long and we were entertained the entire time.

When we finally got the Marrakech we went straight to lunch. The food there was not so good. We had an interesting salad and a huge piece of lamb that we had to pick through the fat. It wasn’t the worst but it wasn’t the best. The dessert was pretty good. It was like a milky yogurt. Then we split into groups and did a treasure hunt around the markets. My group had three other girls and it, the same girls that I had hung out with the day before in Casablanca. So the mission was to find certain things in the market and buy them for a good price. We were supposed to bargain. So we found the first 2 clues really easily but the 3rd one was really hard. We never found it so we just gave up and did some shopping. I got some souvenirs and pretty much watched people to learn about their culture.

The best bargain that I got was a tee shirt. The starting price was 280 dirham’s Which is about $30 in us money. I said NO WAY. So we talked for a while I sounded interested but not going to pay that much. When I started walking away he would lower the price. So I finally got it for 20 dirham’s which is about $2.50. So I went from 30 to 3. Not too shabby. I was pretty proud of myself. It is known in the markets that if you get a really good deal and bargain well the store tenet will either give you tea or kiss you on your checks. I got some kisses :)

So after the markets, oh yeah my team came is 2nd!!!, we went to the hotel to freshen up and get ready for dinner. The hotel was pretty cool . they did not have any heat which was bad because it was cold and rainy outside, and they also try to conserve energy, so you have to have an electricity card and they keep the lights off in the hallways. So it was very dark.

For dinner we went to the really cool place called Chez Ali fantasia. It is kind of like the show Midevil Nights, I think that is the name, in America. The food was awesome, we had cuscus, chicken, vegetables, bread, fruit, and soup. It was really good. The room that we ate dinner in was tented with pretty velvets and lots of fabric. It was perfect to put us in the Moroccan mood. After the dinner we went back to the hotel for bed.

On Thursday we woke up early again and headed to the Atlas Mountains to go zip lining. It was also raining and very cold today too. So we drove about 30 min and stopped because our guide got a call saying that we might not be able to zip line because of the rain. This was very upsetting because this is what I was looking forward to the most. So we waste an hour before heading up the mountain. Our tour guide set us up to go on a tour of a house of about 20 women who make oil. This was very interesting. Only divorced or widowed women work here because they have to make a living for themselves. The way they made the oil was very interesting. I have videos if you want to see them, but not till I get home.

So after an hour we got a call saying to come on up the mountain. It had cleared up. I was sooo happy!!! When we got there I stepped off the bus and thought what did I just get myself into. I saw the zip line and it was insane. It went down a cliff thousands of feet off the ground. Super scary, but I was not going to miss out. Everyone in the group got suited up and we were ready to go. I thought we were going to walk to the zip line, but no. First, we had to walk across a bridge. This bridge was not sturdy, but it was safe. About every foot there was a piece of wood for you to step on and wires for you to hold onto. We were tied up to a wire above us so if we fell it would be fine. But this was probably the scariest part because we actually determined our speed, plus the tour guides were shaking the bridge making it harder for us to walk. When we made it across we went to the first zip line. I thought there was only 1 but there were 4!!! They were all sooo long and soo much fun. I can not even explain them. I was standing at the top of the mountain thinking to myself. “I am in Morocco zip lining, how awesome and fortunate is this!!!!”

After making it safely across all the zip lines we went to lunch which again was awesome and then headed home. Wow, I just called the ship home. Weird. So we made it home just in time. My time in Morocco was really fun. My favorite part was the zip line. It was soo cool to bond with the people on the trip. When the ship left the port they came on the loud speaker saying that as we turned the corner there was going to be extremely rough water and to take every thing off the self’s and to take cover. Now this exact same thing happened as we came into the port so I didn’t think it was going to be so bad; however, this time was really bad. My roommate and I were in our room watching Hotel Rwanda. It was soo bad I thought the TV was going to come out of the wall, so I was standing up holding onto it. All of the sudden a huge wave came and I went flying across the room. It was soooo intense. I landed on our dresser!! And of course my roommate Meghan got it all on tape!!! We watched it over and over again laughing. Right now the water is still pretty rough. But I have not gotten sea sick. Thank goodness.

We have eight days at sea until we get to Namibia. I am not looking forward to these days; they are going to seem long. During one of these days is Neptune Day because we cross over the equator. Usually when this happens everyone shaves their heads, including girls. So who thinks I should shave my head???? Well I better get some stuff done. Hope everyone is doing well.
Love
Michelle