Tuesday, February 17th, 2009: Rabat, Morocco

Monday was a travel day. The most eventful part of the day was waking up the morning to find six of the camels had escaped. We rode our remaining camels back to the compound, with some people doubling up and some walking. The saddles were very uncomfortable with only one person, much less two. We then drove roughly 8 hours to Marrakesh.

In Marrakesh we stayed at a riad run by some Germans. It was a little more expensive than our previous lodgings, but a hot shower (the first in a three days for most of us) was great. We got to bed early that night and left for the train station at 6 am.

At 7 we got on a train to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. Rabat is on the northern part of Morocco's Atlantic coast. The train station is roughly in the center of the city, about a mile off the coast. We ate lunch at a cafe near the station and found a hotel just down the main drag, named after Morocco's beloved former king Mohammed V. After finding the hotel we walked towards the sea. On the way we walked through the market, a much more Western version of the market in Marrakesh. All the knock-off staples were being sold: fake sunglasses, hand bags, clothing, and watches. I assume this is due to its proximity to the sea.

After the market we stumbled into an expansive cemetery overlooking the sea. The graves were mostly above ground, in cement boxes. These boxes were presumably tailored to fit the size of the individual, many were small. Almost all of them doubled as flower beds, with a thin layer of soil on top.

The beach beyond the cemetery was very interesting. There were small pools with shells and occasionally fish leading up to the ocean. A gentleman with the longest on-shore fishing pole I have ever seen was trying his luck a hundred yards away from a group of boogie-boarders. As we walked up the beach it eventually turned into sand, but there were no girls in bikinis.

We then entered an old castle at the mouth of a river. Beyond the castle a mile or so was the Mausoleum of Mohammed V. In addition to the Mausoleum itself, with the tombs of Mohammed V and his sons (including Hassan II), the grounds included the tower of an unfinished mosque and the pillars that supported the building. After the Mausoleum, we split up. Patrick went for a walk around the market while the rest of us caught a cab to Chellah, an old Roman and Carthaginian necropolis on the outskirts of the city. The area was littered with storks, but was otherwise a nice break from the honking cars and exhaust of the city.

That night we drank beers, walked through the market, and eventually grabbed dinner at a Moroccan diner.