A Tripp to Morocco: Cassie and Ben come to Morocco (photos!)

I know that Ben and Cassie were nervous, hell I had done it before, walked dead straight into a Moroccan home, and it makes you pretty nervous. But they didn’t know Mama Fatima and I did so I wasn’t worried when I marched them in. She opened her arms to Cassie and pulled her in for a hug, a big one, and kisses before Ben got the same treatment and calls of “Weladi! Weladi! Salaam! (My son! My son! Hello!)” Nerves fear Mama Fatima.

I met Ben and Cassie the day before, in Marrakech, a miraculous discovery in a Souk store an hour before the intended meeting time. Lunch at a restaurant terrace (how soon they’d learn the joy) where we decide we should leave Marrakech that night and take the train up to Rabat. Note: Ben and Cassie had taken the train to Brussels the night before, slept in the Brussels airport before flying to Marrakech that morning, they were tired, as anyone would be. But, the show must go on, we had our task: to see as much of Marrakech as we could in a single afternoon.

After lunch, we walked through the Souk and Jemma el-Fnna, kept straight to the other side of the medina where we caught a petit taxi (in my last post, I spelled petit incorrectly, it doesn’t conclude with an “e”) back to where we met, Badi Palace. We saw the palace grounds and the photo exhibit that I mentioned in the last post before walking back to Jemma el-Fnna where we found another terrace café, from which we could watch the sunset and drink tea. After sunset, we took pictures with snakes before walking to the Mosque right by the square, which strolled around and admired. We enjoyed a dinner Moroccan style in the middle of Jemma el-Fnna. Moroccan soup (Harira), sausages, salsa (chopped tomatoes) and, of course, bread. A bit longer searching dessert the square and it was time to head to the train station.

We got beers across the street from the station (my first with Mr. Faustine since August 15^th). Our train left at 2100h. and was SUPPOSED to be 4 hours long but it ended up taking over 5 hours and we didn’t get back to the Rabat until past 0200h. My roommates had been excited to meet the newcomers so they stayed up and we made food and hung out so poor Ben and Cassie (they are troupers) didn’t get to bed until 0330h.

We slept in a bit before getting up, had breakfast Moroccan style (bread, jelly, peanut butter, Nutella, cheese and butter) and made the short walk to the Medina. I showed them my school building and gave a brief tour of the Medina while we made our way to the homestay.

After introductions, Mama Fatima immediately told us to come back for lunch at 1400h. (I had a feeling if we went over at noon, we would get said invite…I know, kind of shuma but I did it for my friends!) so we walked around through the souk, along the Bouregreg river up to the Kasbah, sun and a glass of tea above the water, to the Atlantic, group photos there, back to the souk to get soda for lunch, and, 2 hours later, we’re sitting in the living room.

The homestay didn’t disappoint. Mama Fatima prepared an amazing lamb dish with green beans and pears, there were potatoes and tomatoes and olives and eggplant dip, there was my whole homestay family and my two good friends and there were smiles and laughs and bread. After lunch and post-lunch fruit, Mama Fatima let me show Ben and Cassie how to make tea and we brought it to the terrace, enjoying it with an assortment of nuts.

There’s something extraordinary when two of your worlds collide. When the family that you spent 8 weeks living with meets friends (one silver, one gold) from your other home (USA). You watch them melt together, it all makes so much more sense, why did Granger keep signing off Facebook to eat and spend time with his homestay family? and why does that kid keep Facebook chatting with his friends from home? are they each that great? And I got to show the answer, it doesn’t always happen that way. And when Cassie said –that was amazing, I’m glad we came to Rabat just because we got to do that- and Ben agreed. They thanked me but I really have to thank them. They went with the flow, obeyed Mama Fatima’s orders to eat! eat more! it was them who made it the experience it was.

We said goodbyes and walked to my favorite bar in Rabat. It’s on an alley a block from the train station. 16 MAD beers ($2), frosted windows, a waiter who shakes my hand, asking how I’m doing when I walk in. We stayed until nightfall, when we walked to the store to buy a few more drinks to enjoy back at the house. We sat, talked, listened to music and ate Moroccan Ramen. Ben and I played poker (I lost…a lot but Ben let me off the hook) until we decided that it was time to hit the town. It was raining out and waiting for a taxi turned into hitching a ride to a club, which we were unsure of it’s whereabouts. The guys who gave us a ride were patient though and enjoyed hanging out. Our search was successful and the night was spent dancing at Le Cabana Boom Boom.

Cassie woke me to shake my hand goodbye in the morning, Ben left a little note and just as quickly as they had came they were gone. It was a weekend to remember. I often fail to look back on my first days in Morocco and remember just how new it all was. How nervous everything made me. This country is a lot. But I walk with something new here now, something I didn’t walk with when I arrived. Even Ben saw it. He said -You’ve changed man, I’m really proud of you for doing this, you needed it - And he’s right, his brotherly intuition is right, I feel it.

I know I don't post enough photos. So here are a few.