Reflections on Morocco Then and Now

The Berber flag.

Berber writing which goes left to right unlike Arabic.

My new necklace - the Berber symbol which is the Z in their alphabet.

A funky washroom in one of our guesthouses.

Wim and I.

The group including Rachid in his traditional clothing.

Here are some random thoughts on the trip to Morocco:

The whole time I have been travelling through Morocco I have been reflecting on how the country is the same or different from 1979. I really didn't know what to expect before I left but I have noticed a lot of things since I arrived. It crystallized when we were approaching Marrakech and the first thing I noticed was a large water theme park just off the highway. Now that is something different, I certainly didn't expect that.

Morocco is a country in transition from the past to the modern world. Everywhere there are signs of progress, however, as with most countries in the world the gap between rich and poor is widening. It seems to me that rural areas are changing more slowly than the cities where growth and advancement is huge. Probably a lot of the youth of the rural areas have migrated to the cities to find work.

Morocco receives thousands of tourists every month and they have gotten more tolerant of the tourists and their dress codes. Many still don't like their photos taken but they are getting used to that too. I found the majority of Moroccans to be tolerant or friendly to tourists. The ones who work directly with the tourist industry are very friendly because they know that is where their bread is buttered.

Moroccan food is delicious, but seems to suffer from a lack of diversity. They don't have the same multicultural cuisine that the west now has. The traditional meals are still tajines, which are stews of different meats and vegetables or couscous with fish, lamb, beef or chicken. As a result we got a bit tired of the menu. And after all of us got sick at some point, we were suspicious of salads, teas and fruits. I remember the traditional Moroccan tea as being mint tea with lots of sugar. Now you can still get mint tea but there is no sugar in it unless you ask for it. I asked Rachid about this and he said it was because of oral hygiene awareness and diabetes. In some of the tourist hotels they offer different tourist food like pizzas and burgers. And in the cities the American junk food restaurants have arrived, McDonald's, Burger King, Kentucky Fried and Starbucks.

They have men in yellow vests who help people park in tight spots on the roads. I think it also solves arguments. I couldn't work out if they did it for tips are not.

In the van the first day we were reading a Lonely Planet guidebook and it stated that about 20% of the country's income comes from tourism and that about the same percentage of people work in some aspect of the tourist service industry. It also said that unemployment in the youth is at about 45% and in a recent survey over 50% of the young people said they would emigrate if they had the opportunity. The youth age group is the one that is changing the most and accepting western ways. They all have cellphones and most wear westernized clothing, especially in the cities.

In the rural areas there are still many people, especially the older generation, wearing traditional clothing. In the cities the older generation is changing too. Where you do see more traditional clothing other than rural areas is in the medinas and souks.

When I was here years ago, I found the medinas and souks dark, mysterious and slightly intimidating and the vendors were very aggressive. Inside there were many different types of artisans plying their trades and making all manner of things. Today by contrast, the vendors are much more polite and will take a 'no thank you' reasonably well and will sometimes even wish you a good day or say 'you're welcome'. However, I saw very few artisans, except in areas where the government is sponsoring schools or shops that are maintaining the arts. I think that in most shops the product they are selling has been mass produced somewhere else, probably offshore and that many of the stalls are owned by a few people who hire people to man the stalls. I wonder how many people sit in these stalls trying to sell crap and not making any money all day.

There are cats everywhere. They are very important to Moroccan people. I even found one in my departure lounge at Marrakech airport. There are some dogs too, but not many. I watched as many people fed the cats, especially people in Essaouri who would provide them with fresh sardines. I would imagine that they help to keep down mice and rat populations as well.

The cities are becoming quite modern with lots of cars and other traffic like scooters, bicycles but there is still room for a number of donkey carts. Casablanca has a very modern street car line and they are building a high speed rail line from Casablanca to Marrakech and Essaouira that will collapse the travel time from overnight to just a few hours.

They get most of their energy from hydroelectric power but recently their reservoirs have been going down and they see the need for other sources. As a result the Moroccan government is joining the renewable energy business as well and is building the largest solar power facility in Africa which will supply a significant percentage of their power. They also have a number of turbine farms to supply energy to certain areas.

The weather has been mostly hot with sunny blue skies. We did have a little cooler weather in the High Atlas Mountains and on the coast in Essaouira we had overcast humid weather in the high 20's. The first day in Marrakech was the same but then the sky cleared and the temperature went up in the mid afternoon to mid 30's.

Many areas in the Sahara and Atlas Mountains have lots of fossils and minerals for sale. There are stands and vendors everywhere trying to sell fossils of trilobites and other ancient shell animals.

I asked Rachid what he thought the country needed to take the next step. His answer was good education for children. He said the country needs to better train their teachers and to fund education more fully in order for the children to progress. The literacy rate is still lower than world averages.

I also asked him if there was an worry about Morocco joining the Arab Spring of 2010. He said no because the king has the power centrally located unlike other countries like Egypt where the army has its own power. He said that people are aware and becoming a bit resentful of the wealth of the king. Each of one of the four imperial cities has a palace, at least one of which is large enough to house an 18 hole golf course on the grounds. The people are beginning to question why the king needs so many palaces, especially when for example, Marrakech and Essaouira are only a few hours apart. It remains to be seen anything will come of it.

All in all, this was an amazing trip. Rachid was an amazing guide and the trip offered a wide variety of activities that show cased Morocco in a number of different lights, including the old and the new. We visited most regions and many different environments and we got to mingle with the locals in the small guesthouses, trains and in the medinas. Great trip.