Backing up a little bit…..the drive through the High Atlas Mountains was extremely interesting. For the most part, the scenery was all brown disrupted here and there with a lush tropical oasis.

First….oasis. We were under the impression that an oasis was a tiny little “island” in the middle of a desert, usually surrounded by miles and miles of sand dunes. Wrong! The longest oasis in Morocco is 30 miles long and it can be surrounded by mountains. Many towns, like Erfoud, are considered oases.

Second….the mountains. The Atlas Mountains have High, Middle, and Anti sections with peaks in the High Atlas reaching over 13,000 feet. Here in Colorado, once you reach over about 10,000 to 11,000 feet, the treeline stops. In Morocco, there is no tree line…on any of the mountains. They are various colors of rock, sometimes quite beautiful and sometimes just more brown. We drove over the highest pass in the High Atlas called Tizi-n’Ouadi pass at just over 9,000 feet. The views were outstanding.

So on to Casablanca. Casablanca is a port city of about 3.25 million people. Overall, it feels like a large city boasting a section called California that harbors beautiful modern homes, resembling some of the sprawling modern architecture of the American West Coast. But most other parts are high density living in modest and sometimes outright poor high rises. We stopped for lunch at the Boulevard de la Corniche, the French Riviera of the African Continent. As usual, the menu was all in French and Google Translate was hauled  out once again. We got pretty good at deciphering French menus by the end of the trip.

The Hassan II Mosque is the largest mosque in Morocco and the  13th largest in the world. The interior can hold 20,000 people with the exterior courtyards holding an additional 70-80,000 people. About 30% of the mosque is on piers over the ocean and the building boasts a retractable roof. The final cost of the building is unknown but estimated to be around $800 million. Morocco couldn’t afford that price tag so they “asked” the public to donate. Each donor received a certificate for their donation, no matter how small. It is believed that if you needed to get a building permit or something from the city government, you certificate would help the process move along more smoothly.

The mosque was closed so we were not able to see the interior. Since this was one of the  only mosques non-Muslims are allowed in, it was especially disappointing. We also ran into this problem in many of the shops. Since Friday is the Muslim worship day, many shops are closed. Many shops are  also closed on Sundays.

Our tour farewell dinner was held at a lovely coastal restaurant. On the way back to the hotel, we had the opportunity to stop for  drink at Rick’s Cafe, a recreation of the cafe from the movie Casablanca. I had every intention of going but we were going to only get about 4 hours of sleep as it was, so we passed. I have never seen the movie anyways…..

Now, some random pics that didn’t fit in anywhere else”

A few hours sleep and up at 3am to catch our plane. Upon arriving in NYC, we were told by AirFrance that they knew where our luggage was..it just wasn’t in New York. So we called the hotel where I had made reservations a couple of months ago to find out where to catch their shuttle. We were told we couldn’t possibly have reservations since they don’t take reservations anymore and are completely full. So a call was placed to our credit card rewards program who had made the reservations. After being on the phone with them for about 1 1/2 hours, we caught a shuttle to the Hilton which would be on Chase Rewards dime. Our luggage was delivered to our house the next day.

A quick word on the Moroccan economy: Morocco is expensive, much more expensive than anticipated. We bought very little: a few things at the fossil factory, a few trinkets, and a rug. That is it. But between the high prices and their lack of proper packaging to get things home safely, we opted to not buy much. And food at restaurants was also high. It was not uncommon to pay $12 or $13 for a tagine or sandwich. And the quality of the ingredients was not up to the prices being charged.

So, what is the takeaway from Morocco? We never regret taking a trip; there is always something good about it no matter how many things are not good. So we don’t regret going to Morocco. Would we go again? No. Would we recommend it to anyone else? Probably not. I feel like Morocco is like a pig with lipstick on. Parts of it look shiny and new yet judging by the percentage of people on the tour, most of them seasoned travelers, who got sick, I feel that Morocco has a long way to go in the hygiene department. We asked questions about their sewage treatment and garbage policies and our questions were dodged until it was finally admitted that the sewage goes into the ocean or dessert. We know what to eat and what to avoid in foreign countries. Yet I still got sicker in Morocco than by eating street food in India. That tells me that the hygiene practices in their kitchens is the last part of Morocco to join the developed countries ideals.

So that is all…..thanks for reading.  We have no more trips planned right now until next summer. We are looking forward to settling in to our new house and our new  community. Come see us…..