Morocco, you have won my heart

DAY 1

I love Morocco. It was definitely a better experience than Egypt. Don’t get me wrong, Egypt was awesome, but the experiences and the general atmosphere of Morocco suited me better. I had originally planned on doing 2 trips: Casablanca city orientation on the first day and the second day I was going to go to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. However, I really wanted to make it to Marrakesh for at least a day. I wanted to go hiking in the Atlas Mountains and I heard that Marrakesh is one of the best cities to get a real Moroccan experience.  So I sold my trips and my friend Katie and I booked 2 nights in a hostel in Marrakesh.

We left the ship and headed to the train station. We had heard earlier that it might be a good idea to get first class tickets… yeah we didn’t. That was kind of a mistake. Our group of 7 for the train was split up and then the 2 other girls I was with and I ended up standing for the first 2 ½ hours of the 3 hour train ride. First we were standing in the front of the car by the bathroom and then we moved to the aisle outside of the compartments to wait for available seats. We should have just stayed standing! It was so hot in the compartments. The sweat just soaked through everything you were wearing. Cute huh?

The train station in Marrakesh is really nice. It looked practically brand new and of course there was a KFC and a McDonalds there. We got a cab into the medina to find our hostels. The taxi dropped us off outside of the Djemaa El-Fna which is the main square in the Medina. It was packed with women doing henna, snake charmers, people selling dentures (and single teeth?), and guys with monkeys. It was really sad to see the monkeys. They were all on leashes and in cages. The snakes were definitely ill treated as well. They were handled too much and you could tell that they were sick.

Long lines of fresh squeezed orange juice booths ran across the empty square. I don’t think you could have really found orange juice in containers in any of the countries we went to except maybe Croatia at the supermarket and maybe Varna, Bulgaria. The women doing henna were intense too. We learned the hard way that they will just come up to you and draw on any available part of your body and request being paid. She grabbed Katie’s arm and drew and then asked for 200 Dirham for each (she drew on me too). We paid her 100 each which was still way too much but only because she wouldn’t let us go.

The girls we were with actually had directions to their hostel from the square where as we only had directions to the square. So we decided to go with them and then ask for directions since it wasn’t supposed to be that far away. The experience was a prime example of language barriers! The woman that owned the hostel spoke Arabic and broken French and there were 2 other tourists there, both from Paris. One spoke Arabic and French, the other spoke French, broken Arabic, and English and no one on our end spoke anything but English. So we were talking to the one girl that spoke English and French. She was then talking to the lady in French and broken Arabic and was asking for help in French to the other girl that spoke Arabic. It was hilarious. But we were eventually told to just head to Café France.

We headed down the alley and eventually found our way to the Riad Rahba which owned our Hostel. We checked in and followed the guy back down the alley and down another alley to our hostel. It wasn’t that bad. We were taken upstairs to a room with 5 beds in it… bed is a general term really. They were these foam mattresses that had body imprints in them. The different rooms on the top floor shared a bathroom which again wasn’t bad. We weren’t really planning on showering maybe just a quick rinse. Especially since we wanted to go hiking the next day. After checking in, we went back to the Riad to book our tour to the Cascades d’Ouzoud the next day. Then we went out into the square for dinner and to shop.

Dinner was alright. I just had some sort of pasta and then we went into the souks which were Morocco’s version of the bazaar in Turkey and Egypt. I must say, they were definitely better than both Egypt and Turkey. They were really clean (well as clean as you can get in Morocco) and there were so many different shops. The people were also a lot nicer. We didn’t get screamed at as much. Most of the shop owners greeted you when you walked in and then let you alone until you asked about something. They had semi-reasonable prices too. Bargaining is definitely an art! You have to get over feeling bad about asking for something for a lower price and when they laugh at you, you just have to get over it and keep asking for the lower price. They usually buckle in the end. We didn’t really get anything that night, we just wanted to gauge prices and stuff. Later that night after getting lost in the souks (which were 3 stories and outside) we walked through the square again to see the difference between day-life and night-life.

And boy was it different! In the time that we had spent in the souks, the square had completely transformed. People had set up little restaurant grill places EVERYWHERE just rows and rows of them and then there were rings of people watching drum performances and others were playing some carnival games. The number of people had easily tripled since the afternoon. We watched some kids try and get these rings that were attached to giant fishing poles around the neck of soda bottles. It was practically impossible to win! We met a guy there named Rashim who talked to us a bit about the square and the music that was going on (Berber music – the people from the villages in the mountains) and he told us about his travels in the US. We decided to grab some cokes up on the terrace of a café on the outside of the square to see exactly what we had just fought our way through. The view from above was breathtaking. There was easily over 5000 people in this square just EVERYWHERE eating and drinking orange juice, playing games, playing music and listening to music, dancing, everything. It was amazing and definitely something you have to experience when in Morocco! It was really nice to relax in the cool air too after a long day of sweltering heat (and wearing pants). It was even cold enough for a sweater. After sitting atop the room and watching this scene for an hour or so, we headed back to the hostel to get some sleep before our hike the next day.

DAY 2

We woke up at 7am to get ready for our hike. We headed to the hotel that we had booked the hike through and waited for our guide to show up. The cost of the hike wasn’t bad. It was 300 dirham for transportation to and from the area which was a little over a 2 hour drive. 300 Dirham translates to about 37.50 which really isn’t bad for a driver to and from the area. The drive was fine. It was still chilly out, so the breeze in the van was welcomed. We stopped about ½ way through the drive to grab water and for a bathroom break before arriving. The scenery was great. It kind of reminded me of Chile with the mountainous terrain that was all desert like and sandy and covered in different desert trees and cacti. The countryside was stunning in it's own way. We drove past and through several Berber villages and everything. I started wondering about the nearest hospital. I don’t think they really have doctors or anything in these small villages. Just curious. I wish I had a chance to talk to one of the locals about this. Driving through Morocco it was easy to see that agriculture was their main means of income for the entire country. There were different farms everywhere. I don’t really know what they were growing, but farms were littering all of the valleys around the river beds (which were dry).

We got to the village where the waterfall was and were greeted by a tour guide. All together for our group of 5 it was another 300 dirham which was about $8 each. Really? Haha $8 for a tour guide around the waterfall is REALLY good. Especially compared to some of our other tours such as the Vatican. He was really nice too and it was convenient that he spoke English and French since the family we were with spoke only French. We walked through these wild olive groves and along the river until we clambered over this wall to find ourselves standing on the edge of this steep cliff with the waterfall directly to our left. It was gorgeous. I mean, I’ve been to Niagra falls and it’s amazing since the falls are so big and grand, but this was beautiful in a different way. The earth was red and there was green all around the area since it was damp pretty much all year and it was one of the few places that lush vegetation grew in the country. The falls were broken into different parts too, it was just beautiful!


















We hiked down the side of the cliff on the one side of the falls and learned about the different plants and trees in the area. All of which were medicinal or had some other cosmetic or food use. Our tour guide picked us some fresh Lavender. It smelled amazing. It was amusing to see that instead of using refrigerators, the little cafes and such around the river and falls just let the cold spring water run over the bottles. It was really cool watching their different engineered set ups to get water over to the bottles or to different areas of the camp sites. Yes camp sites. Apparently it’s a big thing to rent a camp site and camp near the falls for a few days for vacation in Morocco. We walked across the river at the bottom of the falls and watched all of the local and visiting Moroccan children and boys swimming in the water. None of the women were swimming, just dipping their feet in. Which was normal for me now since we had been to Egypt and Turkey before now.


We ate lunch at a little restaurant near the falls. We had some sort of chicken kabob with curry seasoning, fries, and fresh melon for desert. And no GI issues! I stocked up on my pepto before and after every meal to avoid issues with my stomach, but I do know a lot of my friends did get sick. Which is completely understandable because there are really no food handling laws and water purification laws for a lot of the places in Morocco. Well I don’t know of any. Probably something else that I should look into. That could have been an interesting global studies paper topic… oh well… ANYWAY…

After lunch we headed back to the top of the falls. On the way, we had a chance to feed peanuts to the wild monkeys that lived in the trees around the camp sights. They were so cute! The one monkey just grabbed all of our peanuts and stuffed them in his mouth before the other one came. There was even a baby monkey climbing and swinging around in the trees!

We got back in the van and then all passed out on the way back to Marrakech. When we got back, we went back to the hotel and met up with Rachel. Up until now, I haven’t mentioned that I did spend the last 9 hours not knowing where my passport was exactly. So here is the whole story. I had to have my passport with me since I was staying in a hotel. I kept it in my money belt for safekeeping. And I haven’t actually worn my money belt since being in Italy since I bought a purse that I could keep tucked under my arm, zipped, and in such a way that they would have to tear it off of me and touch me to open it, so I had just been keeping my money belt in my purse.

ANYWAY, I had the ticket for the hike in there and when we got to the hotel, I had to show it to them. I did and then I THOUGHT I put it back in my purse. Apparently I didn’t because when we got to the van I had realized that I didn’t put it back in my purse but thought that I had put it in my book bag which was under the main desk at the hotel. So I spent the day pushing this to the back of my mind and everything until I got back to the hotel and could actually do something about it. So here we are. Katie and I met up with Rachel at the hotel. I grabbed my bookbag right away and pulled everything out of it in both pockets realizing that I had indeed, misplaced my money belt. Not only did I not have my passport, but I didn’t have my credit card or ship board ID card with me either. Those were both in there along with another 300 dirham. Go me right? I ran down to the desk and asked them if anyone had turned in a passport. Both of the guys working there got really worried and then started checking through all of the drawers and everything. It wasn’t there. No money belt, no passport. I ran into the lobby of the hotel where there were a bunch of cushioned benches and tables that we were sitting at that morning and checked under all of the cushions and under the bench. Just when I had given up hope, I found the waist belt of the money belt poking out from under the table cloth. WOW. I was SO lucky… no one had taken it. I don’t even think anyone had seen it. I had just saved so much money and stress! (Haha aren’t you glad I didn’t tell you about this when it was happening mom?) So that is how I almost lost my passport.

Rachel, Katie and I went out and did some shopping and then had some more dinner and hung around the square a little more. It was really relaxing and fun. I got some shirts and this awesome cushion for my apartment. It was a pretty eventful and tiring day.

DAY 3

Today we woke up around 9 and rinsed off again and headed back out into the market after checking out. We wanted to get some last minute shopping done, hit up the internet café and then get back to the ship in time for dinner. Which all worked out very well. I got a pair of earrings, a cheaper henna (only 50 Dirham for my calf/shin/foot), and some other random things. We got a cab back to the train station, had a McDonalds lunch, and then hopped back on the train. The 1st class section was sold out, so we had to sit 2nd class again, but since Marrakesh is the first stop, we were able to secure seats for the entire journey. We were extremely lucky to have a girl in our compartment from Morocco who had gone to an American high school in Marrakesh and who goes to college in Ohio. It was really great talking to her about the differences between Morocco and the US and everything. She said the main thing she misses when she is at school is the food in Morocco. I am glad we had a chance to talk to her, she was really nice and gave us some ideas of where we should go in Casablanca and other cities we should visit if we make it back to Morocco. After our long train ride back, we got a cab back to the port and then the shuttle back to the ship. The rest of the evening we just relaxed and took nice long showers.Or two.

DAY 4

Today was pretty uneventful. We just went out to the shops around the area in Casablanca. We all had to spend the last of our money since the currency in this country was controlled. Meaning we are not allowed to really take it out of the country. So I got some more jewelry, added to my henna and got a coke in a glass bottle so that I could save it! It looks really cool with the Arabic on it. I wanted pillow cases too for my couch and ended up getting 3 for 150 dirham (about $19). He originally wanted 140 for 1, so I think I did pretty well. After that we just went back to the boat and chilled on the 7th deck.

 

Overall I really enjoyed Morocco. I think I will definitely return. There are so many things that I want to do and places to go! I would love to go back to Marrakesh too. I felt a lot safer here than I did in Naples, Italy and in Egypt.  It felt a little cleaner than Egypt as well which was very welcome! Anyway, so we’re on our way back to the states now! And I should probably get to writing my papers!!!!

Sunrise at the Pyramids

Day 1

I am not going to lie, I didn't do much today. My head cold that EVERYONE on the ship has finally caught up with me, so I slept in and just lounged around on the 7th deck until everyone returned from their trips. I didn’t really want to go anywhere anyway since I was alone and this really isn’t where you go wandering around alone, especially if you’re a girl.

But, when I went on my ATM adventure with Rachel, I saw that almost everyone was in a full hijab with only their eyes showing. Those that were not, wore headscarves and full body coverage. Only very seldom did you see a younger girl, around our age, in only a long skirt and long sleeve shirt and nothing over her head. It was definitely different than Turkey. I was hit on by a 10 year old boy! We walked past him and he started screaming after us, asking us what our names were and how we were pretty. It was interesting.

I talked to one of my friends that did a city orientation, and he said that he drove past the beautiful beaches and the women were all swimming in full dress including head scarves unless it was a private beach for a hotel. My other friend Katie was on a tour of the library of Alexandria and she stubbed her toe on the stairs and at the top she bent down to check it because it was bleeding, and she said when she stood up, 3 men were standing right in front of her and asked her if they could take her picture and when she said no, they took it anyway. She then looked around and guys were just taking pictures of her on their cell phones. That is so awkward.

During pre-port, we had one of our fellow students, a girl that is from Cairo originally, speak to us about it. She said, very bluntly, that men will come up and touch you if you make eye contact. They know it’s not OK and if you scream they will go away, but they will grab you. Definitely different than any of the countries we’ve been to before.

So the next few days should be interesting. A lot of my guy friends are on 5 day trips and others are just staying in Cairo for a few days so that limits the extent to which I’ll be going out. I know sounds lame, right? But I would rather wait for them to get back than to go out with just a group of me and two other girls and have the sun go down and us still a good ½ hr from the ship.

Day 2-3

Cairo was pretty intense, not going to lie. First we left Alexandria and drove down to Cairo, which took about 2 ½ hrs. It was really interesting driving through the countryside. You would see these gated communities that were made up of condos and such, then nearby a billboard advertising the community and it would not look anything like what you actually saw. No green grass and trees, no shopping centers and pools. Just homes, some unfinished, sitting around in the sand with maybe one or two palm trees scattered here and there. Then outside of the gated/walled communities were some fields growing crops and then small shacks built with reeds that people were living in. The poverty here is really bad, especially since the recession hit. It wasn’t as evident in this part of the countryside as it was around Cairo.

Coming into Cairo, the city just sort of sprung up slowly. The apartment buildings and the roads are all covered in a layer of sand and dirt. Most of the thinner inner roads were just dirt roads and not paved which was different than any other city that we’ve been to or that I’ve seen. About 90% of the buildings were unfinished too. Anywhere from no glass in the windows to even the stairs leading to nothing where the next story should be, or sometimes just beams that should holding up the ceiling over another story holding up air instead. Our tour guide explained to us that people would never finish their homes and buildings because if they were unfinished, they didn’t have to pay taxes. It was really interesting. Maybe only a handful of the apartment buildings were finished and they were all the older ones.

Cairo’s streets and everything were covered in litter and mud/dust. There were people EVERYWHERE.  Usually at some point in time in a city, you drive through an area that is nice such as a business district or the rich district. We did a lot of driving around in the city, and I saw nothing like that. The business buildings were surrounded by dirty side streets and unfinished apartment buildings and homes. The areas around the pyramids and the sphinx and other tourist areas were just as dirty and poverty stricken and litter covered. The dust is to be understood since the city is situated on the edge of the great Sahara desert, but the litter is awful.

It was really weird driving around and seeing that some people even had livestock while living on the edges of the city and camels. Where did they keep them!? It was more understandable in the homes that were farms on the flood plain on the edge of the Nile, but these were just random homes with sheep flowing out of them. Gotta do what you gotta do I guess!

Our tour guide was very informative. She talked to us about the way the women dressed and said that the full face covering was something bad that was brought to Islam. I was unaware that it was a bad thing, but she said it was a habit that Muslims learned from the Bedouins who covered their faces from the sand. Instead they adapted it to make their women cover their faces so that no one could look upon them save the husband. She told us that when praying or making the pilgrimage to Mecca, your face must be uncovered. I didn’t know this about Islam, I just thought it was something that was just done. I do wonder about the lifestyles of those that do cover their faces and those that don’t and those that wear form fitting clothing instead of the full hijab. It would be really interesting to learn about the differences in their faiths, families, and how they were raised.

We also learned that there are 75 million people in Egypt and that there are about ½ million more men than women. Bedouins marry around the age of 14 or 15 and their dowry is in the form of camels. I was told by the one shop keeper that he would give me 1000 camels for my friend Rachel. I asked him what I would do with 1000 camels and his dad said he was lying and that he didn’t even have 1 camel. Needless to say, I still have Rachel. Bedouins can also have a second wife when the first reaches the age of 40. After that, the second wife, usually around 25 or so, keeps the house and takes care of things, while the first wife is the supervisor, so they usually encourage a second wife. Hey, I would too!! They also treat their small boys/sons with venom from poisonous snakes (except the Viper) and scorpions like a vaccine, so when they are older, they are basically immune to the venom. I thought that was really interesting. Murderers, Rapists, terrorists, and drug dealers are all executed for their crimes. Apparently drug dealing, of anything even hashish, is punishable by death. Pretty crazy! Especially since we don’t even put to death those that have murdered and raped in the States.. then again sometimes we don’t even keep them in jail. They’ve reformed! Put them on probation! The gun restrictions in Egypt are very strict. To carry a gun you have to apply for a license and you have to meet many criteria such as living in the country, using it for hunting or if you have a high risk job. The initial license is $5000 and then each year you must renew it and it’s still a few thousand dollars to renew. And that is USD not Egyptian pounds!

She taught us about a few of the images in Egyptian culture too. The scarab beetle is a sign of good luck and wealth. If you see a scarab beetle, a great fortune will come to you. The ancient Egyptians saw it only out during the day, pushing it’s egg in front of it, so they believed that the sun god was a scarab beetle that pushed the sun across the sky during the day. Today’s version of the devil, the red guy with the fork and the spiked tail, is from ancient Egypt. She taught us about cartouches, which are pendants with your name written in hieroglyphics. Each letter adds a different characteristic to your personality. So if you have an A in your name, you have the characteristics of an eagle – powerful and strong. She only told us a few of them, but there was a paper passed around with each of their meanings, I was sleeping at the time though, oops! If you have a double of a letter, it means that that characteristic is very strong in your personality. J – which is a snake – means intellect, L – the lion – means you’re controlling and bossy, m – an owl – means you are wise, and B – the mouth – means you’re very talkative.

Anyway, so on to things that I actually did in Egypt!

On the first day of my 2 day Cairo visit, we first visited the Step pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, the oldest pyramid on earth and the one that lead from the mastaba shaped pyramids to the smooth great pyramids. After walking around there, we went to visit the Mastaba of Ti which is one of the best decorated mastabas from the old kingdom. They did a great job preserving the drawings etched into the outer layer of plaster on the inner walls. We had a chance to go inside and walk around the tomb. It was really cool to see the pictures depicting life back in Ancient Egypt. One of the best things about visiting this site was actually seeing the boarder between the Sahara desert and the flood plain/oasis on either side of the Nile. The fertile land and all of it’s green trees and grasses just hit an invisible barrier and the desert stretches on and on after that.

After this we headed back to Giza to get some lunch at a hotel that had a view of the great pyramids. It was crazy just driving past them. I mean, in Italy there were roads just kind of driving around the Coliseums and such, but these are one of the ancient wonders of the world, the only ones still standing, and there is just a road driving right in front of them.

After lunch we headed to the Archaeological museum in Cairo to see different statues and treasures from each of the dynasties that ruled over Egypt starting in 5000 bc! Some of the statues there were SO old and preserved very well. We went upstairs and the rumor was that King Tut’s stuff including his mask were in San Francisco. NOT! They were all here except a few random things and his mummy, but his mask, all of his sarcophagi and jewels and everything were here! We had a chance to walk around and check them out including the 4 gold plated, stone burial chambers. It was really awesome just staring at his mask that they found covering his head and shoulders in the grave. We walked around the museum a little longer. Saw some mummies including some mummified animals like a giant alligator and this really HUGE Nile perch. People back then mummified everything! There were mummified snakes and cats and birds and random things. Its ridiculous to think about how they came up with ways to do this. The scientific research that must have gone into determining the best embalming formula and the best way to get all of the organs out of the animals and humans. Really gross at the same time.

Following this, we checked into our really amazing  hotel, The Conrad, watched, in English, Pirates 3 and then went to watch the famous light and sound show at the great pyramids and the sphinx. Definitely not what I was expecting. I don’t know… We were told that people fly from around the world to see it and everything, but I just wasn’t as impressed as I thought I would be. I mean it was really cool, but they just lit up the pyramids in different colors and projected slides and some short movies on the wall of the temple and some colors on the sphinx while some Egyptian music played and the story of the ancient pyramids was told. It was great as far as educational value and to give yourself a sense of how incredible the pyramids and everything were and how much history happened at the foot of the sphinx, but if you want something outrageous and entertaining, this really wasn’t it. It was good, but no crazy lazer show.

We FINALLY had dinner around 10pm and headed straight to bed since we had a 4am wake up call planned!

The next day, well morning, the phone woke us up at 4am sharp. After showering and watching some High School Musical 2, we headed downstairs and grabbed our box breakfasts and went out to the bus. We napped a bit on the way to the pyramids. They opened the pyramids at 6am for Semester at Sea Only! WE were going to be the only people there to watch the sun rise over the pyramids. Pretty sick huh? We got there and it was a little brighter, and then we watched as the sun slowly climbed over the 2nd pyramid. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. Of all of the SAS trips I’ve taken and all of the things I’ve seen and done, this was definitely the best. You can’t really top watching the sun poke it’s head around one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world while you sit on a brick wall in the Sahara desert. If you can think of something, name it!

It was really amazing and words just can’t describe how you feel when you just watch the pyramids. It was really cold there too. I definitely appreciated that. It’s been so hot everywhere. But that’s beside the point. We took pictures and then we headed down to an area between the 1st and 2nd pyramid where we had more photo opportunities. From here, we got tickets to go inside of the pyramid, but first we went back up to the panoramic view and had a chance to ride a camel. Which was awesome. I’m kind of sad that I didn’t sign up for the 4 day camel trek and camping in the Sahara in Morocco, but I think I’ll live! The 10 minutes I was on the camel was good enough I suppose. My camel was pretty chill; I liked him.

After this we headed back to the 2nd pyramid to go inside. Quite the experience. It was so hot in there and there was next to no oxygen. Our tour guide warned us that we shouldn’t go in if we have any sort of respiratory issues, heart diseases, anything, because she had someone die in there who had a history of heart disease. It’s really short, but it’s really difficult to breath. You climb down this ramp while you’re crouched over and then get to the bottom and walk a few steps before your crouching over again and climbing up to the burial chamber which is this giant room with the date that it was discovered painted on the wall. You just look around a bit, take it all in, maybe lay in the stone burial chamber and then head back out the way you came in. It was pretty awesome to think that I’ve been inside of a pyramid!

After this we headed to the bazaar.  We were given far too much time there. I got a sweet coin skirt though that’s about it. Perfect for belly dancing class! We were all tired and hungry after waking up so early and it was getting hot outside.

We headed to the Nile after this and our boat cruise/belly dancing show. It was really interesting. The food was OK. I realized I’m not really a fan of Egyptian food.Well at least what we were served. The boat was really cool though and it had a deck where we could sit and watch as we cruised up the Nile. After this we all boarded the buses and headed back to Alexandria. Everyone was basically passed out on the bus, it was hilarious. We were all so exhausted.

After getting back to the ship, we had dinner, and then me, Rachel, and Erin went out to the shops by the port and got some souvenirs and our cartouches. They sold the cartouches on the bus, but they were more than double the price of Muhammad’s and I really liked his better. I’m really excited to get mine! He’s bringing me a hand made leather chain too. He was really cool. He gave us free shot glasses and the other shop keepers gave us bags and bags of things for like $10 USD. It’s nice to not have to really leave the area. I know I should be more outgoing and everything, but the bit of time I did spend outside of the port area was pretty insane. I’ll probably head out the last day for a bit or today or something. Depends on what time Nate gets back from Cairo. Hopefully he’s still alive after staying in a hostel!

Overall this has been a good trip to Egypt. I wish I would have had a chance to get to Sharm el-Sheikh, the beach resort town on the Sinai Peninsula. Tim is there now. I’m jealous. Some of the best snorkeling in the world is around there! The Red Sea is supposed to be amazing. Maybe next time when I come back to Egypt!

I’m not sure I’ll make it back to Cairo. I would like to see Luxor, but mainly the Sinai Peninsula. It was a 10 hour bus ride from Cairo and Cairo is a 3 hour train ride to Alexandria, so I would have had to go the first day and come back the 4th/5th day and I probably still would have gotten dock time. I think in Morocco, I’m just going to go to Marrakech for the first 2 days and then chill in Casablanca the second 2 days. I’ll have to see what’s going on with everyone. Most of my friends are doing the 4 days trips again. I would like to get into the Atlas Mountains as well. Well we have 5 days between Egypt and Morocco to figure that one out!