Safi and El Jadida

Oh, that felt good. Last night, I had by far the best sleep I've had since leaving home for SAS. The beds in the Golden Tulip Hotel were so soft and comfortable. I really needed that, because after Spain and all the traveling we've done so far in Morocco, I've never really had the chosen to recover properly until last night. Breakfast was a very simple meal, only bread and butter for me. We left the hotel around 8:30, and got a driven orientation of the city, which was quite beautiful like Essaouira, and had fortified walls surrounding the old part of town. Right outside of one of the entrances in the wall, we stopped to shop for some pottery (Safi has a reputation to make beautiful pottery). In bought two vases and got an amazing deal for them, because I think the store clerk used a wrong conversion for US dollars to Moroccan Durham (I paid in dollars), so it worked out well for me. After that we headed out for El Jadida, our last trip on this long excursion of ours (another 2-2.5 hour bus ride). When we reached the city, I noticed an immediate difference from all the other Moroccan cities I've seen. This city was much more industrialized, with large factories and phosphate processing facilities, and an expansive port. It was interesting to think about all the different environments I've seen in Morocco: the large city and port of Casablanca, the populated yet traditional Marrakech, the beautiful beaches of Essaouira and Safi, the industrialized El Jadida, and all of the rural areas we've seen in between cities. Our first and only stop in El Jadida was at our restaurant, which was also situated near the beach like the restaurant we had lunch in in Essaouira. After a simple lunch of cheese on toast and salad, and some interesting conversations, we made our departure from El Jadida to Casablanca (another 2 hour bus ride). Seeing the ship again gave us a very relaxing feeling. We all could not wait to get back on board, relax, and get back to the "normal" way of ship life. Saying bye to Lotfi, who got a little emotional, I got back on board (which felt like so long ago since I was last there), dropped my numerous bags, and made my way for dinner. I reunited with Chris, Kathleen, Nick, and Ben, and met a Lifelong Learner (Ken) who was a retired orthopedic surgeon and had a long conversation with him about drama that took place during the trip and education. Next, Nick, Ben, and I headed out again to the Casablancan markets, since we had nothing better to do anyway. It was much more active this night than Thursday night when Noah and I went (because it is not Ramadan anymore). While I got seperated from Nick and Ben, looking for a Morrocan shirt and flag, when I met up with them again I found them with a flag that they got for me. Appartently a man asked them what they were looking for, and when they said they were looking for a Moroccan sticker to put on their laptops, he thought they were looking for a bumper sticker for their car, but came back to them with a Moroccan flag (which made absolutely no sense to any of us, but thats the beauty of it). It's interesting to think how I have gotten both my Spain and Morocco flags in very interesting ways; maybe the same thing will happen when I look for others in their respective countries; that would be very cool. After walking back to the ship, we decided it would be a good idea to get some intense excercise by playing a 2-on-2 soccer match: college roommates (Dino and I) vs. SAS roommates (Ben and Nick). After beeing thoroughly expired :), we watched some comedy videos and made plans for the next day. We have to get up early, as its the last day  in Morocco (have to make the most out of it). I've had fun these 10+ days of traveling in Spain and Morocco, but I must say I'm ready to get back to shipboard life and relax for a few days before Ghana.
-Nimish
September 13, 2010