No Regrets!

The heat, the sand between your toes, the hotel pools, the smells of the medina… It all feels real in the moment, but when you get home, it all feels like it was just a dream.

Now that I’ve been home a couple of days, I’ve been able to collect my final thoughts on Morocco:

• In the Moroccan heat, the only way to be refreshed is to buy a cold bottle of water and hope it stays cold for more than 30 minutes. The only other safe refreshments are cold fruit juices or ice cream, but eventually need some good, old-fashioned water. It gets old always drinking luke-warm water and having to pay anything you want something cold.
• A chain like Robek’s or Tropical Smoothie Cafe or a place with coffee drinks blended with safe ice strategically placed next to popular tourist hotels would make a killing.
• A smoggy haze seems to hang over the whole country, even on the fringes of the Sahara. The haze seems to dull the sun a bit, but it also seems to lock in the humidity.
• I’m shocked at how little recycling there is in Morocco. Mohamed insisted that there is a lot of recycling, but I didn’t see recycling bins anywhere and I found empty water bottles littering the ground everywhere.
• Really impressed with the quality of cellular and wifi throughout the country, even in the remotest areas. Morocco has been labeled a developing third-world country, they seem to have made some great strides in this department.
• There are frequently no address numbers and few street signs, making the phone indispensable for city navigation.
• Lane markers and red lights are just suggestions, and pedestrians… they just do whatever they want.
• The people of Morocco are warm, friendly, and peaceful. They have smiles on their faces and seem to be just as friendly with each other as they are with tourists. Every one of them, from tour guides to taxi drivers to merchants to airport security, enthusiastically invited us to come back to Morocco again someday.
• Muslim history and modern-day culture is interesting and neatly integrated with other religions and society as a whole. People who hate Muslims should come to Morocco.
• Berber script looks like an alien language.

In the end, aside from some mild gastrointestinal distress, Lindsay and I agree that this was great trip. Would I go to Morocco again? Maybe, but only if I visit places I missed, like Tangier, the Strait of Gibraltar, and Chefchaouen.

After an altercation with drivers at Dulles Airport, a ridiculous customer service episode at my local Home Depot, and a few minutes of our obnoxious TV, it didn’t take long for me to be reminded how loud, miserable, and arrogant Americans can be and that a lot of things are just… better in other countries. I can’t wait to get out there again.

And after a couple of days back home, my poops are back to normal. Thanks for asking.