Hamdullah
Trip Start
Aug 28, 2010
1
13
24
Trip End
Dec 22, 2010
Rabat, Morocco
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Next, we drove back across the river to Rabat and visited the mausoleum of King Mohammed V, one of Morocco's most most honored leaders. Since it was rainy, going up the marble stairs was very tricky. People were sliding all over the place and practically crawling to keep from falling. The mausoleum is adjacent to the famous Hassan Tower, the minaret of an unfinished mosque. Construction of the world's largest minaret and mosque began in 1195, but was stopped only four years later after the death of the sultan. Both the tower and the mosque are far from finished and there are no plans to complete the construction. Instead of stairs, the tower was supposed to be ascended by ramps. The minaret's ramps would have allowed the muezzin (a kind of Muslim priest) to ride a horse to the top of the tower to issue the call to prayer. All that remains at the site are the beginnings of about 200 pillars and a few walls.
Our next destination was Chellah, the most ancient human settlement on the Bou Regreg River. Chellah is the site of the ruins of the Roman town known as Sala Colonia and referred to as Sala by the philosopher Ptolemy. A few different groups inhabited the land after the Romans moved out, but much of the original architecture remains. The ruins are believed to be sacred ground since so many storks nest there. (Storks are the "bird of fertility.") Also, there is a pool filled with eels in one corner of the land. It is an ancient legend that if an eel eats an egg you throw into the pool, you will become pregnant soon. Three people from my group threw eggs into the pool. The eels ate Shea's and Ryan's eggs, but they didn't touch Jenny's. Only time will tell if the legend is true.
We returned to our host families for lunch and met Nate, another American living in the house. He's a college junior and studying Arabic in Morocco for a semester. He was really friendly and gave us a few pointers about that night's trip to the hammam. After more awesome Moroccan food, our host mother and her sons treated us to mint tea on their rooftop terrace. We enjoyed a panoramic view of the medina (walled city) of Rabat and the town of Salé across the river.
After lunch, we joined our Moroccan student buddies and walked around Rabat in small groups with them. Mohammed, my group's guide took us to the beach, to the town's outdoor market, and then to a cafe for coffee. Hanging out with Mohammed allowed us to see how similar us students really are. He joked with his friends and shared many of the same interests we did. Adam made a point to teach him all the Russian swear words he could remember.
We met up with the rest of the group, grabbed supplies for the hammam, and then met at one of the host family's houses to talk with Katy, the other group's leader. Katy was also a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco and she shared some of her stories with us.
Finally, it was time for the hammam. We had no idea what to expect. We had been told by everybody that it is an experience we would never forget and that it was awesome, but they never told us exactly what it was. Curious, we joined a new group of Moroccan students and headed down the narrow streets of Rabat to the hammam. It turns out that a hammam is a traditional Moroccan bath. Well, more like a traditional Moroccan sauna with buckets of steaming hot water on the floor. We stripped down to our underwear and hesitantly started bathing ourselves. Before we knew what was going on, several Moroccan ladies flung us on the floor and started scrubbing us with Brillo pad mits. Chunks of dead skin flung off of us as the ladies scrubbed. It was so gross, but we were getting super clean. By the time we caught our breaths, the ladies rinsed us off and guided us back to the locker room. The rest of the night all we could do was marvel at how soft and clean our skin felt.
After a short walk home, we had another wonderful dinner with our host family and met one more American student, Josh. He is in the same program as Nate, and is fluent in several languages. We finished up our third round of dessert (we later found out that cleaning your plate means you are still hungry) and went to bed, excited for our third day in Morocco.
Comments
Where are the fotos of the bath?