Casablanca - Morocco: Part 2

Catching the train to Casablanca was a trial. We ended up leaving the Medina super late due to a last minute dash to find Noah’s lost keys. We had 5 minutes to find a taxi and then get to the station and get on our train. Of course there were no taxis in the square where there are normally a ton. A guy came up to us and said he was a taxi and could give us a ride. We knew he was not a taxi, but we had no choice so we did it. We got in his dinky car and told him to hurry. I felt like we were one of the contestants in Amazing Race because we were telling him to hurry in every language we could come up with…non of them being Arabic though. Anyway, when we arrived on the boulevard in front of the station we told the driver to stop there and we’d run because there wasn’t even time for him to drive around and get us closer. The ride to the station normally cost 11 Dr…we know because we’d just done it that mornng to buy the tickets. We didn’t have any change though so we decided to be generous and just give the driver 20 Dr. So as soon as we pulled to a stop I jumped out of the back seat with Noah on my hip and my purse, Jeff’s backpack and Noah’s backpack slung over my shoulders. I immediately took off running with Noah and the bags bouncing all over the place. I heard the driver say “no!” and I turned around to see the driver grabbing Jeff’s shoulder and them arguing. Apparently the driver wanted 60 Dr! While they were both yelling Jeff rolled down the window and shouted “Rhia! Let me out!” It turned out that there was no handle on the inside of his door so he couldn’t get out and the guy was holding on to his shoulder. I was already a fair distance from the taxi having expected Jeff to also jump out. I ran back, opened the door, and Jeff popped out. We started a mad dash to the train all the while with the driver yelling after us from where he had stopped in the middle of the main street. We sprinted (well as best as we could in 100 degree heat with a child and bags) into the station searching the billboard schedule as we ran by to see where the train was. Jeff asked an official who pointed to a train. We jumped on it, found seats and then sat there sweating to death. We were 2 minutes late and the train was still there. In the end the train left 20 minutes late…apparently departure times are a suggestion. Arrival times are the same. We were supposed to arrive in Casablanca after 3 hours…we arrived 6 hours later! THREE hours late! There was no air conditioning and we did not prepare for a 6 hour ride. Noah definitely reached his limit, but given that there was nothing else to do we just hung on hoping that train would speed up and stop stopping in the middle of nowhere for what seemed like no reason.

Upon arrival in Casablanca we were happy to find that the temperature was about 15 degrees cooler. We stayed in a really cute hotel and spent the evening eating at a great fancy-schmancy place and then walking along the beach to the mosque. The mosque is one of the more impressive sites that we’ve ever seen. It’s the largest mosque in Morocco and the 3^rd largest in the world (the other 2 are in Saudi Arabia). At night the entire mosque and square were beautifully lit up and full of Casablancan families hanging out until late at night. Noah slept in the Ergobaby while we strolled around and around the square.

The next day we decidedly spent most of our time back at the mosque which is perched right on the edge of the water. We spent hours playing in the square and also took a tour of the inside (it’s the only mosque in Morocco that is open to non-Muslims) and while we were inside they opened the roof which was a really awesome thing to see.

We didn’t do much else in Casablanca because we enjoyed being at themosque. We did manage to squeeze in a super chic lunch at one of the beach front resorts costing us a grand total of 15 bucks and then we took a series of taxis to the train station to head to Marrakech.

Two other lasting memories in Casablanca were our adventures with the little red Petit Taxis and Noah’s guide book. Jeff and I have never been big taxi-takers preferring to walk if possible, but given our lack of time, the super low cost of the taxis, and Noah’s sudden obsession with taking red taxis, we took every opportunity to jump into one. The fun part was that we had to haggle. They’d start out by asking us where we were going and then how much we wanted to pay. Having no clue about distances and costs, we would respond with something ridiculous like 5 Dr (.50 cents) and then act like that’s exactly how much it should cost. Then the taxi driver would appear offended and the haggling would begin. We’d go back and forth and then finally agree to taking a 1 or 2 dollar ride.

Noah’s “guide book” was actually a train ticket that he folded into quarters. He would open it up and read it and then tell us where to go. Sometimes he would just read it randomly and then fold it back up and put it in his pocket. He got miles of entertainment out of the ticket with Jeff and I smiling the whole way.