Ann Can Fly!

It has been a while since I last made a decent blog post because I have had a wonderful visitor.  My mom came to visit me for 8 days and for both of us it was a beautiful and intense experience.  Her arrival was on Thursday morning and I took a train to meet her in Casablanca at Hotel Volubilis.  We spent a quiet morning enjoying eachother's presence and then had a great lunch of tajine at a restaurant in the old ramparts.  That afternoon my mom was a real trooper.  With very little sleep and some culture shock she was able to wander through the medina, walk along the port to the Grand Mosque, and meander all of the way back because I didn't want to be ripped off by a cab driver.  You will find that my mom's largest adversary on her trip was her stubborn daughter who was actually brought to tears at one point because she didn't want to be taken advantage of.  I suppose my experiences here make me feel deserving of honorary citizenship and I despise being treated like a tourist.

Ann Leslie was a real sport in dressing appropriately through the hot weather in Casablanca and walking endlessly in shoes other than tennis shoes, (sorry about that rule, but I really respect you for dealing with it!!). On Friday we were able to eat each meal in a different city as we left Casa, stopped in Rabat for lunch, and sped up to Tanger for dinner.  I accidentally missed couscous lunch, but we had a nice chicken dinner instead and Leslie had her first taste of avocado smoothie (YUM!).

The silly stairs in our hotel!

In Tanger we were in for a whirlwind trip.  Across Friday and Saturday we were able to walk the important parts of the medina and visit the kasbah, while searching endlessly for wifi and trying to purchase important gifts for friends and family back at home.  All of this we did while trying to resist the limitless bakeries and sweets.  The best parts of Tanger were the hotel room, where we had the third floor to ourselves the first night and the entire roof terrace with a clear view of Spain and the Mediterranean, and the kasbah museum.  The bad parts were the food sickness on my mom's part and the trip to McDonalds for wifi.

Ann Leslie looking beautiful in the kasbah museum garden in Tanger.

 Many train rides later, Leslie and I settled into Rabat on Sunday night for a five night stay at the famous Hotel Balima, across from Parliment in CentreVille.  I finally felt a little relaxed and my mom had some time to herself while I was at school in the morning.  Across the week we made various trips into the medina and around CentreVille for shopping needs, we visited Chellah and the kasbah, and we had many an excellent meal.  Monday night we had dinner with my host family, and boy did they go ALL OUT.  We had expensive dates, harira (the traditional soup for Ramadan), carrot and orange salad, kefta (traditional meatballs), and dEEsert (fruit and yogurt).  Finally we had a traditional meal with communal plates and a tea ceremony with cookies!  I was so glad that my family was welcoming and my host mom made dishes that she knew I loved.

Where Ann Leslie bought spices and promptly threw them out the next day because they "stunk up" the room.

Rabat's famous covered carpet market.  How did I not already take a picture of these things?

Visiting the Mausoleum in Rabat.  Another thing I had not yet accomplished without my mom's influence.

A royal guard at the mausoleum.

Very artistic, mom!

The daily protests between our hotel and Parliment.  Entertainment at its finest.

Cough, cough *TOURIST* cough...

The mysterious beauty of Chellah

Barb, what are these flowers? They smelled like lilac, but they were bell shaped up close.

Wednesday night we had dinner with my friend, Macarena, at a restaurant called Tajine wa Tanjia.  As a celebratory dinner of my acceptance to grad school and my mom's trip to Morocco, we spoiled ourselves.  Among our orders were pear and prune tajines and a dessert of saffron flan and oranges with cinnamon.  During the evening we received complimentary mint tea from our server and a personal serenade from the lute player.  This was all due to my mom's generous tipping the night before.  Oh yes, we went twice!

Cool traveler

My favorite memories of my mom being here will be seeing the Grand Mosque and our hot day in Casa, the view from our room in Tanger, shopping for pottery, and our final discovery in the medina on Thursday.  After a week of being a tour guide my mom showed ME something new about Rabat.  I was grumpy, as I always get when I don't eat and am walking in crowded areas, during our last minute shopping outing.  By 2pm we realized it was time for lunch and my mom claimed she knew of a restaurant in the guidebook which was nearby.  Well, it wasn't.  And when we found it, the place was closed!  A man came out of the house across from the restaurant and began speaking to us.  My mom asked him for directions to another restaurant, (jokingly I want to point out that when I told my friends this story the next day they all GASPED when I said she asked for directions.  They knew immediately this meant trouble).  However, my mom showed me that some people are actually not trying to take advantage of us.  He took us to a very nice, albeit expensive, restaurant across the medina where we got the full tourist run-down.  The restaurant was a converted wealthy residence where we were served REAL couscous and an amazing salad.  Afterward we had oranges with cinnamon again and amazing pecan sandies with cardamom.  As we finished dinner I realized that I had been in the country for exactly 3 month that day!  What a great way to celebrate.  Thank you, Mommy, for visiting and showing me a great time.  You were a great guest.  Come back anytime!