Back in Morocco

After that trip in Senegal, coming back to Morocco really felt like coming back home. Senegal was great and all but I missed the sense of home that Morocco had given me for the first two weeks.  But being back in Rabat gave me the opportunity to see the differences across the two countries. Even though they are both in Africa, the differences can easily be pointed out.

While in Senegal, I believe that the only time we had a real Senegalese meal was when we had lunch with students from the university. I thought it was chicken but it was, in fact, fish. I’m not going to lie: I was a little disappointed.  All the other meals we had were at restaurants and so they were pretty standard (unless spaghetti is a native dish).

I missed my host mom’s cooking. I liked having Moroccan bread for breakfast better than the croissants they had at the hotel. Basically about the food I cant say much because I only had one authentic Senegalese meal.

Another difference in Senegal was the people in general. The vendors were incredibly aggressive when it came to haggling for a price. Fortunately, we had our program director with us to do that for us; but nonetheless, it was a terrifying experience. If you do happen to ever visit Senegal do not even bother asking for the price of something unless you are willing to buy after an extensive session of bargaining. Personally, I don’t like bargaining. I don’t like it because I never know if am paying a fair price for what I want to buy. A lot of these things were handmade and so they could very well be worth the price they are asking for. Perhaps I am too naïve.

Overall, Senegal was definitely very different from Morocco, and moreover, the States. Here are some pictures: