I Have never been able to answer people when they ask me ‘How is Morocco like?’ . I don’t even know where to start from. It is like no other country, in my opinion. It is a land of paradoxes where you can find a little bit of every thing. Well, yes, we sure have the desert and the sand dunes. But we also have snow…yeah yeah there is only a tiny weeny ski resort in Morocco. It is in the city of Ifrane. Which is quite beautiful I must say. The houses are French built so the over all atmosphere is quite interesting. Some say it is a Moroccan version European village. Well, I don’t know about that but it sure is one of the few places in Morocco where you can actually see some real and natural greenery. I say real because it is nothing like the fake, too often temporary, greenery you find in big cities of Morocco. Talking about big cities brings me to Casablanca. Oh, Casablanca!….the mother of paradoxes in Morocco. You got to either like it or hate it. Nothing in between. In Casablanca you can find the best schools of the country, many multinationals and franchises, fancy shopping malls with the trendiest boutiques. But you also encounter numerous beggars, heartbreaking street children , poverty with all its accompanying vices from underage prostitution to illiteracy. Not to mention very polluted air and horrific traffic.
But if you are lucky enough to live in some fancy neighborhood, and there are quite few of them in Casablanca, then you’ll see it’s nothing less than comparable European or North-American ones. Culturally speaking, Casablanca is extremely diverse. Walking the streets of Casablanca, you’ll see everything from full black veiled afghan-style women to teenagers with the latest fashion trends, and everything in between. In Casablanca, snobiness is prevalent and materialism reigns. So dress -and speak appropriately please. You’ll also find thousands more young men and women in cafés than in libraries.

To be honest with you, I am quite ambivalent about Casablanca. I grew up there but I can’t honestly say that I like it. If I were to live in Morocco again, I doubt It’ll be on my list of choices. But when I am in Morocco, every time I come back to Casablanca from my trips to other cities, I almost always can’t help but have a sigh of relief and the following phrase blinks in my mind ‘Back to civilization’. Morocco is quite rural, we must not forget and Morocco’s urban and rural divide is getting deeper by the day. No question about it.

To Be Continued….

N.A.