Before coming to Morocco, I had a very romanticized image of Casablanca, small narrow streets lined with red-roofed white houses, open markets and stalls selling exotic things…. And maybe, just maybe, somewhere in Casablanca there is such a neighborhood; but during our first visit there, we sure didn’t see it!! We have finally been in contact with Baha’is here in Morocco, and were invited to their home in Casa for lunch. With GPS in hand, we set out on the hour+ trip down south. The highway drive was interesting. It paralleled the Atlantic Ocean close enough that we sometimes caught a good glimpse of the water. We were also treated with views of people traveling by horse- or donkey-drawn carts, along the road with other cars!
Arriving in Casablanca itself gave a whole new meaning to the concept of crazy drivers!
The streets were crowded with all kinds of modes of transportation from cars to trucks, to bicycles, to mopeds to pedestrians, all viewing lanes and lights as mere guidelines. This happens in Rabat too, but not nearly to the extent as in Casa!
Sometimes people would line up 3 deep right through the whole intersection trying to make a left turn, and it didn’t matter what lane they started in, so when we were on the inside lane, we would be blocked from moving through the intersection by all the cars trying to turn left from the outside lane!
But we made it there and back in one piece, and while we were there, we saw the huge Hasan II Mosque, reportedly the biggest mosque in the world next to the one in Medina, Arabia. It can hold 100,000 people! It was built just 15 years ago, right on the ocean front. Interestingly, just as Baha'i Houses of Worship are to be surrounded by specific services to the community, so to the Mosque has a school and other structures built with it.
As we sat on the sea wall, a young Moroccan boy who goes to school in England approached us asking if he could practice his (perfect) English with us. I think he just wanted to impress his aunt who was with him! So we had a very nice conversation and he was very pleased!
Tomorrow starts week two of work! Yeah!
