I never finished the Morocco story, so why don’t we finish that out? 🙂
So, we’re back in business, baby!
After hanging out in Tangier for a pretty long time, it was time to explore a little more. And I met up with our best friend Mohammed!
The main reason we went to Beni-Mellal is just because we were trying to get closer to the Atlas Mountains and Ouzoud Falls. It wasn’t like we were specifically seeking out Beni-Mellal.
But it was actually this cute laid back city. I felt you coulda hung out there for a day or two if you wanted.
The people were incredibly nice (but that was a through line in Morocco).
On the way there, it felt like every diner had a neon sign. (I’m exaggerating. It wasn’t ever one. But lots of places had neon signs!)
So, I don’t know if neon is more popular in that region, and why. But that was a little interesting thing going on there.
One of the ongoing things Mohammed and I used to laugh about was how “Aurora is always asking why – why, why, why Mohammed? Linada, linada [‘why’ in Arabic (I don’t know how you spell it)].”
Because I did always feel like I had a million questions. [e.g. Why is there more neon here than somewhere else?] And most of the why questions, he wasn’t sure. But then he’d turn it around to me, and ask me why certain things were the way they were in America – and so many things, I do not know the reason off the top of my head.
One of the things that stuck with me are the marriage traditions in Morocco. He said that a girl would have to bleed the first time she had sex with her husband. And people would wait for them to bring a veil or something with some of the blood on it, so everyone could celebrate.
And that just felt so invasive. And not *everyone* always bleeds. And if she didn’t, the husband might divorce her. So, I dunno. It seemed a little stressful as a woman in Morocco.
But, hey, I don’t live there!
Anyway, we’ll continue on tomorrow!