I too saw a lot of donkeys, particularly in Fez, but I would liken them more to pickup trucks than taxis. A guy we met in Sidi Rahal had us ride one but it was only for the photo op. We went the rest of our way on foot.

Morocco is indeed a fascinating place, I didnt know about the Hand of Fatima – though i do remember lots of painted hands!

Cheers,
Kevin

@Agness: Yes! You both should go there; as you said, it’s a rich culture! Gee, I wonder if you could do a bike trip there too? 😉

@Maghrebia: Thanks so much for your comment and corrections! I really appreciate them and apologies if there’s been ignorance in my facts. I really did enjoy Morocco and hope to return.

This all makes sense– I was talking to Arab-Moroccans on the Berber topic and there was a feeling of heavy discrimination, which I assumed was quite possibly due to Arab invasion at some point in history. They made that distinction, so I’m glad you’ve corrected me. I’ll make a change in my article! It’s really sad that Berbers in Morocco are seen in such a fashion by the Arab world and yet, every country that’s colonized another seems to have looked down on the natives and made them to seem inferior. tsk.tsk.

The language part was very confusing to me and still is. Probably because of the diversity you just explained– what’s used vs. what’s origin in nature. I actually had to research a bit and found information competing with each other, which again might be due to this Arab-Berber kind of tension, etc… My information was probably more slanted to : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morocco , which obviously isn’t quite correct either. LOL. Thanks so much for your informative guidance!

I’m a Moroccan, mixed Arab and Amazigh (This means the same as Berber, except this is what we prefer to be called as the word ‘Berber’ actually comes from the word ‘Barbarian’ and is disrespectful), and I’d just like to correct a few things here.

What is Moroccans vs Berbers? Berbers in Morocco ARE Moroccans. I think you mean ARABS Vs Berbers. After all, Berbers are the original Moroccans. Which brings me to the next thing i wanted to point out.. Berber isn’t the SECOND language of Morocco. In Morocco we speak Darija, which is a blend of Tamazight (berber language), Arabic, and words which come from various over languages such as French and Spanish. Tamazight is the NATIVE language in Morocco, Arabic is the language brought to us by the Arabs who invaded. French is the second AND official language of Morocco..

But other than that, great post! I’m so glad you enjoyed Maroc. Bslama!

@Andrew: Thanks for dropping by again, Andrew! I’m all for shortcuts and all you need is a little “survival” language basics. French, Spanish, English are the most useful languages to know when you travel. 😉

@Tunimaal: Interesting. Would love to make it out to Tunisia sometime, as well as Algeria. I can’t imagine what a culture shock it must be for you to live in Japan now! Must be interesting being you. 😉 I mostly had the tagine and couscous. I don’t eat meat so I could only watch others eat in the food stalls of Marrakech. The breads were also interesting. I liked it.