Anirudh Tomer

Anirudh Tomer

I enjoy conducting scientific work, visiting mountains, cooking, landscape photography, and solving problems. I am currently doing statistics/machine learning in the field of medical science and biology for a living.

Morocco (2019)

Our good experiences in Israel motivated us to visit a desert landscape once again in December 2019. We chose Morocco because it was relatively easy to reach with a direct flight from the Netherlands. Given our inexperience in a desert landscape and the desire to see the country, we chose a 5-day car tour with a personal guide. The journey with a knowledgeable guide and meeting different people in Morocco gave me a new perspective of North Africa and the Berber people. Overall my wife and I fell in love with the country and would love to revisit it.

Trails

Multiple short walks in hamlets in Sahara.

Food

Food in Morocco was a source of dissatisfaction for my vegetarian wife. Restaurants and Riads in Marrakech and guest-houses around the country often cater to the rather bland western palate, given many European tourists in the country. Many restaurants create a 5 min steam in the Tagines and serve pre-cooked cold meat hidden inside. On the other hand, hidden in plain sight, the most delicious food in Marrakech was Bisarra soup with Msemmen (it is like Indian Paratha). It was served with mint tea from 5 am onwards at the shanty roadside shops. There were hardly any tourists at these eateries, which was not a surprise given the hygiene. I found it interesting that they served cumin powder alongside salt instead of black pepper. A red chili paste called Harissa was available at request. I found that Moroccan olive oil had a much pungent smell and flavor, unlike any other olive oil I had before. It is perhaps attributable to the desert landscape. Food in the Saharan towns had the same pattern as in Marrakech. That is, the fancier the restaurant, the worse the food. Genuine, humble tasty food was always hidden in plain view. Surprisingly the driver never complained about food because there was always a different menu for him which contained many tasty dishes.

Transportation

We always took taxis in Marrakech, much against my desire to try local buses. Haggling for taxi prices was acceptable and expected.

People

People of Morocco were very similar to Indian people in their behavior. Overall very friendly, and having brown skin always helped me to blend in.

Special Experiences

Live music and dance with Berbers at a camp in the desert, driving through the Sahara listening to Tinariwen, my wife getting fined by highway Police for not wearing a seat belt, spectacular desert sunrise and sunset, perfect blue sky with cloud streams, night sky full of stars, fossils being sold for pennies in the Sahara, the beautiful Muslim Azan played over the loudspeakers, a delicious meatball Tagine prepared at a home-restaurant, sometimes kilometers of open space near the highways covered in plastic, and finally the shock of the amount of filth in Casablanca. Morocco had everything.