Morocco Blogs

If you are like me, one of the big frustrations of living abroad is that you can’t connect with friends and family as easily as you used to. This is true whether you are an expat living in Morocco, or a Moroccan living abroad. In fact, it’s true for your friends and family too.

Sure, I have a cellphone, but I find that making calls even within Morocco is far too expensive to enjoy those long leisurely conversations I used to savor with the people who are closest to me. Frankly, it’s been something that has taken a lot of the joy out of being where I am.

I’ve tried numerous online services like Skype, but I’ve found that most of them won’t let me pay for my minutes with my paypal account from within Morocco or I’ve run into other problems with billing that make it more than a little inconvenient. Even buying cheap international calling cards has been a problem because my cell carrier charges me by the minute even if I call a toll free number.

Bummer right? Well, it was. But all that is behind me now. I finally found the right service in the right place. through trial and error I’ve stumbled on a service that gives me all the flexibility I need and also (with some minor creative thinking) lets me have those conversations back without costing me 85 million dollars. In fact, I just had a half hour conversation with my brother that cost me less than a dollar. He’s in the USA and I’m in Morocco and even with my slower than slow internet connection…we had a clear as a bell conversation with almost no delay and no connection issues.

So, what’s the name of this company I’m suddenly in love with.

Pingo.

With Pingo Soft Phone (the online dialer), you don’t need an access number (or even a phone), just internet connection to dial from Pingo.com for just 1.8 cents a minute.

There are access numbers in 40 countries if you want to use your phone and thier 800 number 1-888-YO-PINGO to call from. Users can also pre-program up to 10 of there phone numbers for quick dialing and speed dial up to 25 of there friends. It’s pretty cool. They offer international calling cards too.

Here are some of the specifics about Pingo.com

Pingo is a virtual phone service of iBasis a publicly traded leading
telecom carrier that delivers over 20 billion minutes a year of
International voice calls. Major phone companies such as AT&T and
Verizon have relied on our high quality and low price advantages of the
iBasis network since 1997.

Pingo is a service you can trust to deliver 100% satisfaction with our
call quality guarantee. Plus you can save up to 90% on International
mobile calls with Pingo EZ Dial for direct phone book dialing. Or try
Pingo Soft Phone for web based dials from over 200 countries for just
1.8 cents a minute.

Go global with Pingo Business or Family plan and control spending with
easy online account management.

Sign up today at Pingo.com to find out why over 95% of our customers
keep recharging to take advantage of the unbeatable rates, quality &
convenience.

Here is a very nice guest blog by the Morocco Shop. We love this sort of great information and don’t mind if you want to share it and the location of your business or website in the process!

Moroccan Artisan Carpets

Morocco’s appeal to travelers is partially that beautiful Artisan items are normally available for a decent price. And, for those gifted with the art of bartering a even better price can be achieved. One of the most sought after items in Morocco are carpets. For those armed with the knowledge of what makes a quality carpet and a basic price range to begin the wheeling and dealing, buying a carpet in Morocco can be a rewarding experience (and make your living room look astounding).

Local Moroccan women who make the carpets often are not the ones who end up selling them. In some small villages, where women’s cooperatives exist, the women are involved in pricing and selling process. They might even have set prices, which are what many travelers prefer, especially if they aren’t into bargaining while sipping tea for two or more hours in a crowded medina alleyway.

Therefore, if possible, attempt to visit a local artisanal shop or women’s cooperative to have an idea of what prices are fair for different types of carpets. One type of carpet is the heavy woolen type that is available throughout the country. In Rabat, which is one epicenter for these types of carpets, travelers can search the medina – which happens to be one of the most laid-back souk areas in the entire country. These types of carpets are different than others you’ll find elsewhere in Morocco because of their design that holds true to basic Islamic Art patterns. Usually, these carpets have one central motif that works its way to a highly detailed border. Before looking at a carpets central theme, look over its border. If it is detailed, solid, and thick, then the carpet will cost more money than another without the same outer-edge workmanship.

Knowing the different prices for carpets is quite difficult. The rule goes: If a buyer is happy with the price, then it is a fair price to pay. While this thought process is a little different for western travelers who would rather have something fixed, you’ll begin to understand the mentality better after a few days’ experience in various marketplaces. An old antique carpet that is more than 50 years old, for example, will be worth quite a bit of money, especially if it has been taken care of and withstood the tests of time. Other, more modern carpets may appear bright and illustrious, but their colors will fade over time – something that actually adds to the original look and feel of the piece. Knowing the difference between what chemical and natural (or vegetable) dyes will help.

Overall, a carpet can be judged by how many knots it has per square meter (or yard). Excellent carpets that fetch the highest prices might have nearly 350,000 knots in it per square meter (or about 300,000 per square yard). This type of workmanship is hard to find, but can be had if one looks hard enough. If a carpet vendor claims that their carpets have more knots than this, then you know that it is a far-fetched tale. Additionally, outside of the Rabat region, carpets vary in length, design, and craftsmanship. With hundreds (if not thousands) of types available, it will be dependent upon your taste and ability to spot a well-made piece that determines what sort of carpet you’ll bring home. These patterns will include geometrical patterning and not have outlandish repetitions of the same design. These carpets are often called hanbels or kilims. Other carpets, which are thicker and well made, are called zaneefi designs, while a shoedwi is a type of carpet that is usually made up of mostly black and white designs.

At Shop Morocco they have a wide range of Moroccan Carpets

What can you do with a Moroccoblogs.com website? You can talk about your travels, talk about your experience, share your writing, share your photos, make a business, or even….work for a good cause.

In honor of International womens day, we are proud to present a blog made by and for women in Morocco. Celebrating women of today, yesterday, and tomorrow. Featuring Education/Politics/ Culture/Creativity, Health/Body/Soul, Opportunities, Support for Women, and Events.

Women4Morocco.moroccoblogs.com

Welcome to Women 4 Morocco, the website and blog created by and for the women of Morocco and launched to coincide with International Women’s Day, March 8 2010.

We invite and encourage you to share your stories here with other women of Morocco. We also welcome your content contributions and feedback.

We hope that you find this site informative, stimulating, nurturing and helpful.

Here’s a useful and interesting blog that chronicles the adventures of a couple of nomad- extraodinaire. We are only looking at the Morocco portion of their travels, but you won’t be disappointed with the photos or the descriptions of their travels…including prices!

Travel Photo Blogging – Morocco

We bought 2 return flight tickets from Venice, Italy to Casablanca, Morocco in advance. Everything else we spent were admission fees, travel (bus, train and taxi rides), food, drink and accommodation expenses, various other shopping expenses (gifts, postcards etc.), a trip to the Erg Chebbi desert and some other things.

Morocco – 3 week expenses (2 persons) Item Expenses
(daily AVG) Expenses
(3 week SUM)
SUM 59 EUR 1.307 EUR
MyAir flight tickets (including taxes) 13 EUR 282 EUR
Travel expenses (bus, train & taxi) 9 EUR 189 EUR
Accomodation (budget hotels) 11 EUR 247 EUR
Food & drinks 16 EUR 351 EUR
Admission fees (desert trip, museums etc.) 8 EUR 167 EUR
Other (gifts, postcards etc.) 3 EUR 71 EUR

It all added up to 1.300 EUR for both of us. On average that’s under 60 Euros per day!
Considering we traveled more then 2.500 kilometers (1.550 miles) around Morocco I’d say it was a bargain. You can check out a detailed map of our trip in this post.

Here’s another Peace Corps blog. The great thing about Peace Corps blogs is that you get to see what it is like for Americans to be totally immersed in Morocco.

Maroc, Je T’aime

Often the volunteers live in remote villages where there are no other foreigners. They interact with the people, they affect and are affected by the culture, and in general there is a genuine love and concern for the people they are working and living with.

Consider the bio of Nicole, the author of this blog:

I’m a 20-something who’s batting for Team I’m Spending My Golden Years in Africa. Seriously, though, I’m a Peace Corps volunteer in the beautiful country of Morocco. I grew up in southeastern Michigan,and graduated in the spring of 2008 from the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) with a degree in linguistics, and Arabic and Islamic studies. After arriving here on 4 March 2009, I trained for two months in the province of Azilal. I now reside in the Tiznit province, which is part of the Souss region.

Official documentation regards me as a cooperante de santé, though I’m serving currently as a waste management infrastructure consultant (which is exactly as glamorous as it sounds, trust me). My village is just shy of 2000 people and we speak Tasoussit, which is a dialect of Tashlheit, which is a dialect that falls under the umbrella of “Berber.”

No, not Arabic — I said Berber. This distinction is very important.

On a personal note, I favor tea to coffee and hand-written letters to emails. I have a borderline-obsession with scarves and I make it a habit to trash talk on a daily basis. Should you want to talk to trash, scarves or hot beverages with me, or if you’re looking for an in-depth analysis of the international postal system

Now consider this recent post in which Nicole admits that she has stolen something from her host family….now this is good blogging!

That’s right, I did it. I slipped something that used to belong to my host family into my pocket and took it home with me. What I did is un-Islamic, unethical, and really, just blatantly wrong. But like I said, it was for the sake of entertainment… so, blame away.

Know that if you laugh, however, the universe will likely consider you an accomplice.

My weekly visit to Host Family was rough today. After nearly breaking a toe whilst wading through the river to get to their house, I found out that Host Mom is ill once again; in fact, she collapsed yesterday evening. Host Mom and Host Dad have hit a rough-patch in their relationship, and the kids were home from school because of last night’s outrageous (and I don’t use that word lightly) thunderstorm.

I thought that I was going to lose my nerve and walk out of the house before lunch was ready until Host Brother – remember him? He’s the cute one that, as of today, still thinks he’s coming back to America with me – presented me with a small instruction manual. Hoping that they were instructions on how to get through lunch with my sanity intact, I opened up the book and took a look.

The booklet was in fact a set of English-language instructions for a recently-purchased washing machine. As I read through the instructions, I couldn’t help but laugh.

…out loud.

…for an extended period of time.

…and at a rather loud volume.

The combination non-native English (remember, folks, that “in order to prevent the clothing the button makes the sound, it’s better to put the clothes with button inside other clothes”) and helpful illustrations (I found the sweating washing machine holding an umbrella and standing under a grimacing sun to be particularly informative) were enough to lift me from my bad mood, put the top-of-the-lungs argument I had just witnessed out of my mind and to even help me enjoy the undercooked, undersalted lentils that we had for lunch.

I got such a laugh out of the booklet that, after confirming that the whole thing was in English and that I wasn’t going to be removing any information crucial for the operation of said washing machine… that I ripped out my favorite page and stuck it in my pocket for a rainy day.