First Impressions of the Red City
Safely arrived in Morocco! Marrakech has one of the most beautiful airports I’ve seen with lovely landscaping (which of course excites me as a plant enthusiast). It is called the red city since almost all the buildings are painted using a warm terracotta reddish or pink hue, so the aesthetic is very different than other major Moroccan cities. This is from the traditional vernacular design of building with beaten clay made from the reddish earth in the region around the city, and had maintained as the city expanded. Thankfully I arrived with another woman doing her dissertation fieldwork in Morocco (but in a different program and partnering with a different organization so we’ll be parting soon). Her fiancé picked us up and we explored the Medina (old walled city) and got lunch at a small café with several roaming cats searching for food scraps around our ankles. I have never been in a place with so many cats! They mostly seem to live in the streets but are fed petted and let alone by residents and tourists. I’m staying next to La Jardin Marjorelle (Marjorelle Gardens) which are so beautiful and also full of many sleeping cats haha. It is a beautiful garden oasis I’m not surprised they like to hang out there.
The energy and masses of people in Marrakech make it a very intense place- but also very exciting and lively. Looking forward to exploring more of the Medina and other historic sites over the next few days before leaving for the mountains to start fieldwork. The High Atlas can be seen to the east of the city, their snowy peaks providing bright relief to the flat urban horizon. Still hard to believe I got support and funding to do a project for almost two months here. Feeling very fortunate and excited for fieldwork!
