Independence, Rabat, and Soup

Today is our final day in Casablanca, Morocco. I wished we could have stayed longer because the ocean-side city was so beautiful and staring out into the Atlantic Ocean, knowing that the Americas are just one body of water away, felt surreal. That morning, I woke up at around 7:30 am in order to get breakfast (I ate three small croissants and an omelet) before our scheduled meeting time of 8:45 am.

Our first stop of the day was to a large pharmaceutical company called Pharma 5. We were given a lecture by Yasmine Benamour, the general secretary, on the role that the company played in Morocco’s “health sovereignty.” She explained that Pharma 5 produces 470,562,819 units of medicine per year, most of which are “general drugs,” the identical copies of medicines after their patent have expired and can be sold at a more affordable price. One of the major points that Yasmine mentioned was that the Moroccan government promotes the use of generic drugs because they can be made in the country whereas patented medicines are expensive to import. By promoting Moroccan-made medicines, they are able to support their goal of “health sovereignty” which is to not rely on other countries and instead be able to manufacture and distribute their own drugs. I think that their self-sustainability efforts to achieve independence is really admirable, even when they don’t make much profits (generic brands mean cheap prices and lower returns for the company) and I hope to continue to see them grow!

Motivational sign inside of Pharma 5 (I think this really shows what their goals are as a company!)

After our visit to Pharma 5, we drove to Rabat where we stopped for a quick lunch. We were located near a river where locals were jumping off the ledge into the shining blue water and the strong winds were blowing away the umbrellas placed outside of restaurants. Some of us ate at a cafe called Blue River and I ordered the Pasta Carbonara. We then met our tour guide who first brought us to the Caspa, a wall built in the 12th century to protect Rabat made out of tan rocks and stone. Inside of the wall, there were rows of white houses and stalls selling magnets, artworks and other souvenirs. Afterwards, our tour guide brought us to the Andalusian Garden, a previous royal residence for the ruler Moulay Ismail, with luscious green bushes and beautiful wooden archways that lead to a flower garden. The last place we visited was the Hassan Tower (it’s construction stopped at 44 meters after the Sultan died) and the Mausoleum of Mohammed the 15th (a large white building with intricate patterns carved into the stone and inside is the resting place of the king).

Me in front of the super windy ocean in Rabat :)

The beautiful plants and residence in the Andalusian Garden

This concluded our short visit in Rabat and we headed back to our homestays in Meknes. For dinner, my host mom Hajiba prepared a dish called “شوربه بالخضر.” (vegetable soup) made with potatoes, carrots, squash, leek, rosemary and cheese (I asked her for the recipe). I think this is my favorite dish I have eaten in Morocco so far because the warm soup was so comforting and you can taste all of the spices and vegetables blended in the soup! After finishing our dinner, I went back to my room to start writing this blog and that is the end of our day in Casablanca and Rabat!

Our dinner aka THE BEST SOUP I'VE EVER HAD

Signing off,

Lillian Z