Ouarzazate, Morocco
Through a trip with CityLife Madrid, I traveled to Marrakech, Ait Ben Haddou, and the Sahara Desert with 50 other study-abroad students. This trip was a total of four full days and five nights. If you are studying abroad in Madrid, I highly recommend checking out their website. They have a lot of resources for new students and amazing trips like this one.
I hope you enjoy experiencing Marrakech from my point of view.
Ait Ben Haddou is an old city that is constructed out of clay. It lies deep within the deserts of Morocco and takes several hours to find from the city of Marrakech. Despite the long travel, it brought about so much beauty. Fifteen people are living in the “Old City” of Ait Ben Haddou today. To live there, you must be a direct descendant. The city is void of many modern-day luxuries, such as electricity and running water. However, because of the authentic architecture, the city became home to the set of several movies, including Star Wars, Game of Thrones, and Indiana Jones, to name a few.
The people of Ait Ben Haddou live simply in an attempt to preserve their family’s history. Learning about these people was a glimpse into how a family should be seen: something worth fighting for. As I have grown, I have seen families dissipate because of their lack of loyalty and commitment to the family unit. Instead, luxuries and pleasures stood superior to the unit they spent years building.
It’s incredible to think that the people of Ait Ben Haddou act as a symbol for what should be in our modern culture. We should fight for those we love. We should fight for the community we built. We should fight despite every fleshly desire to exchange it for what is comfortable.
