Ingalls Weather

Weather and science reports with a Pacific Northwest focus.

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Last Notes

2026-05-27 20:26:17 UTC

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A day in Casablanca
I went to Cabo Verde for work but on the way here I had a long layover in Casablanca, Morocco that allowed me to head into the city for my first ever visit to Africa. Morocco has been on my wishlist for a while, admittedly because of the song *Morocco* by Moon Taxi which I feel like may be a dumb reason, but it’s the reason I have.
I recognize that only having a day isn’t enough to get a good taste for any country but I’m glad that I was able to get out of the airport. There is train service connecting the airport to the city center. The train was clean and I was able to get to the Casa-Port station in about 50 minutes.
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Casa-Port is in the heart of Casablanca and my first moment in Africa was discovering that crossing the street in Morocco is a very different experience than crossing the street in North America. You kind of just start walking when there’s a small gap between cars and hope people see you and don’t hit you.
This method wasn’t for me so my preferred method was to wait until someone else was crossing the street and walk next to them. Luckily for me there are plenty of pedestrians in this part of town so I didn’t ever have to wait long. And as a bonus I didn’t get hit by any drivers.
I made my way directly from the train station to a little cafe to find a geocache, making Morocco the 20th country that I have geocached in. This took me down an alley that seemed like it was in a tourist district but honestly I don’t really know. My French is rusty at best and my knowledge of Arabic is at about the same level as the number of footsteps I have taken on the Moon, which is none.
Because I only had a few days’ notice before this business trip (I originally expected to be launching balloons near Barstow, California) I didn’t have much time to plan out things to do in Casablanca. Instead I spent some time sitting to people watch followed by wandering around to places that I thought looked neat.
One of these was a bazaar where I was able to pick up small souvenirs for my wife and daughter. They don’t know what these souvenirs are, though, and I haven’t been back home yet so I can’t divulge what they are in this blog post.
After wandering around I was starting to get hungry. I tried finding Moroccan food but everything I could find looked French (at least that was open for lunch) so I went back to the train station to get McDonald’s. Before you roast me for eating McDonald’s in Morocco I want to reiterate the lack of Moroccan food in this district. Plus, I was on a mission to try something specific.
My wife visited France about 10 years ago and raves about the croissants she had at McDonald’s there while she was in the train station. I figured since a lot of the restaurants looked French maybe McDonald’s would have a croissant and I was right. I disagree with her, though. While I enjoyed the croissant I prefer the ones from Costco. They are flakier.
I paid in cash at McDonald’s which gave me enough change to pick up a belt from a street vendor for 20 DH (US$2.16). I had been in the market for a new dress belt anyway, so this was something I couldn’t pass up.
From here it was time for me to get back on the train and head to the airport. A woman, her two year old child, and her mom sat next to me and they were bringing a bright pink birthday cake with them. I got to chat with them and we enjoyed showing each other pictures of our kids.
It was funny to watch the mom try to keep her daughter awake until they got home so she could get a good nap when they got there because this is a struggle we had often when our daughter was that age. It was one of my favorite things because it displays how even on the other side of the world many facets of life are remarkably similar.
I have much to talk about from Cabo Verde so keep an eye out for that in the coming days.
#casablanca #morocco #Travel
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