Capital: Rabat

Population: 32,725,847 (July 2005 est.)

Languages: Arabic (official), Berber dialects, French often the language of business, government, and diplomacy

Religions: Muslim 98.7%, Christian 1.1%, Jewish 0.2%

Currency: Moroccan dirham (MAD)

Timezone: GMT+0

Part I: What Morocco Has to Offer

Climate and Scenery

Morocco has wide-ranging types of scenic beauty. The coastal areas contain beautiful, white hillside cities overlooking the oceans of the Mediterranean, and Atlantic. Weather is generally sunny, ten months out of the year. Coastal climates are humid, but not generally excessively so. The interior of the country is dry, but again, not excessively so.

The red city of Marrakesh is filled with dramatic colors. The reddish-pink buildings are contrasted with an intense blue sky and green palm trees, all sitting below the snow-covered High Atlas, as a backdrop. Tangerines cover many trees in winter months, whereas bitter oranges cover other ornamental trees during the summer months. During spring months, Jacaranda trees are in bloom, with their purple flowers. During spring and summer, bougainvillea in red, orange, purple, and hot pink covers walls throughout the city. Banana trees are used as ornamentals. Gardens surround the city walls.

Desert and mountain areas are still wild, and undeveloped. The desert areas are as beautiful as people dream of--dune areas, and deep blue sky. Mountain areas remain dramatic and unspoiled, inhabited by Berbers who are still living in traditional ways.

The large variety of people, and ways of life, are also part of the Moroccan Scenery. People dress in interesting, and different clothes. Many different languages can be heard every day. People living in all sorts of lifestyles mix and interact everywhere.

Lifestyle

Morocco can offer a different life-style from back home, particularly in the area of more leisure time. People do work long hours here. However, thanks to having affordable maids, and different cultural attitudes, there is more time outside of work to pursue other interests. Friends still have time for each other, personal hobbies can be pursued, and the cafe culture is affordable. Few people have more than a 15-minute commute to work, leaving more time in the day for other activities.

Moroccan society is very private and insular. (Most homes have walls around them, for example.) The level of privacy permits some people to pursue private life-styles that might not be possible in other places.