We took the train into Casa early on Saturday morning and arrived around 11. Upon arrival, we found the much-coveted Magnum Double Chocolate Bar that Anna and I have searched all around Hamriya for in Meknes, so we took a snack break. Then we went to try to find a taxi to take us to Sahat Mohammed V, the landmark closest to our hotel. Many of the petit taxi (which are red in Casa) drivers by the train station were trying to get us to pay flat-rate prices that were way too much instead of using a counter - one even tried to tell us that counters aren't prevalent in Casa! This was right before we found a driver with a counter too, and we paid 10 dirham for what was being advertised as a 30-50 dirham ride by half of the drivers at the station.
Of course when we got to the hotel there had to be an issue - Anna and I only had photocopies of our passports due to a prior incident where one of the students in our program almost had her real passport stolen, and the receptionist told us that this was unacceptable because he needed our entry number written on the stamp page. We said we would call our director, who has all the numbers, but he insisted that he needed it directly from the police and after a half-hearted attempt to call them demanded that we go to the police station to fetch it. Having had a police station experience in Meknes the week prior (long story), I was extremely hesitant to go on what he claimed would be a "10 minute trip" - 10 minutes in what I like to call Moroccan time can mean 2 hours!
Cat did have her actual passport, so she was able to get the room key and we were allowed to put all of our stuff down before deciding our game plan. Our director, on his end, was trying to do everything he could to help us out and told us to go enjoy the day rather than wait around for what to do next. We decided to head out to Morocco Mall, which seems like it is on the far edge of the city. It is the biggest commercial center in Africa and was packed with people on this Saturday! However we were only there for 30 minutes when we got the call that we had to go to the police station after all, with the promise that it would be quick.
We drove all the way back into Casa (it's probably a 15-20 minute drive to get to the mall) to go to the station, which was oddly empty on a Saturday. An officer by the gate listened to our predicament, took us up to the fourth floor, and had the numbers in minutes - thankfully it was not another two hour experience! From there we found another taxi with a counter and went back to the mall. It was already early afternoon and we had spent more time traveling/getting logistics sorted out than spending time in Casa! The driver on the way back to the mall though drove by the Hassan II Mosque, the largest mosque in Africa, and let us take some pictures which was nice.
Back at the mall, we had a sushi lunch before walking around and taking everything in. The mall is home to a large aquarium, a theme park, and an IMAX theater adjacent to the main building. A mini manga/anime convention was happening that day, coincidentally - definitely surprising to see Moroccans cosplaying! In terms of stores, there were some US chains present, such as H&M and American Eagle, in addition to Moroccan chains like Marwa. We shopped for a while and also grabbed drinks at Starbucks, which had two locations in the mall (and unfortunately charged US-like prices).
Getting back to Casa from the mall was more of a struggle, especially because it seems like everyone was leaving around the same time (early evening). We ended up paying 50 dirham for a grand taxi to take us back to town, but the driver was really kind and tried to point out Casa landmarks such as the locations of different consulates. It was a long day, so after going to the hotel and relaxing a bit, we only left briefly to grab dinner nearby and then came back to go to bed.
We woke up a little early on Sunday to shower and check out before sharing a nice 35 dirham breakfast at the hotel - lots of bread, yogurt, hardboiled egg, juice, and coffee. The plan was to catch the 10:15 train over to the airport since Ryan was due to arrive at 11, but we got to the station with 10 minutes to spare and just missed the train waiting in the ticket line (where of course people were picking fights with the ticket sellers or were just slow-moving in general). We got tickets for 11:15 instead and hung out on the platform doing homework until the train arrived.
The train to the airport takes about 30 minutes, which seemed like enough time for Ryan to make his way through the airport, so Anna found him around 5 minutes after we arrived. We then bought train tickets and waited an hour for the 1 PM train back to Casa, followed by the 2:10 train from Casa to Meknes. We had thought about trying to do some sight-seeing on Sunday when Ryan was with us, but we all had luggage and were a little worn out, so we returned to Meknes "early" (around 6 PM). The weekend was definitely an adventure, but live and learn - and having the train to the airport figured out will be helpful for future travels!