Moroccan Adventure

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Hi Everyone,

The winds of travel blew me down in to Morocco for the last 3 weeks. It was a great adventure. A college friend of mine was traveling through Europe and got to Tarfia just a day after I got to my sister's house. It took very little convincing to talk me into going with him. I apologized to my sister and promised to come back in no more than 10 days! She dropped us off at the ferry terminal and threatened Chris with his life he didn't get me back in one piece. I didn't get a chance to do any research for the trip and had no idea what to expect. Chris had the the travel plan so I just was tagging a long. I was also a little nervous because I didn't know the languages. They speak both Arabic and French. I was scrambling to learn at least a little French on the Ferry ride over.

Just 14km make up the Strait of Gibraltar. The two countries are two completely different worlds. Once we hustled through the pushy people trying to get us to by tourist packages. We got to the bus station with a little too much apprehension. Got on the first bus to Chefchaouen. Minutes later we relaxed on the bus and started to observe the madness that makes Morocco. The bus dropped us off in a place that looked like a war zone and I started to question what I just got myself into. But we meet some other travelers that Chris knew from Europe at the bus drop. They calmed us down and pointed us to the Medina. We had to shake off a couple of people on the way there. But we walked through the arch that make up all the Medina and we were transported back in time. The winding streets were all blue, every color of sky blue you can imagine painted on the streets, walls, and doorways. People were selling produce in the streets. Little shops were squeezed into little slots. Street food steaming and the smells! There was people everywhere! Buying, selling, hanging out. We had to wait our turns to get through the super tight corners in the streets. I almost lost Chris a couple of times because I was looking all around! But we got to the Hotel. Dropped our bags, looked at each other and just laughed. Where the hell are we??? This place is crazy! We went back out and wandered around the streets and got lost. But if you head in one direction than it always leads you back to the center square. So with Chris's trusty pocket compass we managed to do a lot of exploring. In the hotel we meet a Spanish couple that invited us to go to a music gathering in a hotel. We agreed but it ended with us getting kicked out before it started because the woman brought wine into the place. Alcohol is very illegal. The next day we didn't do much other than wander around and try to adjust to life in Morocco. But it seemed like every other minute Chris and I would look at each other and say "did that really just happen?" One example is people use donkeys, a lot. For transportation, carrying loads to the markets, carrying propane tanks, firewood, and rugs. Then they sit on top these loaded down little things and trot down the road. Another difference is the clothing. In Morocco there is a blend of old and new. About half the people dress in conservative modern clothes, most with creative twists. And the other half wear robes called Jellabahs which are floor length robes that have pointy hoods. It is so cool, it a great visual to see people dressing this way. Some of the women were veiled but not many, most of all of them covered their hair. I stood out like a sore thumb. A super tall blond woman. I got followed by little kids giggling and stared at by the people in the streets. But I got use to after a while. Also the calls to prayer was a very real thing that happened every day 5 times a day even in the middle of the night. All the mosques would start about the same time. Its a very eerie thing the first time you hear it. But you end up looking forward to it every morning to wake you up.

In the evening I got invited to the Hammam with the Spanish woman. I read about it in the travel guide but was not prepared for the experience. A Hammam is a Turkish-style bathhouse where the locals go to bathe since almost all the houses have no heating and no hot water. It was really really cold so I was excited to experience a warm space. (I have been freezing ever since I left the Caribbean!) We got to the Hammam and the Spanish woman argued with the Madame about the prices. I just agreed to do the whole thing for $5. I thought it was a deal! So I was told to strip down to the undies, grab a bucket, and shampoo and follow her into the rooms. There are 3 marble rooms each one getting warmer and warmer as you enter into the back. It was crowded with other women washing themselves on the floor and scrubbing their children. In the back I was ordered to sit on the low marble bench. And the lady got a bucket of hot water and dumped it on me then I had to use a special olive soap and let it sit for 10 minutes. The room had candles lighting it and a hot water basin in the center. Where the lady fills all the buckets with hot water. After ten minutes she came back and motioned me to sit down on the floor. She got behind me and then started the most vigorous scrubbing a back could take. She tisked at me and showed me the scrub glove. Gross. She scrubbed me for over an hour! It was so painful. I was biting back tears at some points. The cool part was she singing songs in Arabic, so I felt like a little kid in a bath. I think she took off the tan I was working on for the last 5 months. I was the cleanest I will ever be in my entire life. The whole experience was 3 hours long and I was glowing afterwords and worn out. I met up with Chris and we decided to treat ourselves to a full on Moroccan dinner. It was 4 courses in a beautiful restaurant. I drank my weight in gallons of Moroccan mint tea. It was one of the best dinners of my life. After that I was done for. Completely blissed out.

The next day we left for Meknes after one more go around the City of Blue. We got there in the dark and the city was more modern and large. So we got off the bus with our senses aware and started into the city. We had to ask for directions from a group of guys. They eagerly told us the way and then welcomed us to their city. Then we had to ask a couple of guys in the streets and they said they would take us there. We nervously agreed and they walked with us for 20 minutes to our hotel. Shook our hands and again welcomed us to the city. We were impressed, the people of Morocoo are incredibly nice! The next morning we decided to hit up the Medina. It was madness. We wound around the streets through the different areas selling produce, clothing, jewelry, and a whole street selling very old electronic items. The meat markets were the most disturbing. I had never experienced anything like it. They had whole skinned goats hanging from hooks, the heads bleeding on the counters, the stomach lining and brains also hanging from hooks. And the worst was the pile of bloody legs stacked in tripods for soup. It was a little much. Also they had pins of live chickens they would kill and pluck with a purchase. Talk about being in touch with where your food came from! But after a couple of weeks in Morocco you get use to it. Chris and I wandered around for hours. Somehow found ourselves back at the center square and decided to rest and drink some tea. We were exhausted, overwhelmed, and speechless. We both decided not got dive back into the Medina, it was just too much. Instead we headed to the Roman ruins, Volubilis, in the neighboring town. I got to experience my first cramped taxi ride to Moulay Idriss. Where they cram 7 people in a standard Mercedes. You squish together in the back seat and they slam the door. You are sitting on your neighbors lap and the windows don't roll down. And you ride like that for an hour. We walked to Volubilis from the town, helped a old lady and her son load a donkey with their freshly picked olives. The ruins were awesome. It was built in AD 40! The arches were still standing and the mosaics are amazing! We were too cheap for a guide so we learned about the site through the Lonely Planet guide. It was strange to walk through a place so old and that had so much history.

The next day we headed towards the Atlas mountains to a town called Azrou. The first day we were sitting a cafe and saw a local Moroccan guy sitting in front of us with a REI tag on his fleece. Chris and I laughed at how small the world is. We started a conversation with the group of guys. They were a very friendly group that shared the morning with us and then invited us back to their house for some tea. We agreed and spent the afternoon with two of them hiking in the ceder forest! The trees were just massive! That night they invited us over to their house to cook us a real Moroccan Tajine. It was so delicious! There was 10 of us and you all sit around a large round silver tray and dig in with your right hand and bread. It took some practice to eat with like this but I carefully watched the pros. We all got a long really well and made plans the next day to visit the weekly Berber souq. We had a great day hanging out the group of guys. They all speak 4-10 languages. So we are able to communicate in English. Chris and I decide we wanted to head to the Sahara desert the next day so we talked with the group of guys. Zacharia said he needed to head that way so he would go with us. He turned out to be a very good friend of ours. He arranged a 3 day camel trek for us through the Sahara with his friends in Merzouga. The next day we took the overnight bus to the Sahara. I wanted to see the Atlas mountains but it was the only bus. But the full moon lit up the forests and the mountains covered in snow. I didn't sleep much that night and watched the sunrise on the desert. We got there at 6am. It was a very surreal place with the men in turbans and blue, and women all in black. Camels were everywhere. The small towns buildings were made with the earth and all of it blended in with the surroundings. In the distant you could see the huge orange dunes. Sometimes places you travel to don't fit the stereotypes but this place exceeded them! We were taken to the guide's hotel took a nap before we embarked on our camel trek through the desert! We had another tourist with us named Simone, he was a crazy French guy. We loaded the camels with water, sleeping bags, food, and clothes. Chris and I just laughed at each other as we mounted the camels and set off over the desert. Chris didn't want to leave the guitar so he carried it on the camel and sang us cowboy songs as we trekked over the dunes. He also came up with a song about riding camels that had us all laughing uncontrollably. Well at least me. After 4 hours we got to the guide took us to his camp in the dunes. We scrambled to a tall sand peak and watched a beautiful sunset. A night we sat around the fire and everyone played music and we watched the full moon rise on the Sahara. We got to sleep in cool old Berber tents, it was like in the movies! The next day we got back on the camels and the guide took us to the other side of the dunes, almost to the Algerian boarder, to a Nomadic Berber camp. It had to be my favorite day. We hung out in their guest tent and played music, ate lunch, and drank tea. That evening we returned back to camp to watch another great sunset and night around the fire. We had two new couples that joined us for the evening. They both were uncomfortable due to the rustic setting and maybe in the fact they we had hung out with each other for the last 4 days together straight and we had a bunch of inside jokes and were very comfortable with each other. Lets just say they went to bed early. We left really early in the morning and headed back to the hotel. We had an amazing breakfast and decided to visit the village of Khamila. The tribe is known for there Gnaoua music. We got to see them play over some tea! It was a cute little village almost at the end of the road.

The next day we sadly left the desert and worked our way back North. When I found out that I had more time before I had to be back to Emily's for Thanksgiving. We made a side trip to the Todra Gorges. I was an incredible place with a narrow valleys with mountains rising up 300m on either side. We spent the days hiking around the mountains and visiting the Nomad camps. Then we started to work our way North back to Azrou. We spent a couple more days there visiting the neighboring villages and living with our new friends. Getting the real Moroccan experience. I had to get back to Spain with Emily. My health was taking a beating. I had some serious stomach issues and a head cold that would not go away. I could feel my immune system was shot. It was so insanely cold. We couldn't find a place with heat or showers. Chris headed south towards Mali. He is somewhere back in the middle of the Sahara now.

I am having a hard time conveying my experience in Africa. I am sorry for my dry commentary. Its difficult to write about because Chris and I avoided a lot of the touristy things, so there wasn't events to report on. Most of the time it was observations and being immersed in a very different culture. It was more the daily living that was so awesome about traveling in Morocco. There was so much other stuff that was going on that I can't seem to express in this writing. Africa has a way of getting into your head and soul. The place changed me a lot. Even a week later I still feel unsettled and processing my experiences. I am also recovering from the beating Morocco gave to my health. I went to the doctor's yesterday and now taking heavy antibiotics. Morocco was the craziest place I have ever traveled. It was so culturally different it was hard to have any idea how to act or behave. I am now in love with the place. Europe seems so tame and boring. I think I am going to have to go back before I leave Spain. Maybe sooner rather than later...I want to check out the coast line. I think I am going to have to give up traveling to Italy due to my budget. I am going to make some travel plans in the next couple of days. I am trying to talk Emily into a sister Spanish road trip.

I love you all! Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

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