Moroccan Experience

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What a country! It was amazingly different to what I could have expected. The entire time I was travelling around I couldn't believe how much of a contrast the country was to itself! Every new destination we went to I felt like I could have been in a totally different country to the previous one. It was unreal! Not only was the landscape so different along the way, but the people seemed to change, the dress style, the language (French, Spanish, Berban and Arabic!) but there was also a contrast in what you see - like we're on the motorway which could have just been any European motorway when I looked up and saw a donkey pulling a cart across the overbridge! What a sight. So yea definitely a colourful country to visit.

I was on a 2week tour in an overland truck loaded with tents, a kitchen, well stocked chilly bin, music.... everything we needed. Awesome group of people, had lots of fun and it was sad cos not many of them live in London so won't see them again too often. We had heaps of fun bumping around in the back of the truck, quite a few people fell off their seats and slid to the front of the truck losing balance... good times! We roughed it the whole way with cold dribbles called showers at the camp sites, dust all over us the whole time, sweating constantly cos of the heat, smelly, manky hahaha am I painting a lovely picture for you?! Anyway let me begin on the adventure...

Chefchaouen - so blue and so cooling (we were there in the hottest week - it reached 46 degrees!!!) Chefchaouen is a fairly small place where all the buildings and even inside the houses are painted blue, it keeps away mosquito's and flies - and it actually does.

Fes - one of my highlights of the trip. We went on a walking tour around the medina. It was madness, so busy. Lots of donkeys and horses laidened up with boxes, hide, wool, clay, anything and everything, so cruel cos some of the donkey's knees were buckling with the weight. We walked to a pottery factory where we saw how they make the beautiful plates, bowls, water features, tables (would have loved to have bought lots but may have some trouble getting it home!) We watched the awesome tanneries and I seriously could have stood there for hours watching. It was so interesting watching how they scrape off the fat still on the hide, then dye it. The clay pots were pretty big and there were a lot of them and so many hides coming in continuously. I was standing in between 2 farmers from NZ so they were giving me a pretty good understanding of what was happening and could answer all my questions! We went to a silk scarf shop/factory and I fell in love with so many beautiful coloured scarfs and blankets and wraps. Also had lots of laughs in the herbal shop where they had natural remedies for everything! After being in Fes I don't find the things that used to gross me out gross anymore - I saw that many pig heads, brains, carcuses, flies all over the fruit, many smelly areas... yuck stuff but hey it just became normal after a while! We had a night out Moroccan style at a very fancy restaurant and watched a show, very touristy night!

Meski - very dusty campground. We were told about this oasis we'd be staying at and it turned out to be just a swimming pool at the campsite, not quite as exotic as we had all imagined! The next day we walked in the heat along the Meski fields through a river into some ruins. This place was a huge contrast, one side you're looking at the desert, then turn your head and you see a long strip of tropical trees, then a river for about 300m, then desert again for miles!

We then drove to the edge of the Sahara desert for our camel ride. Oh my gosh have you ever ridden a camel?! It's hilarious, especially when it stands up and down, crazy backwards knees! I screamed of course but at least I didn't fall off like one girl did! The Sahara is just as I imagined, beautiful untouched rolling hills of golden sand. We arrived at the Berba camp and missioned up this insanely steep peak to get a better view (why we chose that peak I do not know!) It was such a stunning view so worth the fact that on the way up I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest! The Berba guys cooked us dinner then played African drums then we slept under the stars (weather could have been better, a bit cloudy and damn windy ). I probably had the worst sleep ever with all the bloody bugs crawling over me and the constant sand being blown in my face, but hey I was in the Sahara! Who gets to say that?!

Todra Gorge - Another highlight. It is truly beautiful. There is an oasis running through steep cliffs. We slept on the roof of a hotel again with views of the stars (good weather now). It was like a big sleepover on the roof, fun aye. We hiked up the gorge with a guide and at the top had mint tea in a Berba family's 'house'. This I found incredibly interesting and couldn't believe they lived like that 24/7. Such a primitive simple life and yet they seem totally content with it and had a bit of a laugh when one girl offered some cream for the guy's extremely cracked feet. What friendly awesome people. 25 families live up there, they've chosen life high up in the gorge rather than in the village. We had lunch in a local's house - another targine (I see what you mean with the repetitive meals Dad!)

Marrakesh - Another highlight! What a happening city. I loved the main square, it's full of entertainment like snake charmers, fortune tellers, drums, story tellers, random activities like fishing for coke bottles, music, stage type fighting. A really buzzing place to walk around especially at night with all the outdoor restaurants that they set up each night and call you into their particular stand. Lots of tourists and locals out. We didn't have too many issues with the dodgy muslim men - although they are pretty gross. I just took it as part of the Moroccan experience! And of course we used our fellow males from the tour as bodyguards! We spent the morning doing some touristy things like the main Mosque, the tombs, and one of the palaces which had a cool dungeon type maze. A group of us saw parts of Marrakesh most tourists don't get to see as we got ourselves completely lost and took about an hour to find the main square again! We lapped up the shopping in all the markets. It was brilliant but tiring having to haggle prices down. It wastes so much time, it's such a game.

Essaouira - such a windy town but much more laidback than busy Marrakesh. Here we did more shopping, the shopowners weren't as pushy here as in Marrakesh so that was nice.

Assilah - we swam at the beach and looked through Hercules caves. Tonight was our last night so we had a big bonfire bbq. It had gotten so hot that some nights we didn't have to pitch our tents, just slept under the stars which I loved!

So then it was back to Tangier for the flight back to London. By this stage I was very much looking forward to a hot shower and my comfy bed. Oh what luxuries.

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