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Published: June 25th 2008
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In the Ferry Station..
Our first "Morocco" picture I have now officially been to 4 continents! I doubt I got the full scope of Africa, but it was a start. At the beginning, on Friday, we left Granada around 1:30 in the afternoon to drive to Algeciras where we caught the ferry to Ceuta. Ceuta is right across the straight of Gilbralter (we saw the Rock) and is technically still Spainish territory. Interesting Factoid about Ceuta, it is where Franco declared The Spanish Civil War: we saw the building (from a bus) Anyway, once we reached the continent of Africa, we still hadn't reached Morocco. Customs took forever; they are very stirct. Its one of the political problems plaguing Spain at the moment (immigration, etc) If you need an analogy, think Cuba...except Spain trades with Morocco. Anyway, we finally got through cutoms and reached our hotel around 10:30 pm. The time zone was different so we also lost an hour. Our first night was pretty low key; a fairly good dinner of grilled chicken and french fries (very traditional cuisine) and then we pretty much went to bed. We had to be at breakfast at 7:30 am.
Our hotel was right on the beach: we stayed in Tétouan and
The Rock of Gibraltar
yep, it makes the Spanierds upset that this ins't theirs.. had a beautiful view of the Sea. The first day, we stayed in Tétouan. A local guide toured us around markets and shops. He was very hard to hear so I didn't catch everything but he gave us mint to hold/sniff in the market (the chickens had a distinct smell). We wandered a bit and saw a palace of the King (who is very young and surfs. also, he has two children and he is the first King to ever have a "public wife" meaning shes seen in public with him) however he wasn't there and usually isn't apparently. After spending some time in Tétouan, we bused over to Tanger. Here, we were unfortunatley led to a few tourist traps...como "hand made Moroccan rugs", camel rides, a light house. The camel ride was pretty cool, I have to admit. I thought for sure I would fall off when it stood up or sat down! The light house was interesting too: the oldest one in northern Africa apparently. Sadly, my camera died right as I boarded the camel (haha) but my friend took pics. I almost forgot! When we were in Tanger, a man tried to sneak on to the bottom
of the bus. Apparently he thought we were crossing to Spain..the bus driver caught him but that man would have been far from where he wanted to be other wise (a good couple hours but still in Morocco)
Possibly the coolest thing about the trip was we met so many new people that were touring also. My friends called us the "UN" because there was us (americans,not too exciting) a guy from Northern Ireland, a Swiss boy, a Canadian boy, an Italian couple, ummm our Spainish guides, a Brazilian girl, two people form Finland, a girl from Hong Kong...yep i think that covers it. Anyway, MaKenzie and I ate lunch with a couple of them, and ended up attaching ourselves to a couple of the guys when we had "free time" in Tanger. I don't know who thought up free time for non-arabic speaking tourists, but I don't think it was a good idea. Everything went fine, but I am glad MaKenzie and I didn't wander by ourselves. Actually, the fact we didn't speak the native lengua wasn't an issue: everyone spoke at least a little french, spanish and english. How amazing is that? I feel like everywhere else in
me!
..in front of that important building I was talking about the world, people learn more than one language: except in the States. Thus ended our second day in Morocco. Well, not "ended". We went swimming in the ocean and the pool and ended up haveing a little fiesta in Room 301. None of us got very much sleep but we learned some German!
Our last day in Africa:
The last day was by far my favorite. We went up into the mountains to Chefchaouen. It was BEAUTIFUL! Everthing was painted blue. It was definitely a tourist spot but far more real then the huge cities we had visited before. It wasn't commercialized, it just was. We got the chance to watch a man making beautiful handwoven blankets. It was amazing to watch. However, by the time we were all packed up and ready to get back to Spain, I was ready. It was a great experience but thats it: an experience. Oh the food! We had cous cous! YUM! Oddly, it reminded me of home :-). It came with vegetables, including turnips which were new to me but very good. Our friend from Ireland told us how to make Irish Stew:
Turnips, Barley, Lamb of some sort, potatoes, umm Cabbage?
Don Vito
Our fearless leader, pre shaving of the head and beard.. possibly and maybe carrots. Shoot, I kind of forgot. The first few things for sure because it was the turnips that brought it up and I didn't know that a lot of lamb was eaten in Ireland.
So, I eventually made it back to Europe (very late) and we entered in the midst of a huge Celebration!
SPAIN BEAT ITALY!!! Spain has not beat Italy in a tournament game since the 1920's. Kind of a big deal! It was so exciting!
"EL DIA VEINTE DOS, ITALIA DICE ADIOS!!!"
:-)
We listened to it on the radio and our guide was just freaking! The game went into overtime and eventually a shoot out so nerves were high!
The next night, we were able to attend a San Juan Celebration!(summer solstice, mas o menos). There was a huge fire and everyone walks around and throws in wishes or "deseos". I believe it is the same as Sao Joao in Brasil.
Thats all for now, it is FINALS week here..triste. :-( SO I have to go study..
HASTA LUEGO!
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Dad
non-member comment
Greatest invention since...
Hi Kelsey, thanks for taking the time to BLOG and augment it with pictures! I think its the best invention for the traveler since the fanny pack! Getting to read the BLOG and see pictures of your adventures makes it seem like you aren't all that far away. :-) Contrats on the four continent achievement and the camel ride. I'm looking forward to seeing you on a camel! Love, Dad