Alright! Here is how my weekend in Morocco went! Get ready for kinda a long post. Because it was nothing like Europe where I can briefly describe what I saw and you get the point...
We left Friday morning. Me, Molly and Ron were on a flight that left at 7 in the morning, and then Alyssa and Paige left about an hour later. It was a quick flight to Madrid, then we had a long layover, and finally got on our plane to AFRICA! The flight was beautiful. So many different terrains and then it was really cool once we got to the end of Spain and you could see both Spain and Africa at the same time. Right when we got of the plane though, i got an awful text message. Something was messed up with Alyssa and Paige's flight, so they never made it to Morocco. I felt sooooo bad for them! But we headed outside and went to catch a cab. We weren't sure when we were talking to the cab driver if we were getting ripped off, so we went up and started talking to some other Americans we saw. Two of them, Alicia and Coleman, were staying at the same hotel as us. So we all grabbed a cab together and went to our Hotel.
At the hotel we got settled in and then headed outside to catch a cab to head to the Kasbah (main market area) We finally grabbed one, and got dropped off somewhere but had no idea where we were. We saw 2 other americans though, so we went to talk to them. Turned out they were with someone who was about to give them a tour, so we joined in. Just as we were about to get started, Alicia and Coleman get dropped off at the same spot, so they joined us as well. The guide took us around the Medina (old city) and showed us all the important spots. Then we
had 2 destinations -
first place a rug/pottery/leather store. We went up to the top level where we were talked to about all the different kinds of rugs and how they are made. Each one is hand woven and you can tell take so much work. Then they brought us some typical mint tea - delicious! - and we had time to walk around. The rugs were too expensive, so I went down by the pottery and ended up buying a bowl. I realized later that I could have gotten it for much cheaper, but that was my first time bargaining, so oh well. Plus, the people working were breathing down our necks, so i just bargained a little and then bought it to get them off my back. ha
Then we headed to the next stop which was an herb store. The walls were lined with all these different spices and the man there explanined to us the typical spices in Morocco and then he showed us all these natural things that they made (soaps, lip stick, etc.) Then it was getting late, so we wanted to get some food. He brought us to a typical Moroccan restaurant where we had some typical dishes. Started with a soup, then we had a chicken that seemed like it should be a dessert because it was topped with cinnamon and powdered sugar, but was very good. and for the main meal was couscous with chicken and veggies. After dinner it was completely dark out, and we didn't feel comfortable walking around anymore so we headed back to the hotel. Oh and before dinner, we arranged with our guide for him to have his friend pick the 5 of us up (me, molly, ron, alicia, coleman) and give us a tour of some sites that are outside of the city.
Things I learned from the first day: no matter what you do, americans stick out like a sore thumb. I am not good at bargaining. Moroccan men can have up to 4 wives. They use communal ovens. Some of the windows on apartments you can barely see through, and this is so the women can look out without being seen. being called at to come into stores and being hassled is completely normal and you just have to ignore it.
So after a good night sleep, we went down to get the complimentary breakfast and then met our guide at 10. A nice man named Abdul, who spoke a little bit of English. As we were leaving the city, he showed us the biggest mosque in Tangier and then took us to a place where we could get a view of the whole city. Then we headed to our first stop - Cap Spartel. This is where the Mediterranean and the Atlantic ocean meet. It was cool! The pictures didn't show it, but there was kind of a line in the water and so you could see where the 2 bodies of water met. There were also people selling stuff there, and so I bought myself a bracelet (nothing fancy...)
Then we made our way to the Cave of Hercules, but not before stopping to get a quick ride on some camels! Ron, Molly and I each got our own and then Alicia and Coleman shared one. It was a quick ride, but still soooooo cool to be riding a camel in Africa! Haha total tourist moment, but I loved it.
Then we got to the cave of Hercules. You walked into the cave from land and then there was a beautiful opening into the ocean. Definitely very cool. It's called the Cave of Hercules because Hercules is rumored to have slept there i believe.
After that we headed to a smaller town near Tangier named Aslilah. It's a much quainter town and you definitely felt safer there. We had a casual lunch and then walked around in the Medina for a while. I really liked this wooden bowl I found, but the guy was not willing to lower his price much, so I didn't end up buying it. Then around 4 or so we headed back to the hotel where we sat by the pool, enjoyed a beer, and watched a beautiful sunset. The perfect way to end a cool weekend.
While the weekend wasn't action packed or super crazy, it was experiencing the completely different culture that was the most intriguing. You could clearly tell that it was 3rd world and seeing the dress and lifestyle of everyone there is something I will never forget. Plus - I am now able to say I have been to Africa! although of course I would like to explore it a lot more.
Now I am getting ready for Barcelona this weekend and could not be more excited! I'm going with Alyssa and Molly, but will be meeting up with Karen and Anna there! ahhhhhh sooooo excited!!
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