This last week, I spent 6 days in Morocco, Africa. I have been looking forward to this trip all semester and although it was a lot of travelling, with many ups and downs, it definitely did not disappoint!
This is Morocco. Notice the close proximity to Spain. We ferried into Ceuta, travelled to Fes, went southeast toward Algeria into the desert, went back up to Meknes and then back to Ceuta to Spain.
Day One
Today was relatively uneventful. Met the group at 6am, then spent a ton of time on the bus. Crossing the Straight of Gibraltar was pretty cool, but I was so tired that I just slept through the whole thing. Got to our hotel in Fes, ate dinner and then went to bed!
Day Two
Today was MUCH more eventful. We went to the Medina of Fes. The Medina is a winding network of over 9000 unmarked streets and alleys. We had a guide, thank goodness, but it definitely was an experience. Everyone had to make sure to watch out for all the pack mules and donkeys theat were used to transport goods through the Medina. Our first stop was a carpet co-op and they had hundreds of the most beautiful carpets I had seen in my life. Unfortunately, they were all a little out of my price range. Actually, most everything was out of my price range. I was a bit disappointed,, I was led to believe everything in Morocco was going to be SO cheap but the places our directors brought us to definitely were not… Anyways, next was the tannery with the leather goods (I bought a cushion, a purse and a wallet), then the textile store (didn’t get anything there), then a Berber pharmacy (bought a bunch of random stuff there) and then had a big lunch of cous cous in a pretty authentic Moroccan restaurant. After lunch, we went to a ceramics shop and saw some BEAUTIFUL ceramics, even though I wanted everything in that shop, I settled for a cermanic Moroccan shoe. Once we got back, we had some down time then had dinner and went to a traditional Moroccan show. It consisted of mint tea, a Moroccan band, drummers, and bellydancers. They involved the audience quite a bit and I got a few great videos of some of my friends attempting to bellydance. After the party bus/karaoke time on the ride back, it was bed time.
One of the donkeys hauling sheep skins through the Medina.
Some of the carpets at the carpet co-op.
Moroccan leather shoes inside the tannery.
An example of some of the amazing ceramic work in Morocco.
One of the belly dancers at the show.
Day Three
Time to travel South into the desert and of course I got sick! I didn’t vom, but my stomach was roiling pretty good all day… Ugh. And no, I did not drink any of the water in Morocco. Anyways, it was another long bus ride and took most of the day, but the scenery was absolutely beautiful. We travelled past the mountains, hills, the rock desert and finally in the real desert. We stopped for lunch at an oasis. Then a short ride later we hopped into some jeep 4x4’s and went off roading through the desert into the dunes where our camp was. I cannot express to you how amazingly beautiful those dunes are! We had dinner at the camp then hung out while some of the camp workers played on the drums. Then bed time in our little “haimas” (tents).
Our bathroom stop.
So pretty!
Me in front of the oasis we stopped at.
Day Four
Woke up at 6:30 to catch the sunrise in the desert. Unfortunately, it was pretty cloudy but still was awesome to sit on top of a huge dune and look out into the distance in silence. Haggled with some Berber vendors that hang around the camp to sell trinkets and fossils to the tourists and then I got ready for our CAMEL RIDE! We rode on the camels for a little over an hour into a small village nearby. We checked out one of their store, but even after bargaining with them their goods were a bit too expensive. We went back to the camp for lunch, downtime and then henna by some of the local women. I also encountered a fellow UMD-er in the ISA Granada group that was camping with us and realized not only do we go to the same college back home but we have met each other quite a few times – she works with my roommate at home! Such a small world!!... We went outside to explore a bit and I got caught up in a really interesting conversation with one of the Berber vendors. He learned Spanish, English, Italian and a bit of Japanese just by interacting with the tourists in the desert. (I don’t know about his Italian or Japanese, but his Spanish and English were pretty good!) He asked me about my family and if I had brothers or sisters and any nieces or nephews. I said yes, two brothers and one sister and yes I have a niece. He asked if we all lived with my mother and he was confused when I laughed. I explained that no, usually in the United States you move out after high school or going to college and don’t usually move back in with your parents. I asked him if he had travelled much and he said “Oh, of course!” and drew me a map of Morocco and a circle that would be about a 200 mile radius of the place we were at and said he has travelled all around this area. (But that was the furthest he had ever gone.) He also told me that in the summer time when it is very hot, many Moroccans come to the desert to take “desert baths,” which are when they immerse themselves in the hot sand up to their necks for five minutes at a time. Apparently, it has healing qualities and after a week even those who could not walk before can walk again. I don’t know if this is true, but it sure is a good story! And because this guy was so nice, I bought more trinkets from him. After that, I went back to the main haima for dinner and they had hired a band for the night, so we all danced around a bit. Then finally it was time for bed!
Sunrise in the desert. Too bad it was cloudy!
This is me and Casey from UMD. She works at Starbucks with one of my roommates in Duluth. What a small world to run into someone you know in the Sahara desert!
Chillin with the camels.
Part of my henna tattoo. The blob on the right is my name written in Arabic.
Me on top of one of the dunes.
Day Five
I woke up completely covered in sand. Not entirely unusual, since without an actual shower in the desert, we were all covered with it. But apparently there had been a little sand storm during the night and so we woke up really covered in sand. Had a quick breakfast and hopped back into the jeeps to get out of there. Today wasn’t as great of travelling. I was sick again, as were many of my fellow travelers so we had to make quite a few bathroom and puke stops on our way to Meknes. We did see some monkeys at one of our stops though so that was pretty cool! Once we got to the hotel, I immediately hopped into the shower, had some dinner and then went to bed.
Day Six
Another uneventful travel day, just went from Meknes over the straight again and back to Sevilla. This trip was a once in a lifetime experience to be certain, but boy am I glad to be back in Sevilla! :)
Haven't been able to find my favorite Doritos in Spain, France or Portugal but FINALLY found them in Morocco! How weird...
Want to see more pictures?
No comments:
Post a Comment