This past weekend I made a long trip to another CONTINENT...but actually the trip was only an 8 hour bus drive. But, I went to Morocco...yes, that's in AFRICA!!! So cool! Anyway, I could go on for days about the trip but for your reading pleasure, here's a semi-short synopsis:
Lisa and I caught an overnight bus to Algeciras Spain which is the southernmost point of Spain before you get to British Gibraltar. On the bus I slept like a baby and was sad when I had to wake up and get off. We got to Algeciras at about 6:15am and had to wait to meet the group at 8am. Of course, there were a bunch of other kids on our bus so we weren't alone. We went with a group called Morocco Exchange which was set up to take American kids studying in Spain to Morocco. There were 12 people in our group (11 girls and 1 boy, Andrew. He was either really lucky or really unlucky...I don't know how he felt about it!) and our guide's name is Zach. Zach is American but lived in Morocco for 2 years with the Peace Corps so he spoke Arabic, even though he lived in a Burbur village which is a whole other language. Once we all met up, we caught the ferry across the Straight of Gibraltar to Tanger which is a bit down the coast. Once we got there we exchanged money and then got in our van and went to the Darna Women's Center. It is a center to help women with not so good situations to learn skills, make money, and be educated. We got a tour, met with a woman named Sinae who answered all the questions we had about women's roles in Morocco b/c it is a Muslim country. She is a translation student and spoke very good English. While we talked with her, we got tea and cookies. The tea in Morocco is super sweet and minty and amazing! They serve it steaming hot and you have to pour it from way up high for some purpose that I don't know of. Afterwards, we ate lunch which was so yummy. After lunch, we left Tanger and drove down the coast headed for Rabat. On the way, we pulled over on the side of the road and I wondered what was going on. Then I looked out the window and saw CAMELS on the beach waiting for us!!! We got to ride camels on the beach in Africa! My camel's name was Lalla (pronounced Layla) and she was wonderful. Riding camels is kind of like riding a horse but a bit bigger and more awkward. Getting on and off a camel is a whole other story though. They lay down and you climb on and then they stand up. Thing is, they stand up with their back legs first and their legs are so long that you get thrown forward and then backwards when their front legs come up! Anyway, that was the highlight of the day and so much fun! Actually, they weren't camels because they only had one hump. They are actually called dromadories which are a type of camel I think. (Sidenote: When I went to teach English yesterday, I told one of my students, Ernesto, that I had ridden a camel. But I didn't know the word for camel so I told him it had a hump. Then he told me that if it only has one hump it's called a dromadory. He's 9 years old and he knows that. I only learned it a few days ago...how smart is he?) After camel riding, we continued our drive to a small town called Asilah where we got out for a walk around town and a bathroom break. The town was beautiful and kind of reminded me of Greece (not that I've been there) because it was all blue and white. There are also lots of neat murals on the walls from an art festival last summer. After a bit there, we got back in the van and continued on to Rabat the capital.
Rabat is the second biggest city in Morocco, next to Casablanca, and it is beautiful! We were mostly in the medina (which means "old city") which is the part of the city that what was I thought and arab city would look like. It has very narrow streets that wind all around and it's unbelievably easy to get lost. But we also went walking in the new part of Rabat that is very modern and looks like any European city. While we were in Rabat, we got to stay with host families. There were three people with each host family and I was with Lisa and Katy. Each family has atleast one person that speaks English and the girl who spoke English in our family is named Wazna. She is about 28 and so much fun! We met her then and dropped off our stuff and went walking around Rabat. Her best friend (whose name I have no idea how to spell so I won't even try) came with us and she spoke English too. It was really fun to get to talk to them about their culture and tell them about ours. So, then we went to Wazna's house for dinner. To get to their house, you walk all twisty turny and could easily get lost but then when you get there you walk through the front door into a courtyard. You cross the courtyard and go up a flight of stairs into their house. Their house consists of three or four big rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom. Life in Morocco is much more communal and everyone sleeps on these couches that go around the edges of the rooms together. So, we ate pasta for dinner and then went to take showers. They don't have a shower so they go down around the corner and pay 8 durams (about a dollar) for a shower whenever they want to get clean. So we did that and then went home and went to bed.
The next day, we got up and did some sightseeing with the group. We saw the Mausoleum with the two most recent former kings tombs. It was actually built on what would have been the largest mosque in the world if the king at the time had not run out of funding. Then we went to Chellah, the Roman ruins of "Sala Colonia" and walked around. There is this cool pond full of eels that it supposed to be good luck. But instead of throwing in coins and making a wish, you are supposed to throw in an egg for fertility. Then, if the eel eats the egg, you will get pregnant. Unfortunately, the eels were sleeping and wouldn't come out to play. After that, we went to meet with a Moroccan professor named Professor Zaki who lectured about Islam and Arabic countries in general and then we had a discussion that dealt alot with politics (not really my thing). After that we went back to our homestays for lunch. We had yummy chicken and potatoes. When we met back after lunch, we walked over and met all these Moroccan students (who all speak English) for free time. We were split into small groups and paired off with them. There were four American girls in my group and two Moroccan boys. They were both law students and hysterical. They took us to the beach and then to the market to shop. Fortunately, they were with us because none of us spoke either language of Morocco, which are Arabic and French, so they were able to help us barter and understand how much things cost. We had a blast and they even have Facebook...what a world phenomenon! I also learned some Arabic words that kind of useful. Things like "left" and "right" and "yes and no" etc... After we met back up with the group we went home for dinner and then went to a meeting with some Peace Corps volunteers and Fullbright Scholars who are living in Morocco. They told us about living in Morocco from an foreigner's point of view which was very interesting to hear.
On Saturday, we woke up and said goodbye to Wazna and headed for the middle of nowhere...literally. The man who started Morocco Exchange has a friend whose cousing lives in very rural Morocco. The friend, Abdou, speaks English so he came with us to translate. The cousin is Aziza and she lives with her husband, Mohammad, and their children and Mohammad's mother, Fatimah, who is kind of like an Italian mother. To get there though, we drove 2 hours into the mountains, stopped in a town for food and bathroom stops before continuing on into the mountains. We went through a small village and then turned off onto a dirt road. We bumped along the dirt road for about 20 minutes and then got out of the van and walked for about 10 minutes to their house. I am talking about being in the middle of nowhere! And people live there! We brought bread, meat, cheese, vegetables and fruit with us for lunch and Fatimah made us handmade couscous from scratch. It was unbelievable! But when we first got there, Aziza showed us how she makes bread in her mud oven and gave us some to taste with their homemade olive oil from their olive trees. It was the best olive oil I have ever had! Then we washed all the vegetables and prepared the food. Since I was one of two people allowed to bring my camera to the house (they get shy when everyone brings one) I occupied myself with documenting the happenings and taking way to many pictures. I also met my future son. I want to adopt him but there's a problem, he has a mother and a family...we'll see how that works out :). But he's the cutest thing ever and absolutely precious. His name is Osama. Anyway, once the food was ready, we all sat out under a tree and ate and talked to the family about life in rural Morocco and such. It was definitely a different perspective on life and very interesting. These people just recently got running water and electricity and the dirt road we came down was just recently built b/c Mohammad's last wife died in childbirth b/c there was no clinic or way to get to the village quickly. So Fatima went into the city and protested and got the road built. Incredible people. After the food and a chat, Mohammad took us on a hike around their property which included up this hill to see what we could see. The view was incredible!! Morocco is so green you would never believe it is Africa. Then we sat at the top of the hill and talked some more. It was neat b/c Mohammad and Abdou asked us questions and we asked them about their culture etc... So fun. But then we had to leave and we walked back to the van and headed on. We went next to Chefchaouen which is more to the north and used to be a Spanish city. Therefore, they still speak spanish which was nice since our Moroccan friends weren't with us! It's more of a touristy town and so we did some souvenier shopping and bartering. I bought a gorgeous tea pot and some other misc. things. The next morning we got up and drove to Ceuta, a Spanish province. It's actually Spanish territory so to get into Ceuta, we had to cross the border. Then we caught the ferry back across the Strait to Spain. Once we got there, we had a couple of hours to wait for the bus but fortunately, alot of our new friends were on the same bus so we all waited together! We finally got on the bus and made it home to Madrid about 2am...long night but worth every second! Overall thoughts: Morocco is an incredible place and the people are wonderful and kind and generous. It's not scary like people think it is and it's beautiful! If you have a chance, go there! that's all...I will put up pictures of all this later...
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