I'm back! After writing everything in my journal during my vacation so I'd remember it all, I realized it was quite a lot of writing and it would be best to split this blog into two parts. The first three nights we were in Morocco and the last three we were in southern Spain, so I feel like that's a reasonable way to break it up. I'll write about Morocco today and then southern Spain and since then (so today and tomorrow) on Sunday. That way I'll be all caught up and on schedule :) hooray!
Bright and early on Friday morning, we took a cab to the airport for our flights to Seville, and then Marrakesh. (When you buy a ticket to Morocco it has to be round-trip and therefore we had to fly out of the place we wanted to end up in after Morocco, hence the connection in Seville.) Let's start out by saying, I was pretty nervous about going to Marrakesh. It hadn't been my idea, I just went along with it, but then the night before we left Helen and Juan (Jr.) were telling us all these things like brush your teeth with bottled water, never get ice cubes, only eat fruit with a peel you can take off, Helen gave us toilet paper in case there wasn't any and medicine in case we got food poisoning, etc. At that point I was thinking, if we had had this conversation with them a few weeks ago, I would not be getting on a plane to Marrakesh in the morning. Luckily, we followed their advice and no one got sick and the toilet paper actually did come in handy, especially when we were in the desert, but I'm getting ahead of myself. We got to Seville and had a few hours before our next flight, so we got some food and then hijacked all the benches in the (then) empty airport to take a nap (it was still like 9 am). When we woke up, it was a little disorienting because there were people everywhere all of a sudden, but we collected our stuff and waited in a series of various lines until we were on the next flight. I was nervous to fly through Ryanair because it has such a bad reputation for being really cheap and really strict, but we didn't have any problems.
We landed in Marrakesh about 15 minutes late, but that was nothing compared with what was to come. By the time we got through passport check, used the bathroom, exchanged our euros for dirham (1 euro = 10 dirham; I had planned to just take some out of an ATM, but there weren't any in the airport) and all that, our taxi that we had arranged through the riad (like a hostel, just Moroccan) to pick us up had been waiting for probably an hour and a half. I felt really bad, but they were really nice and didn't even charge us extra for having to wait so long. I was really glad we had arranged that taxi ahead of time, though, because there's no way we could've just figured it out on our own. It was pretty funny when we got into the taxi, because the first song they played was Hotel California, followed by some old school Missy Elliot. It wasn't quite what I would've expected, but it was entertaining nonetheless. So like I said, we stayed in a riad, which is a building that used to be an old Moroccan courtyard house, but is now used as a hostel instead of a family home. The interesting thing about riads (that I'm glad I knew ahead of time or I would've been nervous) is that they look totally nondescript on the outside, you could easily miss it, but then inside there's just like a pretty little oasis. When we got to our riad, we were all really impressed. It was really pretty and the staff were so nice. We had to fill out some paperwork and the guy who worked there gave us fresh mint tea (it's really popular in Morocco and now with me as well) and showed us where to go on our map.
We checked out our rooms, which were really nice, and then headed to the main square, which was really close to the riad. Marrakesh is so overwhelming. We only spent time in the old part of the city, which was really neat, but oh my gosh, literally the only word I can think of to describe it is just plain overwhelming. I've never had to be so constantly aware of my surroundings before, it was genuinely exhausting. The thing is, these old, narrow streets are so crowded with people, vendors, mopeds, and even the occasional car that it's dangerous to let your focus slip. On top of that, it's like Barcelona as far as pickpocketing goes, the street vendors are aggressive, and men called to us a lot (even though we were dressed conservatively and completely covered up) because we stand out so much, so there's just a lot going on. Not to mention, once you actually get to the square, it's hard to know if you might be standing in the middle of a road, there are men with snakes and men with monkeys who come up and try to put the animals on you (supposedly so they can somehow ask you for money), women trying to grab your hand to start doing henna (so they can charge you an exorbitant amount later, thankfully we were warned), and all kinds of insanity.
Of course we weren't the only tourists, but we stood out just as much as any of them. In Morocco they speak Arabic (with each other) and French (with tourists), but luckily most people knew English as well. We learned a lot in those first few hours in Marrakesh, including that you can't take pictures of the street vendors or performers unless you pay them. They will come at you demanding money, guaranteed. It is seriously the most chaotic experience I've ever had. We tried to go to an ATM to get some more money, since we hadn't been prepared and a few of us hadn't had many euros to exchange, but the ATM was out of money, a local woman told us. But we had enough money for lunch/dinner though, so we went to a restaurant with other tourists at it (we all agreed we were perfectly okay with just being tourists in Morocco and felt no need to go off the beaten path in any way) and had cous-cous, which is typical Moroccan food, and more mint tea. It was really good, and food (well, everything really) is really cheap in Morocco.
After eating, we headed into the maze that is the market. You can literally get lost in there, quite easily. We bought lots of souvenirs, and the interesting part is that there, you bargain. Unless there's a set, written price (almost never) you bargain for what you want. It made me anxious and I don't think I'm very good at it, but I did my best. I bought a scarf and a little ceramic bowl that I thought were pretty. A few of the girls went all out. Yes, things are very cheap in Marrakesh, but it adds up when you buy the whole market, no matter how well you bargain. A lot of the things they were selling were actually really nice, although you couldn't show interest unless you wanted a super-aggressive vendor after you. It was stressful, they're good at what they do. After that we struggled to locate some kind of supermarket and ended up just buying a box of unsweetened cornflakes to share for breakfast the next day, since we'd be leaving too early to eat at the riad. They tasted the way Morocco smells, which isn't particularly pleasant, and we ate them dry out of the box throughout the day, haha. That night, I was awakened by a literal cat fight, which, once I figured out what I was hearing, I found entertaining in my half-asleep state, because it sounded just like the cartoons with hissing and meowing and all that. Then, at around 5 am, I heard the call to prayer. It didn't seem as if many people in the city actually stopped what they were doing to get out their rugs and pray, but a few people did (from what we saw for calls to prayer at other times of the day). I really didn't mind it waking me up, I found it really intriguing. It's such a unique sound, the way they sing. It's really very pretty, I think, and a little haunting in a way, especially at 5 am when everything else is quiet.
Only a few hours after the call to prayer, we headed out back to the square to meet our group for the camel ride. We got in the van with the other group members and away we went, without a single clue where we were going or how long it would take to get there (the itinerary on the website was extremely vague), maybe not the smartest thing I've ever done, but it turned out fine. I naively thought we would just have to get a little ways out of the city and then we'd hop on our camels and be off. Wrong, Megan. It ended up being about a six hour drive, including a few short stops for pictures, an hour long walking tour, and lunch. At the first stop, we were a little worried because it was cold and cloudy and we had dressed for a sunny desert. However, we were up in the mountains at this point and it was in fact quite warm once we got to the other side of them. Most of the drive was through said mountains; it was really pretty and we were on these little mountainside roads almost the whole time, it was neat. Our longest stop was at a little Berber village that's now a UNESCO world heritage site (I don't think they told us the name) where quite a few movies have been filmed, like Indiana Jones and Prince of Persia. I haven't seen any of the movies that were filmed there, so I guess now I'll have to. It was really cool, it was old and made of mud and straw and you could see it when you looked at the buildings. We got a walking tour around there from a man in a traditional Berber outfit, which I'm guessing he had to wear simply for our benefit. Every time he spoke Arabic to the locals, I wondered if he was complaining about the obnoxious group of tourists he had to show around. (He wasn't crabby or anything, he seemed like a nice guy, it was just kind of an odd situation.)
We had lunch just outside the village and then hopped back in the van so that we could be on our camels by sunset. I think we were a little late, because we didn't see that much of a sunset, but it was still very pretty and quite entertaining to ride around on camels. It was fun, but I felt kind of bad for the camels because they were tied together by a rope that went around their mouths and I don't think they liked it. Camel is not my preferred method of transportation. My butt was sore for days and camels are pretty smelly, but it was worth the experience, and hey, now I can say I've ridden a camel in the desert. I named my camel Bert. When we got on the camels at the very beginning, there were all these adorable little children (I don't know where they came from) asking us for food and money and it was really sad. Some of them followed us and one tried to take Lindsey's shoes. Locals waved and called out to us and I just kind of wonder how ridiculous we looked to them, paying money to ride camels out into a little camp in the desert where they live. The whole time I was in Morocco there was just a little undercurrent of discomfort or tension, for me. We didn't belong there. We knew it, they knew it. Children especially stared at us a lot and I wondered how old they are when they learn what a tourist is and how their parents explain it to them. It was the first time I had traveled to a country with a significant difference in wealth from the United States and to me it felt very apparent and made me feel like a was buying this underprivileged country for my entertainment, like with the guides dressing up for our entertainment like I mentioned and all that. It was a lot of fun, but there was an underlying awkwardness that I couldn't ignore.
Anyways, back from that tangent, we rode camels for about an hour before we got to our camp. It was actually really nice, the tents were big and the six of us got one all to ourselves, they even had mattresses. The one thing lacking was, of course, bathroom facilities. I'm not the type of girl who pees outside a whole lot and I was not happy about it, but what can you do? There were actually quite a few interesting bathroom situations during our stay in Morocco, you really never knew what you were going to get, but Helen was right in that they rarely have toilet paper, so like I said, I'm glad she sent us off prepared. When we got to the campsite, they had dinner for us, typical Moroccan food, and it was really good. After dinner we had a bonfire out in the sand dunes and the guides played drums and sang for us in Arabic and it was really neat. In the middle of the night we were all awakened by the sound of some kind of wild dogs/coyotes barking and howling and it freaked me out. In my delirious, half-awake state, I was convinced that Lindsey moving around next to me was one of the dogs that had gotten into the tent and was sniffing around. I think my heart stopped, I was so terrified. As I woke up more and realized I was being ridiculous and that my life was not in danger, I was able to sleep again.
Our guides woke us up at 6 for breakfast, which was just bread and tea, but they had really good bread in Morocco. We were back on our camels by 8 and probably back in the van by 8:30. I was glad the camel ride was shorter that time because it was blowing sand and I'm pretty sure my butt had a bruise. The novelty had worn off as my discomfort increased. I literally wore my scarf covering my entire face. By the time we were done, I've probably never felt so gross. I hadn't showered, smelled like a camel, and was pretty much covered in sand. It was quite attractive, if I do say so myself. This time when we got off our camels there were more adorable children trying to sell us necklaces they had weaved from grass. I didn't buy one and still kind of wish I would have. They were just so cute and they made me sad. We didn't stop as much on the way back, but we did stop in a town for awhile for lunch and we did a little more shopping there. There was this guy who wouldn't leave us alone, though, and he wanted us to pay him so he could give us a tour of the city. Like that's not sketchy. He even waited for us outside the stores we went into. We tried to just say no and ignore him, but he was creepy. I inadvertently got a really good deal on a bracelet in one of the stores. I had asked how much it was and he told me 180 dirham (18 euro) and I realized it was out of my price range, so I was going to just leave it and look for a cheaper one, but I told him how much money I was able to spend, (60 dirham/6 euro) and by the time I was about to leave without buying anything, he was willing to sell me the bracelet for 60 dirham. So I got it for a third of the original price (Helen had told us to ask for half, so I though that was pretty good). On accident! I wasn't even trying to bargain! Haha. After that we escaped the creepy man because we had to get back to our van and we were back in Morocco around 6, I believe. We did some more shopping in the market and then got dinner. We bought some henna of our own and tried it out in the riad that night. Mine turned out alright, but it's almost gone by now. Some of the other girls weren't so lucky (it didn't turn out well and it didn't fade quickly, haha). We still have a lot left, so we'll have to have a henna party before the program ends.
The next morning I finally showered (it wasn't really worth it the day before because I knew I'd just want to shower again in the morning) and was so happy and sand-free. We had breakfast in the riad, which was good, and then took the same Hotel California taxi back to the airport (they actually did play the song again). We were on time for our flight, but our airplane wasn't. We just hung out in the airport for a few hours, got some food, and by the time it got there, we were supposed to be in Seville already. However, this marks halfway in my journey and therefore, I will stop here. Overall I liked Morocco and it was an incredible experience, I've never been anywhere like it, so I'm glad I went, even if I had been nervous at first. I've now been to Africa and therefore 3 continents! Woohoo! I'm enjoying all the new passport stamps I'm getting :). On Sunday I'll write about the second half of our trip, which includes Seville, Cordoba, and Granada :), see you then!
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