Our trek to Morocco started at 4am Friday morning. It was a three hour drive to the port, where we had to wait for awhile before taking the two hour ferry across. Once it was time to get off, Lanae and I jumped into Africa. We got back on the bus and arrived in Fes around 6pm Morocco time (1 hour ahead of Spain). It was a long day of travel, but the scenery was so interesting. I saw so many herds of sheep and goats with shepherds, donkeys, and tiny towns. For dinner we had a buffet at the hotel. I ate some good fish, rice, cooked vegetables, and dessert. They had sliced oranges out with cinnamon sprinkled on them; we ate so many of them! I recommend the next time you have a orage try it! After dinner we turned on the tv in our room, and Mean Girls was on. It was in english, but they had Arabic subtitles. In Morocco there are the Arabs and the Berbers. The Berbers are the natives that more out in the desert, and were given the name Berbers, short for barbarians, by the Arabs. The languages in Morocco are Arabic, French, and Berber.
Saturday we had the whole day in Fes. Breakfast was at the hotel, and I ate lots of dates and bread with butter and jelly. We started off by taking the bus to the King's palace along with guide. All you can see is the wall around it, all 200 acres of it. We stopped at one of the entrances to it with 7 doors. They were very intricate and beautiful doors. Next we went up to a castle on a hill overlooking the city. It was a great view of everything. I learned there that all the mosques had green roofs, which you could easily see from up there.
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| Me at one of the doors |
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| Me, Lanae & Allyson in a doorway |
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| The view of the city |
The Medina, the old city, was next. We got off the bus and played follow the leader through teeny tiny winding paths. There were so many people walking through, and doing their daily shopping. The paths were lined with little shops. First we walked through the food part, so there were tons of fruits, vegetables, spices, and meats. There were live chickens in a few shops, and goat and camel heads hanging up. There was so much going on, and each step you'd get a different smell, some good, some not so good. As we kept going, we hit different sections, there were shops working with metal, using wood, and selling other things. We walked by a mosque, and were able to peak in. All around the city, there were tons of stray cats roaming around. Also they use donkeys to get around sometimes, so we saw some cute ones along the way.
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| Food in the market |
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| The paths of the medina |
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| Dates |
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| Goat Heads |
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| camel head |
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| donkey |
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| Mosque |
Then we arrived at our first destination, the carpet store. We all filled in and sat sat around a huge room of carpets. They served us fresh mint tea (which was so delicious and gave us their sales pitch. They brought our huge beautiful carpets, and kept brining out more and more. They kept saying "two for one" because the carpets were double sided, one was for the summer and the other for the winter. After they completed their big spiel, sales people came up to everyone and made them look at more carpets. They were very convincing, and if they hadn't been quite so expensive, I would have been sold. At least I got some pictures and some good tea.
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| Carpet store |
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| Me with the carpets |
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| The little ones were the cheapest ones. Only 260 euros... |
Right after, we went into a silver store. They had lots of different things, jewelry, teapots, and lots of other Moroccan things. I found two gifts there that I wanted to get. I was right at the counter and once you even think about getting something, they leap on you and are ready to take your money. The guide was right next to me, so I had him help me get a good price for my purchases. In Morocco priced aren't fixed, so you have to barter for what you want.
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| Silver store |
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| Silver store |
The next stop was the leathery. We walked inside and made our way to the roof of the building. We were handed fresh mint leaves to smell, and once we got to the top, they sure came in handy. From up there we could see the whole leather making process going on. There were many different stages: the guy cutting the fur off the hides, the hides going through different tubs, and being hung to dry. It was really interesting to see how leather is actually made. I learned that leather products smell, unless they use chemicals on them. The ones there had faint smells, so you knew they were real and "fresh" from Morocco. I had been waiting a leather backpack since I've been hear, and I found one I loved. Ashley found a purse with a camel, that she really wanted too. They told us they wanted 800 durham (it's about 10 durham to a Euro, so 70 Euros) for each of our bags. We weren't paying that. It was so stressful trying to bring it down to a price we wanted, especially since we didn't have much time there before the group left. When we gave them our prices they would just scoff at them, and say we killed them. After a little bit, we gave them 800 durham total, and basically just walked away. I was happy to have gotten my backpack, but it took awhile to relax after that experience.
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| leathery |
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| some of the leather purses |
After we made our way to the clothing store. They had so many different types of the traditional Moroccan outfit. Some of them were very pretty. The man working there kept urging us to try them on, so Lanae and I did. Then downstairs in the store there were lots of scarves. I was still recovering from my leather buying experience to look at the countless amount of them, so I had one of the guys put a tuban on me.
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| Lanae and me in our traditional Moroccan clothing |
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| Us with our turbans |
The pharmacy was next. We squeezed into a rather small shop and the guy went through all the different things they had, oils, lotions, spices, herbal remedies, and more. They kept stressing Argan oil, which is the same thing as the Moroccan Oil they sell in the states, for your hair. So I bought a small bottle of it for 70 durham, probably at least four times cheaper than at home. They also had this really cool magic lipstick. It's green lipstick, but it changes color with the heat of your skin to pink/red. It's interesting because for everyone it's a little different. The other thing I bought was a package of mint tea (mom for the future, you add some of the tea and sugar to hot water, and then heat it again for another couple of minutes). It was a neat place, and I really enjoyed learning about all the products there.
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| Pharmacy |
Then it was lunch time. We started out with a bunch of little plated of lentils, peppers, olives, and bread. Then we got a huge plate of tajine, which had couscous, chicken, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and a rasin sauce on top. It was very delicious. For dessert we had bananas and oranges. After lunch we headed back to the bus to make one last stop. On the way Ash and I bought bracelets from a guy on the street. We were running to catch up to the group, and Ashley tripped and twisted her ankle. It wasn't good, but she walked on it, instead of being carried by one of our directors.
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| Lunch |
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| Tajine |
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| The lower doorkocker is for women, so that the woman of the house can come to the door uncovered. If it's a man then he knocks with the top one, to let her know she has to put on her head scarf. |
The last stop was at a ceramic place. The showed us a guy making some things on the pottery wheel, the old kilns, and the pottery being painted. Then we were shown the mosaic process. They fire square tiles, and then guys break them up into the shape they want. It was amazing to watch them because it looks so hard, but they make each piece the perfect shape. After all the pieces are cut for a mosaic, the are laid down on the mold and glued together. The had some amazing pieces there. If you ever want a mosaic fountain for your yard, you should get one from there.
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| The whole tiles |
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| Breaking the tiles |
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| Gluing the tiles |
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| Mosaic table |
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| Mosaic fountain |
We went back to the hotel to rest before dinner. We ate similar things to the night before. Then we went to a traditional moroccan show. It was in a nice big open room. There were a few different belly dancers, drummers, a magician, and there was a "wedding" with two of the students in our group. It was a fun show, but so many of us were exhausted from the day it was hard to stay awake for it.
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| One of the dancers |
Sunday we got up early and left for the desert. It was another long drive. We went through the Atlas mountains and were in a snow storm. We had to take a different route, because the way we wanted to go was closed for the snow. It was really pretty, and so funny to see snow in Africa. There is one town in the mountains that looks like it could be in switzerland. It's a rich town, and so different than everywhere else in Morocco. Right before lunch we stopped, to look at the view overlooking the oasis. It was so neat to see a big green area surrounded by desert. For lunch we had to "hike" through an area covered with palm trees for a few minutes to get to the restaurant. We ate Tajine, but the foods were separated. It was another hour in the bus from there, and then we got to go in 4x4s into the desert. It was an hour and a half ride, and I enjoyed every second of it. It felt like I was in Mario Kart. We went up and down the sand dunes, took shortcuts, and there were at least 20 other 4x4s we were "racing." We made a stop in the middle to see our first African sunset, then it was back to the race. We ended up winning, the directors beat us, but they don't count. It was dark when we got to the camp, but there were a few lights on. They were big long tents in a rectangle and it felt so surreal. We opened one of the blanket doors, and found beds for the five of us, Ashley, Tara, Allyson, Lanae, and me. There was another big tent for meals, so after getting settled, we headed over there and claimed a table. We had to wait awhile, but Lanae brought cards with her, so we played to pass the time away. For dinner we had Tajine and bread. There were a few Berbers who ran the camp and organized all the meals. After dinner, we were exhausted and went to bed. As I feel asleep, I could hear them playing their drums and saying welcome to Africa.
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| SNOW |
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| The oasis |
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| Us with our 4x4 |
On Monday, also Lanae's 21st Birthday, we got up at 5:30 to see the sunrise over the sand dunes. We walked out of our little camp, and a Berber told us to follow him. So we set out crossing the dunes to find the right place to watch the sunrise. He found the right one and we plopped down and waited for it to come. It was so pretty seeing the light spread over the desert. After the sun was up we all followed our respective Berbers back to camp, where they sat us down and tried to sell us things: fossils, necklaces, desert rose, and other things. I did buy a necklace later on from one of them. It has a Berber symbol on it. We stayed up after that and waited for breakfast. We had bread, flat bread, with camel butter, fig jam, and honey, and eggs. After breakfast the camels (they are actually dromedaries because they have one hump, but camel is easier to say and write) started arriving. We got ready and went to find the camels we wanted. There were camel caravans of 6, and so we found one for all of us. Some of the camels were talking and groaning, exactly like in Santa Clause 2, when comet eats all the candy and can't fly. After all 85 camels arrived, we were off. It was so weird when the camel got up, and then it took a little getting used to riding the camel. I named my camel Frederickson and he was a really good camel. We walked for awhile and stopped at this huge sand dune. We got off and trekked to the top. It is so tiring to climb in sand, but the view from the top was spectacular. We could see Algeria from there. We continued riding our camels, until we got to the nearby town. Once we got off our camels, our guide sat us down to show us what we was selling. I ended up buying a few fossils.
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| Sunrise over the desert |
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| Camel |
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| camel |
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| Our tents |
We walked into town, and they took us to a pool! By that time it was probably around 80 degrees and so sunny. So we stuck out feet in the pool and I shared an orange fanta with the birthday girl. It was a perfect time to relax and cool down a little. After we went to a shop in the town. They sat us down for another carpet sales pitch and served us mint tea. I did find a blue tie dye turban/scarf there that I liked and bought. Then we walked the 30 minutes back to our camp. Once we were back, we were starving and had to wait a little bit for lunch. We had bread, vegetables, and chicken. After lunch some women arrived to do Henna. I've always wanted to have it done and what better place than in the Sahara desert? They spoke no English or Spanish, and so they just did whatever design they wanted.
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| Fanta at the pool |
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| Meal tent |
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| lunch |
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| Henna |
Then we decided to go hang out on a sand dune and soak in some sun. We found one, and were taking picutres and writing things in the sand, when a Berber appeared next to us. His name was Habib. He wrote my name in Arabic, and talked to us in Spanish. He knew lots of languages, Berber. Arabic, Spanish, Japanese, French, and bits of others. He wrapped us in turbans countless times, and took lots of photos. He kept telling us to do certain things because the picture would be a good souvenir. Whenever he took photos of us, he told us to say "Patatas Fritas!" He buried our legs in sand, and basically said the sand could cure everything. Then he took us to the best spot to watch the sunset. He was so nice. We learned was 28 with 2 kids. On the way back to camp he stopped and lit one of the bushes on fire, so we could take a picture of it. It was so interesting to spend the afternoon with him, and we all enjoyed it.
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| Beetle in the desert |
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| One of our souvenir photos |
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| The sunset |
Once back at camp, we hung around until dinner and played cards. For this dinner we had a band playing. We had a similar meal to those before, and I had a coca-cola in a cool bottle with arabic writing on it. After dinner, we listened to the band some more, did a conga line around the tent, and then decided it was time for bed. We got up so early and the heat was so exhausting, we all passed right out.
Tuesday morning we got up, ate breakfast, and got back into the 4x4s. The ride wasn't as fun, cause we took more main roads, but we saw some different areas. Then we took the bus to Meknes. We stopped at a forest and got to see monkeys! They looked the same as the gibraltar monkeys. They liked to climb trees and jump from one to the next. It was fun to watch them. Then we got back on the bus and arrived in Meknes around 7. Once we got there we went and found a pastry shop, since our director said they were really good. Ash and I got a bunch of them, for very cheap. We had dinner in the hotel and had some good chicken and rice. After it was time for a shower. We felt dirty after being without one for a few days, but I felt better than I had expected. None the less the shower felt so wonderful.
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| Monkey |
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| Sunset on the way to Meknes |
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| Pasteries |
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| Stop sign in Arabic |
Wednesday we left the hotel early and headed on the long journey back. It was about 6 hours back to the ferry, and then we had to wait. We got there around 2 and there was a ferry there, but we had tickets for the 4 pm one and they wouldn't let us switch them. So we waited and played cards and I had a glass of mint tea. We didn't get on the ferry till at least 5:30 and didn't leave much before 7. We finally got back to Sevilla around 12. There was a lot of traveling in the trip, but it was so worth it for what we saw.
Morocco was amazing! I loved it all, and it was so interesting to see such a different world.
