I can now officially say that I have been on three different continents. This past weekend I went to Morocco, and it was a trip I will never forget. After my shift at the hospital Friday morning, I went home, grabbed my bags that I packed the night before, stopped by OpenCor (which is now SuperCor?? but I guess that's a different story...) for some snacks for the road, and walked to the bus stop which was conveniently located an easy 5-10 minute walk from my apartment.
While we've done most of the trip-planning on our own-- aka our travel-savvy friend Corey has figured literally everything out-- we used a student travel agency for this trip called Discovery Excursions. The trips we plan on our own are usually less expensive and more flexible schedule wise, we thought that since it was Morocco we should go with a group that was more experienced. It was definitely worth the cost! It was all-inclusive, so all of our meals and hotels were pre-paid.
We got off the bus and took a boat across the Mediterranean to Morocco. I loved the ferry ride! What a beautiful sunset...
That night we stayed in the hotel and tried some Moroccan food, which thankfully, I really enjoyed. We ate a lot of chicken and rice while we were there.
The next morning we hopped in the bus again to head to Chefchaouen, a city that was almost completely blue. It was my favorite of the three cities we visited, by far. We stopped for some mint tea on the way.
We did a little bit of exploring and took a hike. There were a lot of stray cats, and some even came into the restaurant where we were eating and sat next to us while we ate. Very different vibe than Europe or the US. Something that also surprised me was that people were very uncomfortable with us taking pictures. Morocco is a predominantly Islam country (at least where we were) and I learned that taking pictures is considered too self-centered, and frowned upon. People turned their faces and covered themselves when we were near! We tried after that to be more discrete.
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| Poor widdle baby cat, shivering in the cold :( |
We climbed up a mountain to get a better view of the city. So pretty! We had a local guide who told us a little bit about the history of the area.
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We saw a lot of doors in the middle of the brush... we didn't know what they were for or what they
were from, but they sure were pretty! |
After some bartering in the afternoon-- there were TONS of street vendors, who sold things very inexpensively-- we took the bus back to the hotel. We had a show at dinner....
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| Yes, this man has lit candles on a tray on his head. I think there was a magnet, but still. So neat! |
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| Me and my chocolate mousse dessert: pretty content. |
There was a free sangria party after dinner that night. It kind of confused me. Drinking is against the religion of the people of the hotel, but we had the whole sixth floor to ourselves and the guides threw a little party. I was surprised we were allowed to have our little get-together. It was so much fun! We met students who are studying all over Spain. We played cards, once it started clearing out, with the guides. I don't know why, but expressions and jokes are so much funnier when told by someone who doesn't speak English as their first language. Good times.
Next morning, off for more adventures. We went to the beach of Asilah, and even got to ride camels. It was a short ride, but I don't think I would have wanted to for that much longer anyway. I felt a little bad for the camels, having to get up and down constantly and trek us around. I met a baby camel too, who was really cute.
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| Always happy to be at the beach :) |
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| Yours truly, riding a camel in Africa. |
Last stop: the Caves of Hercules...
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| View from the inside of the cave... |
I am so glad I had the chance to visit Morocco-- it was a place I didn't even think of visiting until I got here. The culture was so completely different from any of those I've seen so far in Europe. While I enjoyed the trip, I felt the most uncomfortable on this one, because of all the differences. The vendors were very aggressive, and some had a lot of things to say about Americans, which also made me uncomfortable.
It's weird that coming back to Sevilla after all these mini adventures feels like coming home. I didn't think I'd get to that point here, and I'm so glad I did. Have to say though, I am getting really excited to see my family for Christmastime. I'll miss them so much on Thanksgiving. I am working on finishing up my plans for getting myself through the airport and all, trying to make sure that it's all planned so that I don't mess anything up on my way from Sevilla to Madrid... should be interesting considering my navigational skills.
And the countdown begins-- 21 days left! Where did the time go? As they say in Spanish, "el tiempo vuela"-- time flies.
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