 |
| Chicken and Vegetable Tagine |
 |
| Me at the aqueducts in the Medina. |
First of all, I want to share this song with everyone. It's been stuck in my head today and it's SO inspirational and I'm pretty sure that ALL of you will fall in love with it; and the video is pretty powerful too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_Voi3JM8ZA
 |
| The BEAUTIFUL museum that used to be an all girls' college. |
 |
| Being impatient outside of the airport. |
 |
| The mass of Arabians fighting over us. |
Oh and before I start this, there are 798 pictures on my FaceBook from this weekend, ENJOY :) Anywho, I went to Morocco this past weekend with my new friend,Taylor. We flew out of Madrid around 11:35 on Thursday morning and stayed until Sunday. It was a truly amazing experience and I came to appreciate my home here in Villaviciosa so much more! When we first got there we had an issue with our transportation from the airport to the riad (which is like a REALLY nice hotel, just to clarify). The most frustrating part of the two hour wait process that we had was that we knew there was a problem and that we were about to be victims of a crime but we didn't know what the crime was nor how we could avoid it. The situation ending up being that other taxi drivers were trying to say that they were supposed to take us to the riad just because they wanted the business, so there was a HUGE fight over us, essentially. Another frustrating part of that was that the first language of Morocco is Arabic and their second language is French, so our driver spoke barely any English and he didn't speak any Spanish. To communicate, he spoke to us in Italian and we answered him in Spanish, which ended up working for the most part, we had the basics covered. Haha. Everything ended up being just fine, the manager of our riad came and rescued us and even upgraded us to a suite for all of the confusion. It was NIIIICE! Hours after we arrived at the riad we went and rode camels! They are such gentle animals and surprisingly smell less than horses, riding them was a once in a lifetime experience that I will NEVER forget, it was so fun!! I will definitely NEVER forget that!
 |
| Riding camels! |
Friday was our first full day in Morocco so we took an all day tour of the Medina. The Medina is a part of Marrakech that has a HUGE wall around it. It's its own community, there are markets, and restaurants, and houses, it was pretty cool. We took the all day tour and went inside one of the all male universities, it was so old, and still in great condition, and GORGEOUS! After that we went to what used to be an all female university, but it's now a museum. This building was so big and had SO many big chandeliers, I really liked the floors too. Everything was so beautiful! After the girls' school we went and saw the aqueducts and the outdoor bathrooms and sewage system, which sounds really gross but the buildings of the aqueducts were so pretty and still in really good condition. It really made me think that we don't have very many old buildings like that in the US and also that we don't show off the history of our country as much. After touring all of the Medina we finally got to shop! There were shoes upon shoes and jewelry on jewelry, I was IN LOVE!
 |
| Taylor and I at the all male school. |
Saturday we had an organized trip to Essaouira, which is a beach about 2 hours away from where we were staying. Our tour guide spoke little English and it was hilarious trying to communicate with him the whole day. Our favorite part was when we would ask him questions that need a real response and he'd answer with either "Yea, maybe" or "OK". We would just laugh and try to make sense of the situation but the language barrier was tough. Haha. The beach was BEAUTIFUL though, it was about 83 degrees and sunny all day, so of course we had to lay out, I mean we were only there for a day! And we saw goats in trees! Apparently they climb up there to eat the argon and then just hang out in the trees. When we pulled up to tree all I could think to say was "WHAT. THE. HELL." I was SO dumbfounded and eventually ended up climbing up in the tree and sitting with them. It was pretty cool! We also got to take a tour of a carpet making factory, a pharmacy, and a peanut butter making factory. It was SO cool and all the stuff we got to see was really amazing!
 |
| Goats in a tree! |
 |
| Taylor and I gettin' our tan on! |
The culture was definitely a shock when we first got there, even more so than when I first got to Spain, at least I understood the language when I got here. I don't speak ANY French and I sure as hell can't understand Arabic! We were lucky to get by on the little Italian that people did speak. One thing Taylor mentioned that I started to think about as the weekend went on was that the country seemed to be a primarily male dominated culture, which in all reality it was because women aren't allowed to work but we noticed that we rarely saw many women out on the streets either. The women in Morocco stay at home and the majority of the people we saw out and about were men. When we did see women, they were fully covered from head to toe in clothes, like the image of all Arabian women that our American culture has created. We never found out at what age women have to start wearing those clothes, but my guess is after they are married because the girls our age didn't wear them nor did the younger girls. I don't know how they could stand to be in all of those layers because I was hot in just shorts! And I felt like I was disrespecting their culture by showing my legs, women definitely did not give me very nice looks when they saw my legs. But I didn't know so, oh well. Also the houses were very different than those in the US. In the US we like to show off our houses and boast about all of the worldly possessions that we have but in Morocco it was completely different. The outside of their houses looked run-down and were not kept up very well but on the inside they were gorgeous. Our tour guide on Friday specifically said that the people in Marrakech don't boast about all that they have, they have just enough to get by and they are happy with that because that is all they need. Which is VERY different from US culture where everyone boasts about what they have and bigger is better. Being a foreigner in their country we definitely got some looks, at least here in Spain people are quiet about it when they gawk at foreigners, it's still VERY obvious but at least they don't verbalize what they are thinking. When Taylor and I were walking though the Medina we were called "gazelles" which apparently in Arabic means "beautiful girls" and we were whistled out and "ooh-la-la-ed" at and my favorite was when one guy stopped dead in his tracks, stared at us, and said "OH MY GOD". I couldn't help but crack up after we passed him, it was very flattering but kind of funny too.
 |
| Mint green tea, I am SO obsessed now! |
Since Taylor and I both LOVE to eat, we, of course, had to try every new food we came in contact with! I think I gained like 12 pounds just eating bread alone. I couldn't resist! But everything was really good! We ate tagine, which a traditional Arabian dish and served in this huge triangular shaped dish. You can put kus-kus in it or any kind of meat and vegetables; we even ate lamb! The food didn't look that exciting but it wasn't bad at all, I loved that I was trying new things and branching out! They also serve mint green tea after every meal and now I've bought a box of it from the grocery store here and I am SO obsessed! It's so good, and a lot better for me than coffee! I absolutely love it!
 |
| SHOES ON SHOES ON SHOES |
 |
| At the peanut-butter "factory". |
The life in Morocco was also more simple than that in the US, the people get by on what they have and they appreciate so much more than most. Everything was so much more different than anything I'd ever experienced and it was just beautiful, that's the only way I can describe it! I loved Morocco and I'd definitely go back anytime that I can! Taylor and I even compiled a list of firsts that we had in Morocco which is below my post. They are hilarious and things I will surely NEVER forget!
 |
| JEWLRY OVERLOAD! |
Remember that time in Morocco when…?1. We almost got kidnapped
2. A boy stopped dead in his tracks, opened his mouth, drooled, and said “Oh My God!” when we walked by
3. We showered w/o a curtain
4. We watched the sunset on the terrace
5. We stole our fruit from lunch
6. We were the first customers to successfully start our won gas fires
7. We rode camels
8. We snorted herbs and cleared our sinuses
9. Taylor bought a 900 dirham purse for 300 dirhams
10. We were served breakfast on a golden platter
11. We slept in a canopy bed 12. We met a white African from England
13. A guy asked if we lived in CO… Who lives in CO?
14. We were serenated by a Swahili man on a hand-made guitar
15. We walked through all of the Medina in one day
16. We couldn’t understand Arabic… we still can’t understand Arabic.
17. We interrupted loud camel sex.
18. We watched a mama camel nurse her baby
19. We were overly excited about another stamp on our passports
20. We fell in love with mint tea
21. We tried tagine for the 1st time… and the 2nd… and the 6th…
22. We had to drink mineral water out of bottles all weekend
23. Someone made us camels out of palm trees
24. We understood Italian and responded in Spanish
25. Our tour guide started shopping before we did and bought slippers
26. We were given insides tours of the pharmacy, carpet, and peanut butter factories
27. We met American boys at the airport, and talked about them all weekend like they were our close friends
28. We were sisters from DC… or cousins from Co… or whatever. Wait, what are we?
29. We made a transaction in Eurhams—that’s Euros and Dirhams at the same time.
30. We were almost run over multiple times, because motos drive on the roads where people walk
31. We were called “beautiful gazelles” by every man we passed, and gave them whiplash
32. We took a shower under a bath faucet… semi-successfully and incredibly awkwardly
33. We communicated better in Italian than in English
34. We listed to jet-lagged music
35. We almost ran over a sheep… on the highway
36. We climbed a tree with goats in it
37. We watched peanut butter being made at the cooperative
38. We walked through the fish port, and it reeked
39. We bought anti-irritant cream instead of sunscreen
40. We had a body guard/babysitter while sun-bathing
41. We were rescued from high-tide by children
42. We were solicited relentlessly for henna tattoos that we never wanted to begin with
43. We were two language majors basking in the sun, and we feigned ignorance of any first language to avoid attention
44. We ate caramel flan
45. We risked our lives, and dodged street construction in the town square
46. We had an English speaking tour guide in Essaueria… yea me neither
47. Our tour guides had to stop more than we did
48. We were in traffic with donkeys… and motos… and bikes… and pedestrians… and other cars… and we almost killed one of each
49. We wished we understood French
50. Any French word offended Hali immediately
51. Taylor tried speaking French… she thanked everyone, and that was it.
52. We stirred our coffee with forks
53. We paid for our vacation with four different currencies
54. We saw the coast of Africa from the sky
No comments:
Post a Comment