Marruecos!

Every time I talk to my family back home they always tell me that I say every trip was the best trip of my life. It’s crazy but I honestly feel like every trip that I take tops the one before it. Morocco was definitely in keeping with the trend!!! I loved being there so much. The Medina at Fes took me back to my time in India, and brought back a lot of great memories from when I went last winter. All of us here find ourselves comparing every new place to something we’ve seen before, just to neatly organize and box our memories I think, and though in my mind India was the most comparable to Morocco it was still very unique and very much its own experience.

The one unfortunate thing about our trip was that most of it was spent in-transit. We left Sevilla at 4am on October 28^th, took the bus to the ferry, and then crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from the Spanish port in Tarifa and entered into Tangier, Morocco. It was pretty cold outside when we got on the boat but we bought some steamed milk, toughed it out and went up on the top – and watched the sunrise over the Rock of Gibraltar! (The “mythological” rock was known to the Romans as one of the Pillars of Hercules – the other pillar is on the African side of the strait and together the two rocks supposedly marked the limit to the known world). We were caught off guard because we didn’t expect to just walk out and see the rock right there, but it was a very pleasant surprise and the sunrise was beautiful. The ferry ride wasn’t too bad, but then we had another looooong bus ride to Fez, our first destination. We stopped half way for lunch at a pretty little restaurant in the woods – on the way out we gave some little girls a few lollipops that we had and they gave us some flowers they had picked from the trees :) When we arrived in Fez, we went for a walk around the city and then had a nice buffet dinner at the hotel (as similar as the city felt to India, the food was NOTHING like Indian food…Morocco is considered to have one of the most diversified cuisines in the world and everything was delicious!!!)

Our second day we walked around the Medina of Fez, which is another UNESCO World Heritage Site (first was the Aqueduct in Segovia). It made world heritage status because the city is an excellent example and preservation of traditional Moroccan settlement. While we were there, we saw the extremely diverse mix of culture that Moroccans are so proud of. They have lots of Eastern influence (Jews and Arabs), Southern influence (sub-Saharan Africa) and Northern influence (Rome, Andalucía – Moors and Jews) and their beliefs have infused and evolved from Paganism to Judaism, Christianity to Islam. Moroccan literature is mainly written in Arabic, then Berber and French, and there is (of course) also some Andalucían influence.

We had a tour guide who took us around the city into a weaving factory, a spice shop, a carpet factory, a leather tanning factory, and a ceramics shop. Bargaining is customary, and because I had some experience with it already in India, I was bargaining hard and LOVING it! I bought a beautiful leather purse for my brother’s girlfriend from the leather factory, and I worked the price down really low and the man told me I was a “hard bargainer.” I was so proud! I think it’s so much fun...and I got some pretty great deals :) As we were walking around the city we noticed a huge amount of stray kittens running everywhere - very different from the emaciated stray dogs that are a rampant problem in India. We also saw lots of donkeys carrying big loads of wood and other materials. We even saw a trash donkey stationed in a corner street with a big trash bin attached to his back. We watched a man with a bunch of chickens weigh one and then kill it (he slit its throat right in front of us - blood everywhere) and we also saw a huge bucket of live and squirming snails. Quite the experience. In the ceramics shop the man at the pottery wheel let me try it, and I was pretty terrible but it was tons of fun. When we were in the spice shop, I volunteered to let the shopkeeper demonstrate some of his product on me (soothing oil, eyeliner, bright lipstick that doesn't wash off = not super attractive) and he drew a Berber symbol on my forehead that gained me lots of attention. It also gained me a few marriage proposals. One man offered me 5,000 camels and all the desert of Morocco if he could marry me. Another man offered 10,000 camels and a donkey. I told my dad about the offers and he said he would have preferred to have a little gold thrown in there as well. Thanks, Dad. Glad to know where I got my hard bargaining skills from.

Our last stop for the night was a belly dancing show! There were maybe 5 women that performed with a few musical interludes and performances of men beating on drums in between. It was interesting to notice that actually none of the women were skinny, but all of them went out there quite scantily dressed and shimmied and strutted their stuff like there was no tomorrow. It was tons of fun and refreshing to see. They got a lot of people in the crowd to go up and dance with them and we all had a really great time!

 

 

The next morning was another long bus ride, but it was well worth the sore necks and cramped legs because we got to see some amazing views of hills and valleys, dune-like formations, random oases and the snow covered tips of the Atlas Mountains. As soon as we arrived to our destination we were hustled into jeeps where, full of spirit and clapping and blaring Moroccan music, the drivers whipped us away into the desert. We randomly stopped after the sun had set completely and everyone got out of the jeeps; free from any visible light and away from all the noise of the world we took our first of many stares into the pure and vibrant Saharan night sky. It was stunning.

We slept for the next two nights in an awesome and surprisingly comfortable tent system in the middle of the desert that the Berbers constructed just for us. We ate delicious food that they prepared at the camp and sat by the fire and listened to them play music at night. The first morning they woke us at 5:30 am to watch the sunrise. It was a struggle but a bunk mate and I finally forced ourselves awake and stumbled bleary and disoriented out of the camp grounds. The Berbers couldn’t actually come into our tent area but the second we walked out of it they grabbed us by the hand and dragged us for miles out into the desert. I couldn’t wear my shoes because someone spilled water all over them the night before so the sand was FREEZING in the morning - I struggled to keep up, big time. We finally reached a good enough spot and he looked at us and said “sit.” We talked to him in Spanish and he taught us how to draw our names in Arabic and in Berber and to draw footprints in the sand as we waited for the sun to rise. The sky turned a million colors and the sun peeked slowly over the dunes before flooding the sand with radiation and luminosity. 

Again, one of the best and most peaceful moments of my life. 

Halfway back to the camp the Berber again pointed and told me to “sit,” so I plopped down and he grabbed my feet and pulled me quickly down the edge to the bottom of the big sand dune. My first time “Berber Skiing!” He then took us back to the campsite and before releasing us he tried to sell some of his desert “fossils” (not actual fossils, they make them from stone I think). He was so kind and such a fun companion that I had to buy a couple (after bargaining, of course). Pretty good gifts, I think :)

After breakfast, we went for a camel ride. Mine was tiny and very uncomfortable, and the initial excitement wore off after enduring about 20 minutes of volatile jerking and realizing that I still had over an hour ride left. We spent that second day walking around a small (and incredibly deserted) pueblo and then hanging out back at our campsite and playing with the Berber children. The Berbers were SO NICE!! One time I ventured out into the dunes to sit and enjoy the peace and the view, and one came and sat with me to talk and see what was up. What else is there to do when you live in the desert? They all speak like seven languages, simply from meeting travelers from all over and sitting down and speaking with them. They love to get to know people, and just completely and thoroughly enjoy having company. It was heartwarming.

We spent another night lying in the dunes and looking at the stars. Everyone else wanted to go to bed but I wasn't tired yet, so a group of Berbers stayed up with a friend and me and sat with us by the fire and taught us some words in Berber and in Arabic. When we were finally ready to sleep, they warmly said good night and walked off into the black abyss of dunes and nothingness.

- (OH, by the way, about the stars…I saw the Milky Way every night and so many shooting stars that I lost count!)

The rest of our trip was basically spent in transit again. Normally I never get motion sickness, but thank God for Dramamine cause on that trip back I definitely needed it. We stopped in Meknes with just enough time to eat dinner and go to sleep and then were on the road the next day back to Sevilla.

Morocco, for me, was the total experience. I loved being in the city and seeing such a different way of life, I got to sleep under the stars in the Saharan desert, and I met some incredibly unique and kind people. All with the awesome students and directors in my program whose company I enjoy immensely.

…Yep, life is good :)