Morocco

Our bus left Granada at 8:30 P.M. on October 9^th and it was a three and a half hour bus ride to Algeciras – the main port out of Spain. We got into Algeciras just before midnight and then we had to wander from the bus station to find our hotel. The directions that the program gave us were more like take a left when the street comes to a T then another left a few blocks away rather than just giving street names. We ended up finding the hotel thanks to the police officers who kept circling the block. Pete had reserved a hotel room for four so Sara and Melissa roomed with us and then four others from our program stayed in the hostel around the block.

Day 1 - October 10^: The next morning we had to meet at the port at 8 A.M. so I got up at 6:45 to shower and the hotel breakfast was at 7 – This was the advantage of staying in the hotel over the hostel. There was a storm that had moved in early in the morning so we walked to the port in the strong wind and rain. Long story short - Sara and Melissa had gone to Germany on their week off of class and it rained everyday but once on their trip. So this is why we blame them because it seems to always rain whenever they are together.

We met our guides for the trip around 9 and the boats were delayed anyway because of the weather. So we split into our two groups of 15 and made our through customs and onto the boat. While waiting to depart we had got our itineraries for the trip and did some icebreaker activities. All of the students in our group were studying in Granada except for one girl and there were eight of us from the Central College Program. We probably sat for an hour and a half before we started moving I walked around for a bit and the boat was really rocky and I would just be standing and then move almost five feet one way and then five the other. I think it made everyone tired because about after 15 minutes of that most of the people on the boat were laying down, so I got my Mp3 player and laid down and listened to some music for a while. I had to listen to some Jimmy Buffet since were out at sea. The boat ride was supposed to be two hours and it ended up being over three or it seemed like it at least. It was weird because we somehow crossed two time zones, so my sense of time on the boat was all messed up.

We arrived in Tangier and went to a market first thing and got some water, fruit and other snacks for our long bus rides on the 18 passenger bus. We had lunch at a women’s center called DARNA, and while we ate students who study English in Morocco came and talked to us. The meal we had was Cuscus – which is great – It’s similar to rice and then vegetables and meat are placed on top. Along with the meal we were served milk, and they didn’t say anything until we took a sip, and to be honest it was awful because it was sour goats milk – its similar to homemade yogurt but extremely sour and somewhat chunky. But after the meal we were served the best tea I have ever had - The tea is green tea with mint leaves and sugar.

Me riding a camel

After the meal we got a tour of DARNA, and we got to see some of the things they have to offer to help the women. A majority of what they offer is craft related so they can take the skills that they learn there and use them to make money and get back onto their feet. We got on the bus and drove to Rabat. We were behind schedule because of the boat delay so we had to skip Medina – a beach town on the Atlantic coast. Once were on our way it started raining and Ben (our guide) had us pull over and we got to ride camels and of course once we got out it started to rain harder, and eventually started pouring…So thank you to our rain goddesses - Sara and Melissa. Standing out in the rain and riding the camels was definitely worth being soaked and getting on the bus, smelling of wet camels and having the windows get fogged up.

Some of the group enjoying the rain

After a few more hours on the bus we got into Rabat after 9 P.M. where we were to stay with our host families for the next couple of nights. I roomed with Ben from our program and we stayed with a family who knew very minimal English. When we got to the house we were fed bread with jam and honey, and black and green olives. We were starving and we also thought it was dinner so we stuffed our faces. A friend of the family who studied English came over to the house to help translate so we could have conversation and then we all went for a walk around the city. On our walk we saw a market which had anything from food, music, movies, crafts, toys and clothes. Another cool thing was we got to see a wedding and we just happened to stand by the door and the family or who was walking past invited us in and they brought us chairs to sit and observe. The people in Morocco are so nice, not only to us, but everyone just in general, so that was completely unexpected. Even if they are acquaintances or best friends they will stop walking and ask each other how their day is going. When we walked the streets with Hisham, our “host brother” people would yell his name when they saw him coming which I though was really cool. Another thing I liked about their culture is when they would greet each other; they would shake hands and then put their right hand over their heart.

The Wedding

After we got back from our walk we had dinner. On the table was a huge bowl filled with rice and sliced chicken on top. After dinner we were served tea again – which was even better than the tea we had earlier in the day.

A Typical place setting and meal in Morocco

Day 2 – October 11: We told Hisham that we were getting up at 8 and before bed we decided to move our alarm back 10 minutes. We woke up just after 8 with Hisham standing inside the door clapping to wake us up, so looking back at that is just one of those odd but funny experiences. We met with a business professor at the University at 9 to talk about the culture of Morocco compared to the states. It was interesting to get his views of our country and hear what everyone thought about Morocco even though we had been there for half a day. I felt that he didn’t want to offend anyone so we didn’t get as in depth as some of us wanted. Typically in Morocco they speak a variety of languages: Berber (The native language), Arabic, French, Spanish, and English. One of the things I found interesting was that Moroccans give the nicest room in the house (Typically the dining room) to their guest and the reason behind it is, “Give all good things to the one you invited.” Along with this the guest can stay as long as they want but they have to stay at least three days.

Part of the Roman Ruin

Part of a Mosque inside the Ruin

The next thing we did was visited the Roman ruins of Chellah. The ruins were really cool, it had an old Mosque in it that was surrounded by gardens. Walking through it was really nice because it was not one of those tours that give you tons of information, we just got to walk around and take pictures and our guide, Ben covered the basic information, he kept it short and to the point. We took a short bus ride to the Mausoleum of King Mohammed V. The Mausoleum was originally intended to be a mosque but an earthquake had occurred during the construction and shortly after that the king died. So now inside the exterior of the Mosque there is a small Mausoleum housing the bodies of the current king’s grandfather, father, and uncle. The mosque was never finished but it is more like a large patio area and portions of the exterior walls have cracked and fallen from the earthquake and the patio contains over 300 pillars which would have supported the roof – So essentially, this thing is HUGE! (Easily could have held 6 football fields if not more). Also the tower was only a third of the way constructed and it is 6 or 7 stories tall. The size of it all was just phenomenal.

The Part of the Old Mosque

We went back to our host families homes for lunch around 3 which was nice so we didn’t really have to adapt to a whole new culture’s lunch time. After lunch we divided into groups and walked around with Moroccan students who were studying English at the University. We had free time to walk the city, markets, get food, basically what ever we wanted. So Ben, Pete and I were in a group with a guy named Abraham but said to call him Brian instead. We were all impressed with his English; he wants to be an English teacher either in Morocco, England or the U.S. We walked through the city and also to the coast and looked over the Atlantic coast and watched people surf and Jet Ski for awhile. We walked though a market which had all kinds of artisan things, which were really cool to look at, but seemed way over priced. That night we had a short meeting with three people from the Peace Corps and listened to their experiences and how it has impacted them. It sounds very interesting, but if I ever did that I would like to go somewhere where and I could use my Spanish and preferably warm.

To end our night we went to the Arab baths (Hammam) and it was quite an interesting experience to say the least. I had heard about it from other people who had went and thought it was good and some thought it was bad, so I was skeptical but I had to try it for myself. So basically it is a series of three large steam rooms that progressively get cooler as you move back towards the main door. I will have to just tell you in person when I get back to the states, because the story will be much better and a lot funnier in person. It ended up being one of the coolest, funniest, and most interesting parts of the trip. I recommend going to the Hammam if you ever happen to go to Morocco.

I had a liter and a half of water afterwards because we were in the steam room for a half hour to 45 minutes and pretty dehydrated. We went over to a friend of Hashim’s for tea and deserts, and there were over 10 different types of cookie-pastry kind of things and they put one of each on a plate for Ben and I. We were exhausted after that and probably asleep by midnight.

The Mausoleum where the Old Kings Rest

Day 3 – October 12: We were up by 7, had breakfast and said our goodbyes to the family. We exchanged emails with Hisham and he said if we are ever in Morocco, we have a place to stay. We left Rabat at 8 and drove 4 hours on the bus to the Rif Mountains to eat with a family. The family lives off of land that they farm and then trade with other families/farmers for other crops. This was very interesting because they do not have any currency exchanged for their crops. We had cuscus for lunch and then hiked up the hill to the mountaintop behind the house and all of the kids from the surrounding houses followed us up. The views were incredible and there were mountain ranges on all sides. Since it had rained quite a bit there in the past few days, our guide Ben pointed out a small river that was completely dry a week earlier when he brought other students up there. After playing with the kids and thanking the family we left for Chefchauen, a small town built into the mountainside. The drive was through the mountains and the city just kind of came out of no where, which was very picturesque. We walked through town and many of the buildings are painted two shades of blue to represent the sea and the sky. Even though everything was blue for about 10 feet or less on the buildings it made the walks around town very cool.

The Central Group

We got to our hostel and we had 16 people so we took over the entire thing. After that Ben explained bartering/haggling and to aware of being offered drugs. I was offered drugs probably over 20 times within our three hours of our free time. The drug dealers and the police in Chefchauen have a drug ring where a dealer will offer you drugs and then walk away and someone else will come up and tell you that you owe them money or they will tell the police – so Ben’s advice was to just walk away. I was happy to use my bartering skills again that I picked up from Peru a few years ago. I bought some leather bracelets and a hat and knocked off a couple of euros there and I also got a silk and wool blanket and the seller wanted 35€ and I ended up getting it for 20€. We had a group dinner at a nice restaurant and it included a three course meal. After that we went back to our hostel and then met on the roof for a reflection period. I really enjoyed this because we stood around a candle and each of us shared our thoughts of Morocco. Each person had something different to say – which was so interesting since all 16 of us had shared the same experiences over the past few days. We also shared some stories that we would never forget, which for the guys the hammam stories were by far the funniest.

The Sunset from the Roof of Our Hostel

Day 4 - October 14: There is nothing like starting off your day like a 7 AM hike to the mountains. We walked up behind the city; the view was incredible overlooking the city and the mountain range. We stayed up there for twenty minutes or so and then headed back to the hotel and Ben had gone out the night before and bought everything left in a bakery. So we all stuffed our faces before our three hour bus ride to the Cuenta. We had to go through a security check and then walk through “no man’s land” to get to the Spanish part of Africa. We waited about an hour at the port and ate before we got on the boat. We said our goodbyes and thank you’s to our guides, because they were staying in Africa while we got on the ferry for Spain. This time the sun was out and the boat ride was much faster and smoother. When we got to the bus station, we had just missed the bus to Granada by five minutes, so we had to wait an hour and a half for the next bus. We got back to Granada, and guess what??? Rain – it followed us back to Spain!

The Streets of Chefchauen

Since I have been writing this over the past couple of weeks I have gotten to look back and reflect on Morocco. I know I will never forget my four days there – It was an unbelievable trip and definitely worth the money, so if you have a chance to, DO IT. A lot of our señora’s didn’t want us to go, and ours told us to be careful about five times as we walked out the door. It’s interesting to see the stereotype that Spaniards have of Moroccans, but they are completely wrong. The people that we met in Morocco were absolutely the nicest people that I have ever met. Even though there was a language barrier, it wasn’t that hard to communicate and express a general idea though gestures. From riding the camels on the beach in the rain to the perfectly sunny day hiking up the Rif Mountains, the trip was unforgettable. And I know if I ever go back I will have a place to stay.