So, going back to last week - Thursday was Christin’s 21st birthday. We met with Elisa at Horno de San Buenaventura for a short meeting, and then from there Christin, Candace, and I went for some celebratory Rayas – the best ice cream in town. Christin and I got Napolitana – an awesome flavor, and a new favorite – I don’t know how to describe it, maybe a mix of cinnamon and graham cracker, but it was good.
After ice cream we went for some birthday shopping and then met Sydney to go for tapas. We went to an awesome tapas place in centro and had chicken in an almond sauce along with crackers with a sweet cheese and blueberry jam - delicious.
That night we met up with everyone around 11:30 for a botellon by the river, where we were greeted by 4 Spanish men who had a Flamenco guitar and were singing and clapping. They kept telling us to dance, and Aurora kept getting proposed to, but two of them were really nice and apologized for their crazy friends. The one with the guitar said he was majoring in Flamenco, and he let me play his very nice Flamenco guitar, which was a ton of fun.
I got in at about 5:30 AM, and then tried to get a little sleep before leaving in the afternoon for Morroco – and that is the kind of sentence that I’m going to miss being able to say, once this experience is over.
We left for Morroco Friday afternoon and the entire day was pretty much devoted to travel and border crossing – we stayed in a hotel outside of Tetuan and had a typical Morrocan dinner made up of a vegetable soup, really good bread, and a chicken made with lemon and olives. We had flan for dessert, but I didn’t eat it – nothing can compare to Ana’s flan, it’s just a waste of time.
(I'm rich in Moroccan currency.)
That morning we drove into Tetuan and had a tour of the Medina, the historic Arabic part of the city (Medina means “city” in Arabic”). Morocco is 98 percent Muslim and their official language is Arabic with their administrative language being French, but in North Morroco many people speak Spanish as well.
Walking around the Medina was one of the most authentic things I’ve ever seen – men and women set outside of shops, and our guide explained that they were looking for jobs, and people knew which places to go to hire certain kinds of workers – for instance, if they needed a painter, they would go to a certain bar to find them, or if they needed a house cleaner, they would know where they usually sat.
Many people were outside vending fruits, vegetables, and bread.
Doors that are decorated represent residential homes – in each “neighborhood” there’s a Mosque and there’s a place to go to bake your bread – all of the bread is homemade, and people pay a few cents to go down to the closest bakery and bake it to get the wood fired taste, we saw a lot of women carrying boards on their heads with dough on it.
(Neighborhood with Mosque at end)
We had a spice demonstration and were told about different medicinal benefits of saffron, eucalyptus, and various spices.
We also went to a place where carpets are hand made and were given a demonstration as well. Afterwards, we went to have a typical lunch. We started with more delicious bread, a vegetable soup, a mixture of fresh vegetables, and then couscous! It was delicious.
A lady was there doing henna, and I had my name written in Arabic – which, apparently, is actually accurate, which I was surprised to hear from our guide, I expected her to just make something up because I certainly would not know any better.
After lunch we got on the bus to head to Tangier. On the way, we stopped at the Hercules caves, which provides a window to the Atlantic in the shape of Africa.
We also got to see the meeting point between the Atlantic and Mediteranean oceans. Aaand ride some camels by the ocean. Camels are kind of disgusting animals and make some really intereting sounds.
I was obsessed with this baby camel, but it almost bit my face off….
Upon getting to Tangier we walked around a little bit – Tangier is a lot different than Tetuan, its more metropolitan because its such a popular tourist destination for its beaches. After a pretty average dinner, we went to a floor show, and while I don’t think it was the most authentic thing, it was certainly the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time.
We kept getting pulled up for audience participation, and got to run around with these crazy guys who kept jumping and spinning their hats and playing drums. Aaand Claudia and I were given things to balance on our heads. She was good.
Obviously, this man had never met me, if he wanted me to balance lit candles on my head….it didn’t last long.
The funniest part of the entire show was when a crazy woman pulled Sydney C. onto the floor and tried to get her to follow along in her dances, which included enthusiastic chest shaking. When Sydney tried to cover herself, the woman kept slapping at Sydney’s boobs to get her to stop.
Apart from the actual show, our group included a Spanish man who is the funniest person I think I’ve ever met. He kept getting up and dancing and between acts he would go on the dance floor and dance – eventually he pulled enough people up there dancing with him that we completely interrupted the actual show and instead made an impromtu dance club. I should mention that this man was about 60, at least. He eventually got a hold of the mic and tried to sing along. And then he picked up a chair to use as a drum. I wish I could accurately describe it, but it’s probably one of the funniest things I have ever experienced….
The next morning we left for ChefChauen, a tinier village about 2 hours away from Tangier. Our guide in Chauen was Habibi – the cutest little Moroccan man you could ever hope to meet. He had the funniest way of speaking, and the closest I can think of a comparison is yoda. He told us that he’s been featured in Lonely Planet, but not in the books, just “on TV and videocassette.” Everyone in the entire town knew him, and he kept referring to himself in 3rd person, and really wanted to make sure we enjoyed the city, I loved him.
The old quarter of ChefChauen is full of white and blue houses – the blue is supposed to keep away mosquitos and other bugs, and if a walkway is painted blue – then you know that it leads to a dead end.
After being shown around on the walking tour, we were given time in the market to shop for souveniers. In Morroco, you have to bargain, prices will start out ridiculous and you’re expected to bring them down – it’s a little intimidating, but a lot of fun, and certainly a new experience. They started out saying something was 7 euros, and I left paying less than half of that. Once I was told that the price I asked for was “undemocratic” but when I turned to walk away, he just handed it to me. I ended up with quote a lot of loot and I only spent the 10 euros I had converted to the local currency.
We had another great lunch before saying goodbye to Habibi and ChefChauen to head back to the border. Our ferry was late and I got car sick on the bus ride, and we rolled into Sevilla about 2 and a half hours late, BUT, Morroco was so much fun and completely worth it. Definitely an experience I will never forget.
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