¡Marruecos!

Alhamdulillah this weekend I made it to and from Morocco without any problems. It was an awesome experience and I´m so thankful I was able to go. We crammed so much stuff into 3 days. The only thing is, I probably never want to ride on a bus again.

Lets seee... We went with a tour grop here called We Love Spain. It was me and 7 friends. We thought the group would be full of young college people like us, but we were actually the youngest ones there. The other people were from all over the world - Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Italy, Brazil. It was an interesting mix.

We left Seville at 2:30 on Friday. We took a 2 hourish long bus ride to a coastal town. We then proceeded to take the high speed ferry across the border to the Spanish town of Ceuta. It´s a Spanish town in Africa, so we didn´t have to show our passports when getting there. The ferry was awesome! It was like a mini cruise ship. it even had a game room. None of us expected that.

Once in Africa (!!!!!) we were bombarded by ladies trying to sell us stuff... of course. We hopped on another bus (ugh) and then proceeded to cross the border into Morocco. Getting all of our passports stamped and getting checked for swine flu seemed to take forever. We were on the bus just sitting waiting for at least an hour. At least it was some bonding time for us. They say the best way to get to know somoene is to travel with them... Soooo true! We were patient though.. mostly just hungry.

We finally were off! Our first night was spent in this little port town. I don´t even know the name. It was really nice. It was dark when we arrived, but the nightlife was still alive since it was Friday (it was no sevilla, of course but still lively). The hotel was really cute. We got a huge water bottle and little plate of fruit. So a-rab. We went straight for dinner. It was really good. Lots of good bread and some good veggie soup and then chicken with some olive sauce. Flan for dessert (of course we´re still pretty close to spain). After dinner we were contemplating going out and exploring, but we were all so tired. We just went and chilled outside of the hotel near this really cool fountain. We were watching the starts and we saw the most amazing shooting star I´ve ever seen in my life! It was so beautiful mashallah. It looked fake! I chilled with my roommates for a while and bought some moroccan tea from the restaurant in the hotel. yummmmmm soo good! Nice and sweet and minty :) Just how I like it.

The next morning we woke up (LATE) and had to run out of the hotel to make sure we got on our bus haha. We were off to the city of Tetuan. It was a nice little city. Some parts reminded me of Palestine or Jordan. We were able to see an authentic market... definitley just like Palestine except in Tetuan there was a lot more fish. And cats. The smells were nothing new, but I was already feeling a bit sick, so they were kind of hard to handle. We had some time to go shopping in Tetuan in the little market areas. It was so cute. Most everybody bought something. There was a lot of leather goods and cute souvenirs.

After that we made our way to this spice store. The people showed us different kinds of spices and natural remedies and then we were allowed to buy different types. After that was Lunch. One of my favorite things. We went to this amazing palace and ate a huge meal. It consisted of couscous (which I really don´t like) but everything else was so good. There was these moroccan singers and dancers and this henna lady (who kind of ripped us off... but oh well). It was really nice. After that we headed off to the bus to ride to Tangers.

The ride was about an hour long. By now, the buses were really uncomfortable. But oh well. We arrived in Tangers and saw our hotel, but we drove past it so that we could go see the point where the mediterranean and atlantic meet. We kept driving.. uphill, then downhill. We were able to see a bunch of beautiful coasts and scenery. We rested at this place and were able to take some really nice pictures of the scenery. Then we headed off to RIDE camels! The camel ride was really short.. just around this little area. But it made for some good pictures :) The beach there was gorgeous. I really never realized that morocco had such pretty beaches.

We then went to the caves of hercules. The point where mediterranean meets atlantic ocean. It was really nice and cool inside the caves. I got some cool pictures. The water looked gorgeous.. I just wanted to jump right in! After the caves, we hopped on the bus again. We were driving back to our hotel in Tangers. We had some free time before dinner, so we were able to walk around and go shopping a bit. Lets just say walking around, we got quite a bit of attention. We passed by this sweet shop and I had been craving marzipan since in Toledo and they had marzipan fruits so I got one. So yummy. My friends also got some fresh squeezed orange juice from the streets. It reminded me a lot of Jordan. Except the view was much better. We could see the south of Spain from Africa!

We had dinner in the hotel, and after dinner was this extra dance show that we had the option of seeing. I figured it would be really cool, so I decided to pay the 20 Euro for it. Eh. It was okay. Mediocre dancing. There was some cool traditional dances, but it wasn´t very professional at all. I would say it wasn´t worth 20 Euro, but I´m glad I did it because there really wasn´t anything else to do.

The next morning we had to leave early for the town of Chef Chouen. It was a 2 hour bus ride and it seemed to take foreeverr. But I suppose it was worth it. The town was really pretty. All blue and white. I think I got some really nice pictures. Our tour guide was so cute. He was calling everyone Habibi. He showed us around town and then took us to a rug place to buy rugs (sound familiar? haha). It was actually a really short presentation, and they pretty much cut straight to the chase. Many people actually bought rugs, so that was nice. After that we had a bit of free time for shopping. The prices here were actually a bit more expensive than in the other places we´d been. We went to this place for lunch. It was another palace place with really good food. Amazing bread. Fruit salad for dessert. Yum. At this point we got to reflect on our wonderful trip. It was very nice.

After lunch, we headed straight for the bus to take us back to the border. It was a long ride, but I slept for most of it.. although I don´t know how because it was quite uncomfortable. We finally made it and crossed the border back into the Spanish town. We then were getting on the ferry. I noticed a guy wearing an East Meck shirt so I like yelled at him ¨HEY DO YOU GO TO EAST MECK???¨ haha. He said yeah and gave me a weird kind of look. I told him I went there too. He didnt seem very interested. After we were getting off the ferry I ran into him and his friend again. I decided to chat it up so they didn´t think I was some sort of weirdo. It turns out they are in Samir´s grade and they actually know him! It´s such a small world! Who would have thought I´d see some East Meck Eagles in Africa!?

We got back to spain after 10 at night. The bus ride again took forever! I was soo pooped when I got home I passed out. School the next day, bleh.

I can´t believe I have less than 2 weeks left here! I have a long list of things I need to get done, and Inshallah I can get everything done in time! I´m not leaving until I do :) I´ll defintitely be trying to make the most of my last 2 weeks.

And for those of you who are wondering, I´ve been doing fine in my classes. Alhamdulillah good grades on all my midterms (9.8, 9.5, 9.8).

Hasta Luego!