Painting the town blue in Morocco!

April flew by so fast! After my adventures in Italy, I had a week of class, a fun weekend at the beach, another week of class, and then a whirlwind of activity!
The weekend of April 16 I went to Morocco with my interest group. This was a trip organized by my program so we a packed itinerary and a big group.

April 16-
We left early in the morning and bussed to the coast to board a ferry to Morocco. It was an indoor ferry and moved a lot so there was a bit of seasickness among the group. My friend and I wanted to walk about, and had to zig-zag everywhere! Not the kind of ferry I’m used to, but it was fun! Then we arrived on the African continent!! We were technically still in Spain because we had to go through customs over there, so it underwhelming, but we eventually passed into Morocco! We drove through Morocco to our hotel in Tangier- it was less scenic than planned because heavy fog covered the views of the mountains. We dropped our stuff at the rather seedy hotel and bussed off to our lunch at this great restaurant in Tangier. We had cous cous and other traditional Moroccan food. They love their tea in Morocco, so that was plentiful. I’m not a big tea person, but my friends were happy to drink mine.

We were all exhausted after rising early, traveling and a big meal. We had no idea what a long day we had ahead of us! Our guide’s name was Abdul, though he thought it was funny to ask us to call him Michael Douglas. I did not. He was not my favorite guide, but he brought us to some cool places.

First we went to an art school, where students from six to 16 created all sorts of amazing things: ceramics, fabrics, weaving, whittling, metalwork- it was astounding! If they had had a gift shop, I would definitely have bought some of their amazing art!

Then we walked through the market streets where we saw EVERYTHING. First we saw pens of dozens of live chickens. Then next door were the butcher shops with plucked dead chickens hanging from the ceiling. There were piles of dead fish, tables of fresh produce, and baskets upon baskets of colorful and deliciously fragrant spices. The smells were super varied at every step as the stalls showcased different edible products.

Speaking of smells, we wound our way through the markets, stopping at the tenery. I didn’t know quite what to expect, but got a little worried when Abdul handed each of us a handful of fresh spearmint, “for your nose,” he said. We stepped into the tenery clutching our mint leaves and soon stuffed them up our noses. There were giant pools of animal hides all around us, and they reeeeeeked. In hindsight, it was cool to see the process of making leather, but at that moment, we wanted OUT. We passed a few more disgusting sights that I’ll refrain from mentioning, and finally left the tenery.

The rest of the day consisted of touring the town, stopping every 100 feet for an explanation of some doorway or mosque or Jewish quarter or type of clothing. Everything we learned was really fascinating, but everyone was exhausted and had a hard time retaining everything. We had some evening tea, and a Muslim man came to tell us about Islam and allow us to ask questions. It was really interesting, actually, but he only let about four people ask questions before quickly saying, “No more, ok, bye!” and booking it. At least we got a little info. From there we returned to our hotel for dinner and goodnight.

April 17-
Up early and out to visit different towns in Morocco. We traveled to the coastal town of Assilah first. It was stunning. Right on the Atlantic side with a gorgeous village and little fishing boats. As we walked up toward the lookout point, a man showed up with a monkey! He started putting it on peoples’ shoulders and then the monkey got a little more playful and hopped up to their heads! I had a monkey on my head! It was so cool and the monkey so adorable that I didn’t mind giving the man a Euro. Come to think about it, he must make a lot of money with that monkey- there were a lot of us! After wandering along the edge of a fort and seeing the beautiful ocean view, we had free time to wander (i.e. shop). Abby and I made our way toward the leather goods stalls. I snagged a few gifts for some lucky people back home. I also found a great leather purse that has already broken. Hopefully the two adorable pairs of colorful leather flats I bought will meet a kinder fate. Then we made our way back to the bus to go grab lunch at a restaurant that looked out over the intersection of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean!

After lunch we bussed a small parking lot filled with camels. Yeah, riding camels is so touristy now that all you have to do is pull up on the side of the road and a camel will walk you around in a circle or two. I jest, but it was such a fun experience. I watched a few people take their turns and wondered why everyone leaned back and shrieked at nearly every movement the camel made. Then Abby and I hopped on for our turn. I was in the front and now I understand perfectly the extreme leaning. I do believe camels are very strong and capable animals, but it felt like he was about to do a somersault I was leaning forward so much! So I squished poor Abby and leaned back as far as I could as we stood up. Then we took our turn around the lot. That camel switched it hips so wide I almost wanted to try the posting I learned at horseback riding camp so many years ago! We had so much fun and were hysterically laughing the entire time. Then came the terrifying leaning experience when we had to go down again. As much fun as I had, I did feel a little bad for the camels- image having to squat and stand over and over again carrying two humans on your back. Poor things. They’d probably rather be in the desert.

After the camels, we headed to Tetuan and had a tea planned with some Moroccan students. We were both supposed to practice our Spanish and learn about each other’s lifestyles, but there were only four Moroccans and about 25 of us, so really we just got drinks and chatted amongst ourselves. And then we were released for more shopping! A less successful shopping trip than the previous day’s, but then again, that’s probably good for me. I did get to wander through some more markets and snapped a picture of a kitten staring at the chicken butchering counter- it’s like he was posing for me. So after not shopping and being hassled beyond decency by vendors, we were back on the bus and to the hotel.

April 18-
This might have been the coolest day of the weekend, but it ended up pouring like crazy. (Yes, it does rain in Africa! In Morocco, in fact, it rained a TON!) We drove to a town called Chefchaouen in the mountains. The drive alone was utterly fantastic- stunning vistas of well-watered mountains amidst the graceful fog. Then we came to the blue town. Apparently in Chefchaouen, the Jewish neighborhoods used to be painted blue to identify themselves. Now, it’s all blue! In an act of social and cultural inclusion some years ago, the people of Chefchaouen decided to paint the entire city (or up to as far as their brushed could reach, usually about 10 feet high) blue! And they scheduled our arrival for Europe’s Earth Day, which in Chefchaouen means that everyone comes out with their paint buckets to repaint their walls. It was the cutest/coolest thing! We had to be careful taking pictures, though, as our guide told us people didn’t like having their pictures taken because they were afraid of ending up on postcards as cultural spectacles. I’m not selling any postcards, so I took a few subtle pictures and some obvious ones of the people who didn’t mind as much.

After the blue town tour, we had more free time to shop. I got a few gifts before running out of dirham. 11 dirham = 1 Euro. I tell you this because I got very pissed when I tried to buy some adorable colored leather bracelets for 1 Euro each (they were supposed to be 10 dirham) and the guy wouldn’t let me buy them because he decided 8 dirham = 1 Euro. Anyhoo, I got my bracelets because the wonderful Abby had dirham and accepted my Euros. I found most of the salespeople in Morocco to be not super friendly- just my experience. Anyway, halfway through our shopping ventures, the rain came. Sheets and sheets of rain ran down the dirt streets and it was just a mess. We arrived at the lunch restaurant soaked and rather freezing (not how we pictured our Africa weekend). The delicious lunch made up for it, though. Then, sadly, we slowly made our way back toward Ceuta to the ferry and bus on the other side. We ended our trip with a fun ride home, annoying the bus driver with everything from Mulan to Moulin Rouge. And a rainbow followed us! So all in all, yes, Morocco was the shit.