Let's begin back to thursday. It was my roommate Kelsey's birthday (22 YAY!). We all had classes during the day, but me and our other roommate Danielle had bought a cake that I made for her, in the shape of a heart, and decorated with fruits and a special birthday candle. Our senora also made her a cute little cake as well. That night we went out to dinner at a mexican food restaurant right around the corner from our pisa that we'd all been dying to try. We went early because our plan for the night was a little crazy. Our flight to Morocco was the next morning, Friday, at 6:30am. The metro here in Madrid closes from 1am-6am so we wouldn't make that and obviously weren't about to waste 20 euro on a taxi, thus, we sleep in the airport. This time we were (thinking) we were a bit more ready compared to the first suprise sleeping session in the airport, but hoped our diinner would compensate. We were ready for a nice long dinner eating all our little heart's desires. It was actually great food! We ordered guacamole, which was amazing, have to say I've missed it SO much and even though I should really just make it I have yet to. We ordered oodles of guac, Kels got tacos and chips of course. Everything had meat in it so I was happy as a clam with guac and chips. The restuarant also had about every single falvored margarita so Kelsey chose out her favorites to try. Guava, strawberry, mango and lime mmmmm. We made besties with our waitor who was nice enough to give us a birthday treat of abouto 1/2 off most things on the menu, gracias Ian! Spainairds are so friendly when you're nice to them and are the only people in the restuarant. It was a great dinner and then the dreaded sleep in the airport was looming. We left dinner at about 1130, rode the metro to the airport, arrived ther at about 1 and prepared ourselves for a loooong night ahead. I only was able to sleep for about an hour before feeling like I would freeze to death and I know Kelsey and Danielle were in and out of sleep because of the cold as well. No chairs and marble floors= freezing. I had on so many layers but nothing helped. Oh well. We all just sat and waited for the time to pass by so we could go through security. Finally around 430 we were able to and then we only went through to sit and wait for an other 45 minutes for our flight to allow boarding. Here we at least had seats to keep our little butts warm. Then finalllly it was time for our flight to Morocco!!!! We were all so excited we could careless we'd hardly slept, we've been looking forward to this trip for weeks! Me and Kelsey both knew when we signed up to study abroad in Madrid that Morocco was high on the list to see!
After about a 2 hour flight, where thank god I fell asleep for the whole thing, we arrived in Marrakech. Marrakech is located centrally south in Morocco. We had to fly into here and then take a 4 hour taxi ride to the actual city we were staying in because it was the only place we were able to catch a flight from. The airport was beautifully decorated with mosaic tiles. Luckily we passed through customs smoothly and had our taxi driver waiting for us right at the exit. We weren't so excited for a 4 hour drive but were all hoping to sleep and be ready to explore when we arrived. We were a little afraid because we weren't sure how safe our taxi driver and everything would be and he hardly spoke English, but everything turned out ok! He was super nice and stopped for us when we had to go to the bathroom ( of course) and wasn't too bad of a driver. He also tried to teach us curse words in Arabic, but we think he was teaching us a mixture of who knows what because he kept changing the definition everytime. It was interesting. But finally after a loooong drive we made it! We were staying in a village on the Atlantic coast called Taghazout. It's a TINY surf city but absolutely breathtaking. We were staying in a little surf house about a block from the ocean with a travel agency we'd found on facebook and read about called Stoke Travel. Anyone going to Morocco: this is highly recommended it was amazing. We got off the taxi and were greeted by one of the people who work/live at the house named Marouane (pronound Mar-juan, "like marijuana" he told us). He lead us inside and showed us around. It was a steep two flights of stairs to get to our room- a room with bunks bed enough for 6 people that we were sharing with one other woman from the United States, Kelly. Our floor also had the kitchen (we had a cook who made all our meals), bathroom, an other bedroom, and a little hangout area with a TV and stuff. One level below us was basically the same just with more bedrooms and one more flight up was the rooftop terrace! Beautiful panoramic view of the ocean and little village, Taghazout. After our tour we weren't given much instruction and we were starving so we walked down to the main (and only) road and stopped in one of the cafes on the street to grab a bite to eat. An other amazing thing is the prices- so cheap with the exchange rate! We were looooving it! We stopped at a little place and I ordered vegetable couscous which was AMAZING, so delicious! And I got a salad that I didn't really like because it had dressing on it, which I don't like, but I should of asked oh well my roommate ate it! Now that we were full and happy our little friend walks by and tells us they were just serving lunch. Of course. Oh well we needed a typical meal from a cafe so we saw it justifiable. And later we found out it was just sandwich, with meat, so I would of been in trouble anyways. Luckily I informed them of my veggie-ness and they made sure dinner was going to accomodate me yay! We sat and talked with Marouane for a while about what we could do around town and the times of meals and everything about Taghazout we could possibly think of. He was off to run errands we decided to go check out the beach! It was a whole 2 minute walk down some rocks to a beautiful sandy beach. It was the perfect day, a little windy, but the sun was shining and the water looked beautiful. We had a whole list of necessary things "to do" while we were in Morocco and one of them was camel rides! Lucky us as soon as we walk down to the beach what do we see? Camels! We all basically ran at them and bargained a price for a ride. I was first to go on Mr. Jim as I named him. It was definitly a sketchy saddle tied on by only a string but I stayed up ok! You don't realize how big a camel is till your up there and it is hiiiighhhh! But it was so fun we walked down the beach as far as we could and then switch so my roommates could give it a try. It was definitly an amazing experience. The camel didn't spit or do anything gross either, I liked him :) After our adventurous camel rides we were loving the weather and decided to go put on our bathing suits and head down to the beach! We quickly changed and found a nice place up on a flat rock to lay out on. Sadly, after about 5 minutes the clouds came in a little and the wind picked up and we were all freezing and definitly over it. We got changed and headed down to a cafe for a little afternoon pick me up! We ordered tea and I just about died and went to heaven. Their tea may be one of the BEST teas I've ever had in my life. I was on cloud 9 drinking it! It's a mint tea, that they sweeten with honey, but we were also informed by a merchant that the mint leaves themselves are naturally sweet. Amazing! After drinking two pots by myself (my roommates weren't too fond of the sweetness) I was so happy and we were all feeling better after a little rejuvenation. We decided to walk around the markets in town and see what the merchants were selling. The merchants are very aggressive and forward with you for trying to buy things so we all did as best as we could without responding but it was very overwhelming. We did find these interesting bracelets that we all wanted with a little charm of Fatima's hand hanging off of the end. We each got one with a different chain as a "friendship" type bracelet that we'd all remember our trip by. We saw a lot of cool merchants selling the randomest things: lots of spices, jewerly, lanterns, scarfs, basically anything you can think of. But the sun was starting to set and we were tired from our night of no sleep and getting cold, as always! We headed back home and decided to go watch the sunset from the top of our rooftop terrace. It was absolutely breathtaking. It was a red sunset and one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. Once the sun went down we headed inside and talked with a few more peopel who worked at the house, who were local Moroccans as well, and some other people staying at the house. We had Kelly as our roommate whos from the states but working in Paris, two Italians guys, and a guy from Germany. We were quite the little clan. But, everyone was very friendly and welcoming and we all got along great right from the beginning. Dinner was ready at about 9 and by this time we were all STARVING. And guess what it was? Of course, more couscous! I was so excited and loving it, our chef is a local Moroccan woman who lives two doors down. It was way better than the one I'd had at lunch and I had about 3 helpings hehe. After we ate we were getting sooo tired, we didn't nap at all after our all night experience besides on the plane and taxi ride over. We were about to call it a night when they invited us to sit and hangout for a while. They were downstairs in their little hangout room and were setting up the sheesha (hookah). Kelsey decided to go to bed but me and Danielle stayed up a while with everyone just talking and learning about different cultures and people.
Saturday morning I woke up kind of early due to the rooster who lived next door that started going off literally when the sun came out and the fact that my head was right next to the sunny window. But I was much too lazy to get up so I waited till everyone else got up then we headed up for breakfast on the rooftop terrace. It was a beautiful day with clear skies and bright sunshine. Breakfast was coffees and teas with breads, spreads, some crackers and a smoothie. Smoothie was delicious with a mix of all different fruits and then I had some of my friends crackers with nutella. After breakfast it was time to go surfing! The beach is known for its surf and one of my roommates had been only one time before and the other never at all so it was an exciting day. We had to try on wetsuits and unfortunately they didn't have one that fit :/. They gave me the smallest one they had but these little stick arms weren't fitting in the sleeves. A wetsuit is supposed to be super tight and mine was loose but I didn't care I just wanted to go so I sucked it up and hoped it'd be ok. On the beach our guide gave us a little tutorial about how to catch a wave and we were just starting off with paddling and basics. Then we hoped in! It wasn't too cold at all at first it was a little but then once you were in the water moving it was perfect! The waves were small too and perfect for first timers! We all managed to catch waves and paddle in and since I'd been surfing before I was trying to stand up! I got onto my knees pretty easily but it definitly took a while before I was actually able to get up on the board. Definitly had some good wipeouts. After about an hour or an hour and a half I was getting cold, as usual and decided to go sit out on the beach and watch! Danielle (who had been surfing before) did awesome and stood up! Kelsey( had never been before) my little miss Iowa was doing awesome and cough a whole bunch of waves- so good for her first time! I came in and watched while soaking up some much needed sun that I hadnt seen in months it felt like. I think I fell asleep for a little because when I woke up and turned around everyone was laying on the beach too. We were all talking and enjoying the beautiful sunshine. It was so weird because we're laying there and then theres camels hanging out by us and all these precious stray dogs just running around. The dogs loved us they would come snuggle next to us as we laid on the beach I thought they were so cute! We all were getting hungry too after all the fun so we decided to head back up for some lunch. I enjoyed some delicious fresh fruit when we got back and we all sat on the terrance enjoying each others company and beautiful view. We decided we'd spend our afternoon in Agadir at the market and we would try to make it to the Moroccan baths, but unfortunately we ran out of time. But the market was HUGE. We all squished in a landrover, all 8 of us! The two Italians, us 4 girls, german kid and Marouane. It was a tight squeeze but a beautiful drive along the coast. We arrived at this huge market that had everything you could think of. At breakfast they were talking about how they make their own peanut/almond nut butters and little did they know how big of a mistake that was since its my favorite and Spain doesn't have it! So I had my heart set on getting that Almond Butter!!!! We first walked to find that since I was obsessing of course. It was amazing they sit around these stone grinder type things where they mash up the almonds and it flows down to become almond butter! I was loving it- they also mix it with oil and hunny. I made everyone try a sample so they'd know why I was obsessing over it so much! It was perfectly delicious and all natural- can't go wrong there. Morocco has amazing food and everything is so natural and fresh thats why everyone there is nice and thin- nothing with GMOs or unnatural products, way to go Morocco! After buying 1/2 a kilo to take home (I would of bought a whole kilo but I don't think I could carry it around or back on the plane :/) We kept walking so everyone could buy things! I was loving all of the herbs, spices, jewerly, lanterns, nuts and everything in the market. You could literally spend a day wandering through it and still not see it all. I found this man selling freshly made granola nut bars for only .10! I'd say thats pretty much amazing and I bought one and when everyone saw how good it was they did too. Definitly got him some business :). I also bought a bag of cashews, my other favorite snack. Our friend Kelly bought 2 beautiful lanterns and Kelsey got a cool charm with Fatimas hand for her charm bracelet. After walking around for a while enjoying everything we were ready to go home and needed to stop by the grocery store to get Kelsey a suprise birthday cake she didn't know about hehe. After that we just decided to drive back to the house because it was almost 8 aka dinna time! We had a beautiful drive home right into the red sunset- beautiful. We got back to the house and all just sat downstairs hanging out as our cook finished up dinner. Unfortuantely they thought I ate fish, wrong so wrong, and were making a Tagine. It's a mixture of spices cooked in this really cool space ship looking pot type thing so sadly that wasn't happening for me veggie style but she did make an amazingly delicious salad with a whole bunch of veggies mixed in that I really liked! And I was munching on my nuts the rest of the night too. At dinner we all sat up top, exchanging favorite music and just talking. Everyone was so easy to talk to and it was really such a huge mix of cultures it was so easy to talk for hours with everyone. Of course the "why are you vegetarian?" question was raised but they were really nice about it and found it interesting. Then me and one of the guys started talking about my new obsession the movie "Food, Inc." I highly recommend everyone see it and he had which made me SO excited because he was just as enthusiastic about it as I am. Like I said, Morocco has fresh products and he explained that even though the cows are smaller, because their not injected with horomones or killed malaciously they produce better meat- well put my friend. So that was interesting to talk with someone about all the way in Africa- with a local :). After dinner we moved downstairs where they pulled out the sheesha again, we gave Kelsey her cake, and just talked and talked more. They have a lot of Australian visitors and they are OBSESSED with speaking with Australian accents. Every other sentence was with an accent. They've never been but I hope they make it soon because I think it'd be the best experience of their lives. I told them how my Dads been surfing all over the world and they were so jealous and absolutely loving it. Coolest Dad ever :). We'd really been wanting to get Henna tattoos and our cook, Fatima, knows how to them so after dinner was walked with her back to her house so her and her friend could give me, Kelly, Kelsey and Danielle some artwork! It was awesome to be able to see a local Moroccan home and we sat on the floor in their family type room which had a TV in it and they brought out freshly made ink. They used stencils but it was beautiful- filled with flowers and designs. We all got them on our hands except Kelsey who went for the foot. It was definitly a language struggle because they knew no English and we dont know Arabic or Berber, but they speak a few french words and Kelly knows French so it was definitly a lot of hand motions and pointing to get everything we wanted across. Fatima has an adorable little girl whos maybe 3 or 4 and she was in there with us sitting and jumping around like a typical little kid. We had to sit with our hands all tied up for probably half and hour before we could wash it off and we looked hilarious waiting with huge plastic bags wrapped around our hands. But it was definitly worth it in the end because everything looks amazing! It's more of an orange color which is the real color it should be-not black- so I love having it! Sometimes when I look at my hand I think I have dirt or something on it but nope just my henna :) After that we headed back and did what we always do- sat and talked. Unfortunately we had to leave at 2am to take the 4 hour taxi ride back to the airport to catch our 8am flight...booo. We did NOT want to leave at all we were having so much fun with everyone. But unfortunately only one flight out of Marrakech a day lead to this. We luckily were able to sleep in the taxi and made everything on time.
Out of everywhere I've been I have to say Morocco is definitly on the tip top of my list. I could never pick a number one but it's high high up there on one of the most amazing places I've ever seen. I will never ever forget this experience and all of the people I've met. It's trips like these that I believe really change who you are as a person and change your view of the world and the people in this world. Also makes me so much more grateful for this experience and my life :) Gracias a mis padres tambien! Facebook has all the good pictures! This weekend I'm going back to where I first ventured to Spain- Granada! And Cordoba for a class trip. Very excited to visit my old home :)
thanks for making my birthday so special! I have the best roomies ever :)
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