I have learned something new about people, cultures, and history. This past weekend during my visit to Morocco I not only learned about the people and culture, but I also learned a few things about myself that may or may not surprise those who know me best.
I woke up at 5:50 a.m. on Thursday to catch my flight to Seville because that is where we were leaving from for our trip to Morocco. My flight left at 7:10 a.m. but because the airline website was down I was still in Barcelona at 9 a.m... after my flight had already left. Not only was the website down for the airline but their computer wouldn't read my credit card to purchase another ticket to Seville. So 3 hours later I was on a train to Seville and my planned 2 hour long trip was now 6 hours. Needless to say after my previous weekend in Amsterdam, 2 nights in the hospital and now this ordeal, I was not a happy camper. But I had to keep reminding myself that I will probably never get another free trip to Morocco again in my life so shut up and put a smile on.
Finally got to Seville and stayed in a hostel with 5 random people. One of the girls had to be confused or on drugs or something because she said she spoke english and spanish but when anyone tried to talk to her in either language, they had to repeat themselves at least 2 times for her to understand what was being said. I had never been in such a weird situation. Who knows what could have happened in the middle of the night...so I slept with my shoes on that night.
The next day we explored Seville for a little bit. The city was pretty cool and very different than Barcelona because it was pretty calm and tranquil and has a lot of green spaces, something Barcelona is not/ does not have.
Hours later, we finally arrived at our hotel which was probably the nicest building/ object/ thing within a 5 mile radious. Everything in the town which we stayed seemed to be run down and reminded me of a city that was abandoned and is recently beginning to populate again. It was unlike anything I have every seen in the past. The food they served us at the hotel wasn't bad But even though the wifi at the hotel was the slowest piece of technology since the first computer...
...waking up to this outside your window isn't half bad!
The first day in Morocco, we visited a town called Chefchaouen which is also called the "blue city" because almost every building is painted blue.
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| Picture every wall of the city like this. |
The walls of the city are so bright that they make the sky look like it's darker outside than it actually is but they paint the walls blue to immitate the sky to prevent masquitos from going indoors. They said that if the walls are blue the masquitos will mistake it for the sky and won't try to go in to the buildings. This is a prime example of how developing countries go about solving their problems versus countries like the United States. What would you do if your neighbors started painting their houses and the streets blue?
This city was unlike any city I've ever visited in many ways but I was taken back when we were on our tour through the city and walked past multiple women washing clothes in rivers and any water source available. When I say I was "taken back," I don't mean it in the sense of not being aware that people don't use washing machines or dry cleaners to wash their clothes, that would be dumb. Of course, we know of and learn a little about these other countries that don't have the advancements or "luxuries" that we have in America. It would be a serious question of character if you weren't surprised or taken back in the least bit after witnessing, first hand, how people live life in a place where tap water isn't even safe to drink or air conditioning doesn't exist. I realize that it probably sounds ignorant when I say those things but regardless of where you've been in the world, we are all a bit ignorant until you experience this kind of life.
After our lunch on the roof-top of this restraunt, they let us loose to shop and practice our bargaining skills. I learned pretty quickly that bargaining isn't something I should do very often because I would end up getting frustrated and walking out of the store.
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| In a store where we saw them hand-making everything |
There was one instance when I got frustrated at one store and said "forget this" and walked out. 10 minutes later I was confronted by another vendor of the same store because he thought I said "f**k you" instead of forget you. Luckily my friends heard what I had actually said...but needless to say, bargaining isn't my thing.
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| But I did get one of my favorite shots of my trip during our tour. |
Another interesting thing about Chefchaouen...
There were a lot of 8-11 year old boys walking all over trying to sell bracelets to you. The only way you could get them to leave is if you say "NO" five times or just bought one, so I bought one. Then I later found out that these boys are orphans... That was a bit shocking to me. We've all seen the movie Annie, but her life in that movie was nothing comparable to how these kids live, i'm sure!
The next day we went to a small beach town called Assilah. During our tour we learned about a tradition of painting walls of the city through out the year and the winning painting remains for the following year while the others are painted over for the next years contest. This is probably why it was my favorite of the places I had been so far, partially because it reminded me of being back in Austin.
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| My favorite |
I also got another one of my favorite shots here in this city...
When I was buying a painting from an artist here, he told me that my spanish was very professional but I think he just wanted me to buy the painting. But he also told me that Americans buy houses on the beach and retire here.... I wouldn't mind retiring in a place like this one bit!
Before our grand finale of the trip, we stopped at the beach.
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| I did a flip or two |
And finally for the grand finale of our Morocco trip, we went on a camel ride. Of course, because it wouldn't be a complete trip to Africa without a camel ride, right?
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| we became friends |
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| Her name was Layla |
After our camel rides, we headed back to the high-speed farry to get back to Spain and it is safe to say we were spent.
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| I looked like a Mococcan Santa Clause because of all of the gifts I bought |
