Out of Africa (Morocco Part Two)

This is just a quick update for everyone to let them know that I managed to survive the cockroaches, the scorpions, the squat toilets and the food and I am now safely back in Spain to start the last week and a half of travel in the south of Spain.

 

The second part of my Moroccan trip was just as amazing as the first part. I got to experience a local Hammam — which is like a public bath where everyone is totally naked and they scrub you down all over (I could see the dirt rolling off) and then rub you in oil and give you a massage. While this experience was initially awkward it was something that I will remember for a lifetime. We also went to this AMAZING beach on the Atlantic Ocean with huge waves and white sand. I also bought more goods (mostly clothes and silver jewelry) really cheaply in Marrakesh. I would definitely go back to Morocco. While it was somewhat of a grueling experience being in campgrounds, it made me appreciate everything we have in a first world country and I also got to see and experience things that were so different from what I’m used to. I’m off to Cadiz this afternoon to enjoy the beach and work some more on my tan!

My new tat…

A local place of worship…

Lunch time…

More shopping time…

A Saharan getaway…

Marvelous Magical Magnificient Morocco – Part One

This entry gets lots of adjectives because Morocco has definitely been the highlight of my trip so far. I’m so glad I decided to come! I think the reason I like so much is because it is very different from anything I have experienced before.

You could really rename this visit to Morocco a toilet tour…after camping for three days with only squat toilets and bushes when we arrived in a nice restaurant and all we could talk about was how good the toilets were. Being in a developing country is very interesting it varies from a very westernized part of a city with internet, and nice air conditioned buildings to the less developed areas with shanty towns with garbage everywhere. But despite the less than perfect living conditions it is absolutely worth the trip to see some incomparable things.

In Chefchaouen the entire city was painted blue (apparently it help keeps the flies away) and it was gorgeous! The medina in Fes has 9500 streets and is so confusing (we had a guide with us) but had so many interesting shops and markets. We had a tour of a leather tannery (which smelled REALLY bad but which was cool to see), a carpet/blanket shop (now we’ve been to about 3 separate blanket shops), a mosaic/ceramic shop (it was really neat to see how much effort is put into making a mosaic) and a traditional Moroccan pharmacy (we got to sample all these different products – my favorite was this black powder which you sniff and apparently it treats everything from hangovers to snoring)

After Fes we headed south towards the desert. As we were driving you could see the change in landscape as well as feel the change in temperature. So far the temperature has been pretty good (we haven’t got into the 40s yet) We had the complete desert experience yesterday. We rode out on camels in the early evening (during the tail end of a sandstorm). Arrived at the Berber oasis with our night gear and then went sandboarding (like tobogganing with a snowboard on sand) When it got dark we ate traditional Berber food and played some bongo drums. We slept outside under the Saharan stars! We had a ‘desert bonus’ when one of my travelmates got bitten by a scorpion (luckily it just used the pinchers and not its stinger so it was only his foot that was swollen) Apparently because it was raining (which only happens every 5 years in this part of the desert) that’s why the scorpion was out. We watched the sun rise around 5AM and then rode our camels back out to the meeting point for a nice breakfast. Right now I’m in a place called Todra Gorge and tomorrow we are heading to Marrakesh.

Thank you everyone for your comments and there will be more to come about Morocco and the last part of my trip in Spain. I miss you all and I hope everyone’s summer is going well! Luck and lollipops!