Morocco. Where to begin? It was sooo cool, but an extremely different culture. It was the first time I felt truly stared at by everyone on the street. Although not all the women were dressed head to toe in the traditional dress, just by wearing jeans and normal shirts we stuck out like sore thumbs. There were bars were only men were served, and instead of sitting around tables when they were together, everyone was in one long line on one side of all the tables facing the street. There was also an eastern style toilet in one of the bathrooms. You know, the hole is the floor, stand up and go for it. I waited for the western toilet.
It took a long time to cross the border on Friday. Probably like an hour and a half or so. I don’t know why that was, but whatevs. So we got to the first city, Tetuan, which is apparently a fishing town. We didn’t really do too much in Tetuan, because we got there later. We ate dinner at the hotel, which was a delicious chicken with a lemon sauce. The hotel was lovely and we had a beautiful, what I think was Oceanside, view of the Mediterranean. So, after watching an episode of Friends in English with Arabic subtitles, we fell asleep to the waves.
The next day we went to Tanger. It was much bigger and bustling than the first, smaller town. We took a walking tour, and then had free time. We visited a rug store where we were showed many rugs and told a little bit about how they were made and such. They always say “You don’t have to buy anything,” but they are a bit insistent on at least your looking at some products…So when the man was finishing up his demonstration, this little Moroccan man who was translating for the Frenchies sitting by us goes to me and Colleen, “Come with me, I want to show you some more rugs. You are in good hands. My name is Abdul.” So, naturally, Colleen and I followed him up a stairwell, taken aback by his eagerness, but he wasn’t sketchy. So, we go up to this room and he’s showing us all these rugs like, “which would you like” and I was like, “Abdul, these are all very lovely, but I’m not really in the market for a rug.” And he, like every salesman in Morocco claimed, “It’s not expensive. A good price just for you. Because you are students, I will give you good price.” So he shows us these rugs that he wants 180 euros for, which is about $250, but the thing is, you’re supposed to barter. So eventually we got him down to 35 euros, more like $45, but I don’t know if that was necessarily a bargain or what. Then we took pictures with him and it was great. Refer to Colleen’s facebook for those.
Then we continued onto our free time to the markets. Seriously, though. The way we were stared at in Morocco makes Spain feel like home. From the market I got the tea pot and sweet tea cups I have been wanting, so I was very happy with that purchase. I also bought this silly camel that I think is so cool. I’m really excited about that. Oh, we also went to a “pharmacy” that I think I would tag more as an apothecary. They had spices and your good old “cure all” creams for dry hands, psoriasis you know, magic lipstick. I bought some spices, including saffron because it was 5 grams for 5 euros, which I’m not sure how expensive that is in terms of a better price than in the US, but I just know that saffron is supposedly very expensive.
Then we ventured on to Chefchauen which was a littler town. Very quaint, very blue. I loooved our guide. He was this little man (common trend in Morocco) with his robe and Fez and when we got off the bus, Colleen was taking a picture of me with the mountains in the background and he goes, “Helloooo, another one.” And he shook my hand in our picture. Haha. He was a hoot. Everytime someone took a picture with him, he said, “Helloooo.” Let me tell you though, speaking of the men, there are some really attractive Moroccan men. I am very attracted to them as a whole. Alright, so more walking tour with funny Moroccan guide, and cute little kids who don’t want their pictures taken. You have to ask there because it’s one of those cultures where they believe it steals your soul to have a picture taken of themselves.
Speaking of which, strange experience. When we were in some cave, I took a picture of some girls who were on our tour, and when I was done with that, two Moroccan girls get my attention, and I couldn’t figure out what they wanted at first. If they wanted me to take their picture or what, but turned out they took a picture of me in the cave. Weird, no? It’d be like if you were visiting Mt. Rushmore and asked some random person from another group to stand in front on the mountain so you could take a picture. I don’t know if it’s because they don’t want to take pictures of themselves and want someone in the picture, or if they thought I was a funny looking American, but whatever the reason, it made me chuckle.
So overall, Morocco was really great. It was beautiful in its rolling hills and little markets, but I don’t think that I could live in a culture where I felt so absolutely out of place. If given the opportunity though, I would go back.
Africa. Check.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Que mono!
Oh long type no talk. So basically life is pretty general. Even though I’m in Spain, I’m still just going to school everyday, which never really ends up being that exciting. However, we make up for that on the weekends with fun trips. So has begun the season of travel, I have decided. It seems like literally nearly every weekend from here on out, at least one day will be spent outside of Sevilla. Alright, recap.
Last weekend we went to Cordoba, which is probably about two hours from Sevilla. First we visited a “bodega” or a winery. That was a very cultural experience. I’m not very big into wine because it’s too bitter for me. We tasted three types of wine. One was vino fino, which is DISGUSTING. It’s just really dry and bitter. Then we had semi-dulce (semi-sweet) and dulce, which tasted like molasses. Needless to say, the semi-dulce was my favorite. Although my favorite was probably the picos, which are like the minibreadsticks you sometimes get at restaurants.
We then continued our journey onto La Mezquita. La Mezquita is a famous mosque that was the capital of Islam during the califato of the Omeyas, I think. Haha. Anyway, it was very big and beautiful and cool to see because I’ve learned about it in Spanish class, so it was cool to see it in real life. It actually has a Catholic church in the middle of it, This was done with permission of the king, who then got angry when he saw how beautiful the Mezquita was, and he thought they had ruined it. But, yes. Very pretty building. Sad story though. I lost my umbrella!
I know, I know. Ridiculous. But, I brought that umbrella from the US, and it was from Target and so cute, and when we were eating I put it down and I must have forgot it because at some point I was walking and I was like, “Oh know! My umbrella!” Following this, it rained. Just my luck.
Today I visited Gibratar which is about 3 hours from Sevilla, and it’s actually a British colony. Such a strange culture. They use the British pound, a lot of people are bilingual with British accents. I ate fish and chips too just because I love fish and chips and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I’m still not even sure if it’s like a little mini England or what. It did make me want to go back to England though. I think I liked it because it’s foreign but they speak English.
Onward in our journey! We took some mini buses up to the rock where we proceeded to St. Michael’s Cave. That was very cool, but one of those things where it’s really only cool in person because I’m not capable of taking pictures that capture it’s beauty. So, if you want to see the less than impressive pictures, you may check facebook. Then, the exciting stuff: MONKEYS! They were so cute, and actually pretty mild.
They are OBSESSED with food. My friend Sal had crackers in his pocket and he was going to take one out of the package, and a little baby monkey heard the wrapper crinkle and came running. Then later the bus driver let a monkey into the bus and he stole a girls lunch! That freaked me out. Let me tell you. I don’t do well with the whole monkey thing. Everyone was letting them crawl on their heads by luring them with food, but I was leary because I didn’t want there to be a monkey fight on me over the food we were luring, and by the time I was like “Well I should just do it’ the guy was like “ This one is the only mean one. She’s the only one who will bite.” Naturally, I declined. However, I have some photos that are pretty close, and some pictures of the monkeys themselves, and were they ever cute!
Last weekend we went to Cordoba, which is probably about two hours from Sevilla. First we visited a “bodega” or a winery. That was a very cultural experience. I’m not very big into wine because it’s too bitter for me. We tasted three types of wine. One was vino fino, which is DISGUSTING. It’s just really dry and bitter. Then we had semi-dulce (semi-sweet) and dulce, which tasted like molasses. Needless to say, the semi-dulce was my favorite. Although my favorite was probably the picos, which are like the minibreadsticks you sometimes get at restaurants.
We then continued our journey onto La Mezquita. La Mezquita is a famous mosque that was the capital of Islam during the califato of the Omeyas, I think. Haha. Anyway, it was very big and beautiful and cool to see because I’ve learned about it in Spanish class, so it was cool to see it in real life. It actually has a Catholic church in the middle of it, This was done with permission of the king, who then got angry when he saw how beautiful the Mezquita was, and he thought they had ruined it. But, yes. Very pretty building. Sad story though. I lost my umbrella!
I know, I know. Ridiculous. But, I brought that umbrella from the US, and it was from Target and so cute, and when we were eating I put it down and I must have forgot it because at some point I was walking and I was like, “Oh know! My umbrella!” Following this, it rained. Just my luck.
Today I visited Gibratar which is about 3 hours from Sevilla, and it’s actually a British colony. Such a strange culture. They use the British pound, a lot of people are bilingual with British accents. I ate fish and chips too just because I love fish and chips and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I’m still not even sure if it’s like a little mini England or what. It did make me want to go back to England though. I think I liked it because it’s foreign but they speak English.
Onward in our journey! We took some mini buses up to the rock where we proceeded to St. Michael’s Cave. That was very cool, but one of those things where it’s really only cool in person because I’m not capable of taking pictures that capture it’s beauty. So, if you want to see the less than impressive pictures, you may check facebook. Then, the exciting stuff: MONKEYS! They were so cute, and actually pretty mild.
They are OBSESSED with food. My friend Sal had crackers in his pocket and he was going to take one out of the package, and a little baby monkey heard the wrapper crinkle and came running. Then later the bus driver let a monkey into the bus and he stole a girls lunch! That freaked me out. Let me tell you. I don’t do well with the whole monkey thing. Everyone was letting them crawl on their heads by luring them with food, but I was leary because I didn’t want there to be a monkey fight on me over the food we were luring, and by the time I was like “Well I should just do it’ the guy was like “ This one is the only mean one. She’s the only one who will bite.” Naturally, I declined. However, I have some photos that are pretty close, and some pictures of the monkeys themselves, and were they ever cute!
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