May 1-7: Morocco and Granada

Sorry that its been a while since my last post. I am going to try and get down all of the information regarding my incredible 27-day May trip as possible before posting my final reactions (which has already been written). I know these are going to be long, so here it goes:

The evening of May 1 I took a plane from Barcelona to Casablanca where we connected to Marrakesh. The 25 minute flight from Casablanca to Marrakesh was on a 1/2 full 747...didn't make much sense, but was extremely comfortable. Me, Ben, Barkan, and Mike Freedman arrived in the Marrakesh airport around midnight. I had the hostel confirmation email printed with the hotel address and contact info on it. When we hailed a cab, however, he informed us that there were multiple areas with the same street names and numbers and that the confirmation email didn't tell us which area of the city our place was in. Unfortunately our phones didnt connect to the number provided, either. Luckily Ben's blackberry saved us by giving the area of the "Medina" (old town) and the cab driver was able to get us there. He wove down streets barely wide enough for the cab to fit through until reaching the point where he could drive no more. The cab driver then got out and walked with us down a couple very dark very sketchy alleys until we arrived at a small corner where our hostel was located. We checked in to the place (which was very nice per recommendation of a friend) and went to bed.

The next morning we woke up around 9am for the hostel breakfast. This consisted of some bread puffs, amazing mint tea (aka: Burber Whiskey) and great orange juice. It was now time to see the city. For hours we wandered around the winding alleys and streets of markets bustling with people. We then wandered through the main square, where we met Maurio. I had the best orange juice I have ever had in my entire life in that main square. The stands were literally lined shoulder to shoulder and everyone would shout to try and get your business if you gave the slightest hint of interest. We would all split up to purchase glasses and then move from person to person to buy more (they only cost 3 Dirhams each= 30 euro cent). Of course it still made each of them unhappy that we weren't all purchasing lots from them. Lunch in the main square consisted of couscous dishes.

We then walked to the Bahia Palace and wandered around it for about 45 minutes- it was not very impressive. Heading back to the main square and trying to find other tourist attractions after we, of course, got lost again. We decided to stop at a local pastry shop. As I was just about to bite into my little slice of cake one of the workers stopped me saying that it was not good. He switched it for something different. The language barrier made understanding very difficult, but I decided to trust him and just ate the new one- it probably turned out to be a good choice because I did not get sick later.

That evening the five of us decided to hit up the famed Hammam Moroccan massage parlors. This was quite an adventure. First the five of us were put in a room together where we were all scrubbed down and washed. We were then wrapped in robes and individually led to massage rooms where we got our massages. It was excellent- and a very funny, unique experience.

We had dinner in the main square that night, which was cheap and amazing and then wandered around the city for a few more hours. Maurio was guilted into buying a couple random little girls ice cream after they begged him for it and then we went home to watch the fateful game 7 of the incredible Bulls-Celtics series on Barkan's computer.

On May 3 we woke up at 8:15 to get to our van by 9:00 for our pre-planned day trip. We had a long van ride and got out a couple times for the incredibly scenic views of the Orika Valley. We then had the opportunity to walk down and visit a typical Burber village. The people were very friendly, but the village was quite disgusting. Ben almost got in a fight with the Donkey, which I'm sure he would have lost.

Our next stop was for a camel ride-it lasted about 10 minutes, but was mildly interesting, and then we went to a Farmacy area. It was very cool to see that I had heard of almost all of the plants- that they are the same type of pharmaceuticals that we use in the US. The tea we were served there, however, was not quite the same as the mint tea we had become used to. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant and ate sitting next to the river before heading to the climax of the trip- the hike.

The hike up to the waterfall was great. We went on trails, climbed over rocks, and walked across streams and rivers on little wooden bridges that looked as though a 5 year old had laid a few pieces of wood down for us to walk on. It also rained a little on our way making the already slippery rocks even more slick. I was shocked how well our guide was able to just run up a series of rocks and then would stop to help every one of us up the same area. Finally we made it up to the waterfall where we stopped briefly to enjoy the view before heading back down. I slept the entire way back to the main square.

That night for dinner we found a restaurant a little off the main squre. Before ordering we were talking to a couple girls (which spoke perfect English) and found out that we had missed a Grand Prix that day. Turns out the girls were American and British and were models for the party that night-we couldn't come, but the conversation was interesting, at least. Instead we walked oustide the Medina and relaxed in a bar for a little while. The girls there were much less interesting- to the surprise of some Ben correctly guessed that every girl in the bar was a prostitute. Knowing that we had to get up very early the next morning we decided to call it a night relatively early and went back to bed.

The next morning we woke up at 4AM to catch the 5AM train to Fes. Marrakesh conquered.

Marrakesh overall:
There were a lot of things about Marrakesh that I found to be very stereotypically Arab. In the main square there were snake charmers with big turbins on their heads playing the typical snake-charming instrument. Basically everyone there was Arab and dressed in typical Arab clothing; this made Marrakesh feel much less like Africa and much more like the Middle East. Additionally, I was surprised at the lack of English. Everyone spoke French as their second language as a result of post-colonization, but English was much more rare than I expected.
The best thing, though, was the incredible love of Barca. It seemed like half of the people there were wearing Barcelona jerseys. One day Mike wore a t-shirt with the names of everyone on the team and the team slogan on the front (Mes que un club). Most of the salesmen were asking him what they could trade him for his shirt instead of heckling him to buy their goods- he definitely could have gotten 2 jerseys for it. The fact that Barcelona beat Madrid 6-2 while we were there definitely helped the cause, as well.

We decided to purchase first class tickets for the seven hour journey to Fes- I think this was a good choice. Where we sat it felt like every train we took during Spring Break. I ventured back to second class, though, and it was much dirtier, hotter, and smelled horrible. Definitely worth the extra 7 euro. We arrived in Fes around 12:00 in the afternoon and took a cab to the only youth hostel in the city. Unfortunately the showers were only on between 8 and 9 am, so showering was out of the picture. The hostel was in the New Town of Fes, not the Medina. This area was extremely clean and well developed; it almost felt like we were in Florida.

After checking in we walked around the corner to sit down for another typical Moroccan meal. As we were waiting for the food a bee decided that Ben's extremely long curly hair would make a good nest. After sitting patiently for several moments Ben jumped up and started running. As he turned the bee headed straight for him. He swatted the bee out of the air with his hand and stomped on it on the ground. At least he picks his battles wisely by choosing to fight a bee instead of a Donkey.

For the rest of the day we decided to hire a guide to take us around. He was very friendly and imformative, giving us a lot of information about Morocco, the government, history, and culture, as well as telling us about Fes. He took us all around the Medina and led us in to some very cool places (all of which were owned by his friends, of course). We saw the leather market, where they make and stain leather which is exported all over the world. We saw a rug manufacturing place. And we saw a scarf weaving factory. After all of this the guide dropped us off at the bus station where we purchased our tickets for the next morning. We found a pizza place for dinner and, on the way back to the hostel, decided to see what the Moroccan McDonald's was like. Not only did it feature the McArabia, but it definitely had the nicest bathroom of anywhere I went in the country.

The hostel had a 10 o'clock curfew, so we hurried back to make it before being locked out. We played cards and met some Italians that we talked to for the rest of the evening before heading to bed.

Fes Overall:
The hostel was definitely not the best, but was the only real option. There was no toilet paper and the showers were unavailable. Fes, however, was cool. It was the oldest Imperial city and the difference between the Medina and the new city was truly remarkable. It was as if you were in 2 completely different countries. I was happy we stopped there for a day, but did not need any more time.

On May 5 we woke up at 7 to take a cab to the bus to head to Chef Chauen. The bus was full but was surprisingly a normal coach bus and was perfectly comfortable. The ride took about 4 hours total, including 2 very random stops, but it was incredibly scenic. On one of the stops Ben was of course able to find Principe cookies.

When we arrived in Chef Chauen we grabbed some great cheap food for lunch. Because the city is pretty far north in Morocco and closer to the Spanish border everyone spoke Spanish there. This was quite a relief as I was actually able to communicate with people, for the most part. We then quickly walked around the hilly Medina and admired the famous blue buildings. Because we had all of our bags there and no where to stay we decided, after a couple hours of walking around, to catch a cab to Ceuta. The cab ride took about 2 1/2 hours and we were initially told it would cost 500 Dirhams total (about 50 euros). We were also told we would have a car with plenty of room for the 5 of us. When we went to get the cab it was a very normal size cab and we were clearly upset. We then thought they told us that they would only charge us 400. Seeing no other option anyway we got in. Upon arrivin at the Moroccan Spanish border the cab driver demanded that we pay him an extra 200. We had already given his friend 200 before taking the cab and only though we had to give him 200 more. After arguing for some time and getting the border police involved we eventually just gave him the extra money (which was only 4 euro per person anyway) and crossed the border on foot with all of our bags. It was a very sour note to leave on unfortunately.

Maurio had some trouble getting back in to Spain- apparently they thought his student Visa had expired. After some talking, however, they decided to let him in. We then caught a cab on the other side of the border to take us to our hotel (a gorgeous Tryp) in Ceuta.

I never knew 100 meters could make so much of a difference. On the Moroccan side of the border the roads were dirt and everything and everyone was dirty, smelly, dusty, and unorganized. Ceuta felt exactly like I was back in Spain- a modern, first world nation. No Dirham were accepted there, either.

After getting settled in our awesome hotel rooms we walked along the port and stopped for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. We then walked around the club/bar area which was a great outside area with sidewalks and small plazas. Unfortunately we were the only ones in the entire place. Just happy to be back in Spanish territory we wandered around for a little while before going back to the hotel.

The morning of May 6 I woke up feeling truly energized and clean for the first time in almost a week. I took another shower (I had taken one before going to bed) and packed up my things to head to the ferry. The ferry was awesome- it felt like we were on a mini cruise-ship. This made the 45 minute ride across the straight of Gibralter very enjoyable and relaxing.

We arrived in Algeciras were we walked across the city to the train station. Just as we were about to ask about train tickets someone yelled that the train to Granada was leaving that second. We ran and caught the train without even buying tickets- we would purchase them later. Unfortunately the train ride was a little longer than I had anticipated, but they sceneray was remarkable, yet again. We arrived in Granada around 4:50PM where we immediately fed ourselves (we hadn't eaten yet that day because we were expecting food on the train, which didn't exist) the typical Doner Kebab meal. We then hopped on the city bus to go meet Lee in the center. While we got ont he correct bus we unfortunately got on going to wrong way. We soon figured this out and headed back to meet Lee on Gran Via. I feel like there is a Gran Via in the center of every city in Spain. We quickly dropped our things at our hostel and caught a bus to try and make it to the Alhambra in time to see it.

Unfortunately our tickets were for 630 and we got there around 700 so we couldn't get into one part of the palace/castle. We did, however get to see the Alcazar and Generalife before being kicked out at 8:00 on the nose. We then headed back to our hostel to check-in and watch the Barcelona-Chelsea Champions League Semi-Final game. It was one of the best games I have ever seen (which isn't saying much because I haven't watched that many soccer 'futbol' matches in my life). Barcelona tied the game 1-1 in stoppage time to win the series on away goals (tiebreaker) 1-0. To the championship they go!

That night Lee, Kathy, Lisa, and a whole cohort of people studying in Granada that I had met at various points throughout the semester took us to a couple tapas bars. It was incredible how cheap everything was there. They even had a chinese tapas bar! After that everyone except Lisa left to go to bed because they had their last day of class the next day. Lisa took us out for the rest of the night. We went to bed quite late.

The next morning I was supposed to meet Lee around 10:30 to tour the rest of the city. The other four guys with me were going to Sevilla that day, but I opted out because I had already been there. My phone rang at 10:15 and I hung up on Lee without even thinking that it was him calling. About 5 minutes later he showed up at our hostel so I decided to get up. I went and saw the Cathedral in Granada and the Capilla Real, where Ferdinand and Isabella are burried. Then Lee had his last class- they were doing an outdoor lunch picnic and I was invited to join. Considering I knew about 1/2 the class anyway I decided to come. After lunch Lee, Lisa and I went to the famous Mirabella (Viewpoint) and then Lee and I went to get some chocolate churros before walking around the rest of the city and picking up our rental car.

That night was the programs' goodbye dinner and party. Again, I was invited to come. Before going to dinner we went back to Lee's homestay to get ready. I met his senor and senora and watched him say goodbye to them. It was very weird to see. Dinner was an amazing multi-course meal and everyone was very lively and fun. Afterward all of the students went to a club with all of their teachers and the administrators on the program. It was very strange to see students, teachers, and the program director drinking and dancing together, but it was a lot of fun, as well. Around 3:00AM Lee and I had to leave. We said our goodbyes, hopped in the rental car and were off to pick up the other four guys in Sevilla before continuing on to Portugal.

Granada overall:
Granada was slightly bigger and much more modern looking than I anticipated. It was also beautiful with the snow-capped mountains in the background. It was weird to be hanging out with people from this program because I was clearly an outsider, but knew so many people that at times I felt as if I had been there the entire semester. It was also weird that there were about 65 girls and 9 guys on Lee's program. I was happy that I got to see Lee's homestay and meet his parents- it was the only homestay I saw my entire time abroad.
Granada definitely felt more stereotypically Spanish, but I'm not sure that less people in the public/ touristy areas spoke English than in Barcelona.

May trip to be continued...