Morocco has to be the coolest place I have ever been to. I wish everyone could go there and experience what I did. I don’t even know if I will be able to really explain how amazing it was but I will try...
Our trip started on Thursday after school. We had enough time to go home first and double check our bag, making sure we didn’t forget anything, and have lunch before we met up to take a bus to the airport. The airport is only 15 minutes away from where I live and it’s pretty small so there wasn’t a bunch of lines which was nice. For some reason though I kept setting the alarm off trying to walk through security so they made me go back into a dressing room to get the pat down. Have to admit I was a little nervous when she shut the curtain. We were supposed to fly out at 7:00 but our flight kept getting delayed. Eventually we found out that we were going to be leaving till 12:00 pm! Good news was we got a free dinner and who doesn’t love free food! My host mom packed me some sandwiches so I decided to use my money on a drink and piece of chocolate cake.
I would compare our first flight to a bad infomercial. Maybe that’s just because one of the flight attendants was on the intercom or walking up and down the aisle trying to sell something while I was trying to sleepJ. We finally got into Madrid at a 1am. Our next flight was at 6am so we didn’t have enough time to get into the city to sleep. We decided to find a quite place in the airport and sprawl out on the floor. We looked and looked for some carpet but no such luck. Boy let me tell you how comfortable tile floor is to sleep on! My backpack was to giant for me to use as a pillow so I settle for my purse with my left over sandwich in side. It was the softest thing I could find. Eventually I started taking clothes out of my backpack to serve as a pillow or blanket but there was no getting comfortable. It didn’t help that every twenty minutes, or at least what seemed like every twenty minutes, this obnoxious guy came across the intercom warning us either about leaving our bag unattended or missing our flight. At about four we “woke up” and about this time all of our families had heard about the bomb that went off in Marrakesh, Morocco. Right where we were heading. I think it was our last day we finally heard the whole story. A man walked into the restaurant, right in the main square, with two briefcases; one with a computer and one with a bomb. He ordered a glass of orange juice and then walked out, only taking the suitcase with the computer. Rumor has it Al Qaeda was behind it. 
We got into Morocco at about 7:30 am I believe with the one hour time change. We took a bus into town and got off pretty much at the location of the bombing. We had some trouble finding our hostel and so we asked some people for directions and here is where we learned lesson one: don’t ask people for directions. They talk you there and then they want you to give them money. We had to walk through the big square, a big common area by the shops where venders set up, and were intersected by guys with monkeys. Next thing you know the monkey is on you and the guy is asking for money. What was worse are the guys walking around with the big snakes! Bout had a heart attack when I turned around and saw that in my face. There were also guys with black cobras playing this instrument that they would rise up to. SCARY! We tried to take pictures but they would quickly block them from the camera. Lesson two: don’t take picture of animals even if they put them on you!
We eventually made it to our hostel which was way legit. Right away the treated us like royalty. They made us a spot to sit and brought us out warm tea. The tea is amazing here! I have never really been a big tea drinking but this stuff was good. It might be because they use half a cup of sugar in each small glass or the mint leaves but either way so good. Our hostel was a big square with a giant courtyard in the middle where we ate breakfast and could hang out. We also had a terrace on top of the hostel where we hung out one night. If anyone goes to Morocco let me know because I would definitely recommend this hostel. 
After we got settled in we went back out and met up with some friends that we met on the way over here. First thing we did was get some henna tattoo. Even something as simple as that turned out pretty intense when two ladies literally started fighting over us. Next thing I know one lady is literally yanking me down in here chair and yelling at the over lady to go away I’m assuming, I don’t know Arabic very well. After that we went and got lunch. Had some Tagine with is vegetables, potatoes and chicken for 2.5 Euros and tea. All the food is so cheap here and sooo good! Loved it. We walked around and explored some shops after. One guy brought us into his little shop and had us sit down with two of his friends around a big bowl of couscous so we could try it. I wasn’t sure it was sketch eating food from a stranger in a shop down an alley but it was good. I ended up bartering a big hand painted bowl from the guy. First meal served in it will definitely be couscous.
Saturday morning we wanted to go on a camel ride. There were places on every corner offering excursions but we heard that it’s cheaper if you just find a bus out of town where there are camels and pay for it separately. We headed to the bus station where we found a guy who said he would take us out to where the camels where and then takes us back into town right after. Not quite what happened. On the way out we stopped a couple times because he knew we were tourists and wanted to take pictures. A man walked by with a donkey and the driver actually paid him for us which surprised me. We asked him if he had any Moroccan music and he stopped at a store and ran in and bout two cds that he ended up giving us at the end. The problem was that he has a lot of family and friends that he wanted to share his business with. When we eventually arrived at a little town I thought it was time for camel rides. Next thing you know we are going on this crazy hike up the river. Had I known I may not have worn old navy flip flops. It was actually a really cool hike and we got to take some really cool pictures but of course when we got into town the guy told us we needed to pay him. Most of us were refusing to pay him, at least as much as he was asking for, due to the fact that we never asked to go on a hike and were never told how much it cost. At the same time we were also stopped at a restaurant, a friend of the drivers, where we were told we had to. Us, being the cheap people we are, were trying to refuse to eat there but they just weren’t having it. Our meal started off at 120 dirhams I guess, 12 Euros, and ended up going down to 30 dirhams, 3 Euros, before we actually said we would eat there. This was actually a huge argument that we had outside. We were yelling at our driver for not taking us to ride the camels as we were refusing to pay the tour guide and eat at the restaurant. I was afraid if we didn’t eat at the restaurant we wouldn’t get a ride back into town.
After we got our cheap food we were all a little happier. Our driver took us to find some camels. When we found them it started to rain a little. At first were thinking about backing out and waiting till the next day but of course the guy with the camels wasn’t going to let us leave. He ending up literally putting me on the camel before we had even really decided if we wanted to or not. So glad we did though, it didn’t even matter that it was raining or that we were soaked and had camel poop on us.
Sunday night we got two hours of sleep max because we had to catch our flight early Monday morning. When we tried to leave we were locked inside our hostel. We didn’t know what room the workers slept in so I just started guessing and I guessed wrong. People weren’t very happy to be woken up at 5 in the morning. I don’t know why. We got into Madrid early and went and dropped our bags off at our friend’s place that we had met right before the trip and then went and walked around Madrid. We were exhausted though! Had to make a red bull run but it was barely enough. For some of us it was the only day we might see Madrid so there wasn’t time for a nap (or a place). We went out that night and at 3am we caught a taxi to the airport. It took us a while to get to the airport because we were looking for a bus at first so by the time we got there it was 5 am and our plane left at 6:30am. We slept on the plane and got into Santander at 8am and had to go directly to class. Luckily our first teacher was sick we had two hours before class. We were sleeping on the benches but the school woke us up because they thought it was weird. “School is not a bed.” Heck yeah it is. If you’ve only slept two hours in the last 48 hours pretty much anywhere will work as a bed. Class was brutal though. Can’t even count how many times I fell asleep. Still trying to catch up on sleep. Got to get ready for Paris tomorrow!! Sorry this blog was a little long! There is so much to say and I didn’t even get to say half the stuff I wanted to!
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| I bought a flower from a little boy and five minutes later another boy made me give it to him so he could sell it again |
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| Snuck a large bowl onto the plane |
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| Comfy |
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| Before our crazy adventure |
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| Stepping into AFRICA |
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| Brave one in our group |
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| I tried a snail. Clearly I liked it. |
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| Trying to fit int |
I would compare our first flight to a bad infomercial. Maybe that’s just because one of the flight attendants was on the intercom or walking up and down the aisle trying to sell something while I was trying to sleepJ. We finally got into Madrid at a 1am. Our next flight was at 6am so we didn’t have enough time to get into the city to sleep. We decided to find a quite place in the airport and sprawl out on the floor. We looked and looked for some carpet but no such luck. Boy let me tell you how comfortable tile floor is to sleep on! My backpack was to giant for me to use as a pillow so I settle for my purse with my left over sandwich in side. It was the softest thing I could find. Eventually I started taking clothes out of my backpack to serve as a pillow or blanket but there was no getting comfortable. It didn’t help that every twenty minutes, or at least what seemed like every twenty minutes, this obnoxious guy came across the intercom warning us either about leaving our bag unattended or missing our flight. At about four we “woke up” and about this time all of our families had heard about the bomb that went off in Marrakesh, Morocco. Right where we were heading. I think it was our last day we finally heard the whole story. A man walked into the restaurant, right in the main square, with two briefcases; one with a computer and one with a bomb. He ordered a glass of orange juice and then walked out, only taking the suitcase with the computer. Rumor has it Al Qaeda was behind it. 
We got into Morocco at about 7:30 am I believe with the one hour time change. We took a bus into town and got off pretty much at the location of the bombing. We had some trouble finding our hostel and so we asked some people for directions and here is where we learned lesson one: don’t ask people for directions. They talk you there and then they want you to give them money. We had to walk through the big square, a big common area by the shops where venders set up, and were intersected by guys with monkeys. Next thing you know the monkey is on you and the guy is asking for money. What was worse are the guys walking around with the big snakes! Bout had a heart attack when I turned around and saw that in my face. There were also guys with black cobras playing this instrument that they would rise up to. SCARY! We tried to take pictures but they would quickly block them from the camera. Lesson two: don’t take picture of animals even if they put them on you!
We eventually made it to our hostel which was way legit. Right away the treated us like royalty. They made us a spot to sit and brought us out warm tea. The tea is amazing here! I have never really been a big tea drinking but this stuff was good. It might be because they use half a cup of sugar in each small glass or the mint leaves but either way so good. Our hostel was a big square with a giant courtyard in the middle where we ate breakfast and could hang out. We also had a terrace on top of the hostel where we hung out one night. If anyone goes to Morocco let me know because I would definitely recommend this hostel. 
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