Let's Explore: MOROCCO

Checked another continent off the bucket list this past weekend as I visited the beautiful Africa.

This trip was organized through CIEE, which was wonderful because I would not want to try to organize my own trip to Africa! The trip started early Thursday morning as we had a long travel day ahead of us. We took a bus to Algercias then a boat to Ceuta where we crossed the boarder in a bus and then headed to our hotel in Tetuan. We were greeted at the hotel with Moroccan tea, which is green tea with spearmint leaves and absolutely delicious! After dropping our bags off in our room we headed back on the bus to begin our African adventures.

Our guide's name was Abdul, also known in Tetuan as Michael Douglas, and he was absolutely hilarious. He knew Arabic, Spanish and English and could change between the languages so easily. He called us his family and taught us a lot about the Moroccan culture and even a few words in Arabic.

"Chokran" means Thank-you, "Salam Walacom" means Hello, and "Waha" means OK.

Our first stop in Tetuan was an artisan school where students go to learn skills such as ceramics, sewing, wood, sculpture, and much more. Abdul explained that if you are a good student you can finish in 4 years but it takes students anywhere between 4-8 years to finish their education. Each room in the school was dedicated to a different craft and we got to see the students in action-- carving wood, sewing blankets and painting bowls--it was so impressive to see the great detail that goes into all of the work. We also got to see the exposition room where all the best pieces are displayed.

After the visit to the school we went to lunch at a typical Moroccan restaurant. There was an entertainer in the restaurant dancing with a plate on top of his head with candles on it! The food was all pretty good! We started with bread, then soup, then mystery meat kabobs, cous cous with chicken and veggies, oranges with cinnamon, cookies, and tea. HUGE MEALS. I tried EVERYTHIING. and enjoyed it all except for the meat kabobs which I later found out were lamb...where I almost puked.

After lunch we went for a cultural tour of La Medina, which is the market in Tetuan. Tetuan is not a tourist city--it's a real view of Moroccan culture and daily life. The market was muddy, smelly, tightly cramped and filled with so much stuff. This was a struggle for me as there were dead fish everywhere and dead chickens hanging from the little tents in the market. I kept my head down and watched the persons feet in front of me and focused on breathing through my mouth. There were also live chickens in cages which also made me sad. Once we got out of the "food" section of the medina it wasn't as terrible-- there was still so much stuff though-- clothes, fake american brands, spices, henna color, artisan crafts, shoes, purses and more. Then we came to a horse stable where Abdul explained that the shop owners kept their horses when they are selling their stuff. Well, there were no horses in there but there was a lot of horse shit.

So then Abdul gave each of us a stem with spearmint leaves, which I thought was to mask the scent of the horse shit, but turns out it was to mask a different smell. The Tenerife is where they process the animals' skin to make leather. SO this is the places where they bathe dead animals in little open tubs of water and then cut off the skin and rub it down until it's smooth as leather. GROSS. GROSS. GROSS. I could not contain myself. I tore the leaves off and stuck them in my scarf, wrapped my scarf around my face and didn't breath through my nose for a solid 7 minutes.

After that wonderful experience we continued to walk around La medina and Abdul showed us a mosque where Muslims pray. He talked about the religion and explained that they pray 5 times a day and that when they enter the mosque they have to take their shoes off. Abdul also walked us through a residential area where people live and told us that it's very common for more than one family to live together.

Then we headed back to our hotel for dinner where I had rice, carrots, a potato , bread and a fruit cup.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed off for a day in Tanger. We started the day with a tour of a Coca Cola factory which was SO COOL. I was so impressed by how all of the machines worked at such a fast speed! We watched the production and assembly of cans of an apple fizzy drink-- saw the cans come out, get filled, capped, and if they weren't filled to the right level a machine detected that and tossed it out. We also watched the production of big plastic bottles of Hawai orange fizzy juice-- the bottle starts off in the shape of a test tube and then expands into a big bottle! Lastly, we saw the production of coca cola in glass bottles- we saw the huge machine that takes the dirty glass bottles and cleans them so they are ready to be refilled! We also saw the machines that package everything, it was so efficient! At the end of our tour they offered us a drink! I tried the Hawai drink and although I don't like carbonation, I thought it was pretty good!

We then went for lunch at a restaurant right off the water. We had salad (with tuna) so I didn't eat much of that. Then we had big puff balls filled with chicken..they were actually pretty tasty but the fact that I couldn't really tell what I was eating kind of freaked me out so I didn't eat much.

Then we got back on the bus and mid-route we pulled off on the side of the road and got off the bus. This is where we rode camels. and when I saw "rode camels" I mean get on a camel go on a little 2 minute loop, take pictures and get off. The camels were cool..because I love animals and all..but it was a bit anti-climatic.

After all the selfies with the camels we went to St. Michaels Caves where there is a cut out of rocks in the shape of Africa--super cool. There is also a little pool of water in the caves and Abdul told us that if we wash our hands 3 times we will find a husband. So of course all the girls (including myself) lined up to find our chance at love!

Then we meet some Moroccan students for a discussion at a cafe. I talked to a Moroccan guy about life in Tanger and he taught me how to write my name in Arabic! It was cool to learn more about their culture and school life. After the discussion the Moroccan students lead us to the Medina, which is the market in Tanger. It was rainy but we made it there and had about 30 minutes to shop. 30 minutes is definitely not long enough because at these markets you have to barter! After many family vacations to Mexico I have learned that bartering is a process. Go in, look around, show interest in things you don't want, ask for prices for a lot of things, then ask for the price of something you want, say 40% of that price, they say no, walk away, they come to chase you, barter some more, get your product. I bought a blanket-- original price 450 Dirhams, I paid a final price of 200 Dirhams for it.

We then went back to the hotel for dinner and headed to sleep after a long day!

Saturday we packed our bags, had lunch at the hotel and headed out early for our last day! We went to the city of Chefchaouene, which is the blue city..literally it's all BLUE! We toured the beautiful blue city and then had some time to shop in la medina before heading back on our bus, boat and bus adventure back to Sevilla.

It was a great, cultural and beautiful weekend in Morocco. I learned a lot and will forever appreciate being able to drink tap water!!

Sending Smiles From Sevilla,

Rebecca

The Artisan School