We just got back from Marruecos yesterday and it was quite the interesting weekend. First of all, there were 12 of us who went which was a big group to be traveling in. Overall everybody got along really well and we were all very patient with each other, but 12 is just generally a bit too big for a vacation like this. Corey, Evelyn, Karen, and I took a bus from Salamanca to Madrid (made a stop in some pretttty cool places/went to the bathroom in a town worse than Avila), took the metro to the airport, met everybody there, and then our plane proceeded to dilly dally (the nerve) for about 3 hours. The delay was annoying but it was actually not as bad as it sounds because everyone was in really good spirits and we had a pretty good time in the airport. We all bought our own share of duty free goods... I bought lots of chocolate, Corey bought lots of alcohol, claro... and finally we were off!
Immediately after arriving, we were ripped off by the cab drivers, dropped off in the wrong place, lied to by the man at the travel agency, and then all 12 of us walked over an hour to the hotel which was supposedly 12, MAYBE 15, minutes away. Finally we got to the hotel and we were exhausted... it was a LONG day. The hotel was not anywhere near the center of the city, and it was nice but reminded us all a little too much of The Shining. Evelyn and I shared a huge porch with Maddie and Karen which proved very useful for later events (and had a beautiful view of the ocean). We all made our way to dinner... we were incredibly famished and starting to get cranky and all we wanted was some authentic Moroccan food. So naturally, we had pizza, crepes, and gelato. IT WAS AWESOME. Then we went back and spent the rest of the night on our porch, and Mark, Corey, Evelyn and I had bonding/bondage sesh #1. A lovely end to the crazy day.
The next day we all split up... 6 of us went to Asila, a little beach town about an hour away, Corey and Mark went to another little town further away (which I'm sure Corey will blogear about), and the rest of the girls stayed in Tangier. Our trip to Asila started off great- we had a tiny cab with 7 people squished in, our driver Mustafa (que pasa, mustafa) was this wonderful little man who spoke all sorts of different languages. The ride was full of laughter, excitement, and all things good in the world. The town was really beautiful and quaint and the people there were very friendly. They had great little markets and it was a really nice, relaxing day. UNTIL we went into the new city, where everybody was starting at us and we were clearly in the wrong place. A fruit vender and another Moroccan man got into a big screaming fight over us being there and it was so uncomfortable and awkward. Then we went to eat (the best food of the trip by far, very authentic) and when the bill came, we realized they had charged us 3 times the amount it should have been. Fighting ensued and finally we left after paying a price that neither party agreed upon. Then on our way out, they tried to make us pay to use the bathroom and we didn't have enough small coins to do so, so we just left feeling very defeated and beat. The ride back was a little dark. Then even sweet Mustafa ripped us off when we got back. It was just a very frustrating day.
Back in Tangier, we went to the market which was a very cool experience.... a little scary especially because it was just us girls, but I'm glad we did it. There were tons of people and it was a really authentic Moroccan experience. That night we went to dinner at a similar place as the first night (European food... but so much and so good and so cheap), then Keely, Laura, and I walked back into town (terrible, terrible idea) and although we had a really fun time, it was definitely not safe and pretty scary. Literally every group of men we walked by (which was a lot- there were no women out at all) had some sort of disgusting cat call for us. One man sang us happy birthday which was refreshing (?) and hilarious. We got a cab back eventually (not before buying some necessary Principe cookies). Then we went back and had another great session in Corey and Mark's room until very late in the night. The next morning we pretty much just woke up and went to the airport (btw we got free breakfast in our hotels both mornings which was DELICIOUS. The highlight of the trip).
But this is where the fun part REALLY began... after we landed in Morocco, Corey, Evelyn, and I stayed in Madrid from about 1 pm until 7:30 when our bus left for Salamanca. We walked all around the city and found this incredible market that we spent over two hours at. It was in this building that had all sorts of stands- wine, beer, sushi, bread, baked goods, seafood, ice cream... everything. I think it is safe to say when we left, we left behind any leftover money we had from the trip (which was a lot) and our dignities as well because we were three incredibly drunk Americans walking around Madrid at 4 pm. It was one of my favorite days I have had since being abroad (and that is tough competition). We went to a few more bars on the way, burger king, and of course a convenience store to buy our daily ration of Principe cookies. We also made a stop in the plaza mayor to do some cartwheels. They were one-handed... it's fine. We eventually made it to the bus station just by chance and walked onto the bus at 7:26 pm. We have no idea how that happened, but somebody up there was definitely watching out for us.
Anyways, it probably sounds like it was overall a bad weekend, but despite all of the stressors in Morocco, we all had a REALLY fun time being together and the experience was definitely worthwhile. We incorporated the word "Africa" into almost every one of our sentences all weekend, which alone was worth the trip. It was a solid weekend for sure but I am very happy to be back in Spain.
Next weekend we are going to Ciudad Rodrigo for Carnaval. We're leaving Saturday afternoon and instead of getting a hostel, we are taking the first bus back in the morning- 9 am... so hopefully our fiesta stamina doesn't let us down and we can make it all night. Then two weekends later, off to Barcelona to meet up with the rest of the Suite 501 inhabitants (Anne, Adriana, and Jess), which I expect shall be one of the best weekends of my life. En serio, I am so excited. I also just booked the first ticket for spring break to Brussels. The plan is Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, then Budapest. I obviously can't wait and am ready for it to be next week (but I don't want it to be March yet, I am loving it here way too much. I love the idea that we still have four months left. THANK GOODNESS).
Pues, tomorrow I have an intercambio with a Spanish girl that I met last week, which I am really looking forward to. On Wednesday I'm planning on going to back to Erasmus, this very cool bar near the plaza, for their weekly intercambio party. We went last week and had a great time, so hopefully this becomes a habit. Ok, enough... I could write about a million more things but you must be very tired from reading all of this. I'll try to make some really interesting things happen to me in the next week so I have something good to write about. Maybe some more one-handed cartwheels? I don't know, I don't know if there'll be time.
Adios, muchas gracias por leer!!
Amanda
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