Guess what? I just got back from the "Motherland!" (Africa, that is). The girls from GSU and I just spent the last couple of days in Morocco and boy, do I have some stories to tell. Morocco always seemed
like such an exotic place, so I was excited to go. After all, classes had not yet
begun, so I wanted to take the opportunity to travel as much as I could. I
admit, it was a last minute decision and honestly I did not know what to expect.
Our trip
started out with a 6-hour bus ride to Madrid. We arrived at the Madrid airport at almost midnight and since
we had 6 am flights to Marrakech, we decided to spend the night at the airport.
That was a fun night. We were so tired, we were laughing deliriously the entire night. We tried to sleep on the hard and cold airport floor, but after
numerous failed attempts, we just decided to sleep on the
plane. Once on the plane I was knocked out. I think I woke up to the sight of
the beautiful Atlas mountain range that sat over Marrakech. It is one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever seen.
However, we had a
problem. The pilot couldn’t land the plane because of a thick fog that covered
the city. We circled in the air for about 45 minutes or more. I was going in and out of
sleep, interrupted intermittently by the pilot’s announcements about
why he couldn’t land. Finally, he said that we were going to land in a
nearby city to solve the fog problem. Ok, apparently the word “nearby” was
relative. We landed in Algadir, which is a city on the Atlantic coast and about 155 miles away!
Plus, it was not even the closest airport. Sheesh. At first I thought it was
hilarious. Probably because I was not expecting what would come next. They then made us get off the plane without any further instructions at all.
Somehow I assumed we were going to stay at the airport until the fog cleared
and would be subsequently put on another flight to Marrakech. Nothing of the
sort. We waited for about 2 hours at the Algadir airport until they put us on a bus
that would take us to Marrakech. At first they told us it would take 3 hours to
get there, but it ended up taking us about 5. We were originally supposed to
arrive in Marrakech at 7am; we didn’t get there until 5 or 6pm. We lost an
entire day.
When we
finally arrived the bus dropped us off at some random spot from which we took a
taxi to the main square, Djamaa El Fna. Man, there were A LOT of people. I was a little overwhelmed. And I guess I didn’t know exactly what to expect so I
experienced some serious culture shock. Plus, I think after the rough travels
and sleep deprivation my emotions were off kilter. That night we got something
to eat and found us a nice hostal. It was pretty nice and the guy at the front desk (Aziz - super nice) gave us a good deal. We stayed practically on the main square,
right in the middle of all the action and across the street from a nice
park. That night we walked around for a bit and went to get some icecream. Even
at night the plaza was full of life and excitement. Small groups were playing drums, there
were kiosks with all kinds of fruits and spices, there were even snake charmers
and people with trained monkeys. Before coming I was actually worried about how
I should dress since Morocco is a muslim country and I didn’t want to wear
anything that would be offensive. Also, it was just us three females so that
first night I was a little on edge. I was actually surprised to see the women
dressed in all different ways. Some wore tradition dress, some were covered
completely, while others wore regular clothes without any head covering. After
noticing that, I felt more at ease.
The next
day we decided to explore a little bit of the city. We decided to go
to the Bahia Palace. To get there we walked through areas that were not as
touristy. I enjoyed it because I got to see how locals really live. The palace was beautiful and very much like many of the alcazares (palaces) that I have already
seen in Spain. After coming to Morocco, I could
really see how strong the arab architectural influence was (and still is) in Spain.
That next
day was our big shopping day. Souks – here I come! The Souks has got to be the
greatest place to find good bargains. It's this laberint of local
venders where you can buy everything from leather purses to silver jewelry. I
collect vases from different countries so I bargained my way to a good price on a beautiful ceramic vase with a
cool camel bone design. But if you ever go there, be careful not to get lost because
it is seriously a maze. We decided to stay on a straight path and I must say we
were quite successful in finding our way back out.
On our
final day there we visited the Koutoubia gardens. The Koutoubia is the most
important mosque in Marrakech. We had the entire day to chill, so we walked
alongside the ancient city walls to the Majorelle Gardens. It was a long walk, but once we saw the gardens it was well worth it. It was breathtaking and a great way to end our trip.
We also spent that last night in the Marrakech airport, since we had an early flight. LOL. It was so cold we had to huddle together to stay warm. And to top it off, when we got back to Madrid, we missed our bus back to Málaga :(
Overall, we had a fun and fantastic trip. Next time I would love to go to the Sahara. Most of our frustration on this trip was associated with the traveling itself. And really, it brought Kelley, Lizette and I closer together. I don't rememeber ever laughing so much in my life. Everywhere we went something funny happened that we still laugh about even after having come back.
Can't wait to share my next adventure. Until then...
No comments:
Post a Comment