Aladdin-esque

Friday, February 6, 2009

I really don't even know where to begin for this blog. Morocco was absolutely incredible. The day and a half sailing to Morocco was everyone basically just wondering what was ahead. I personally had no idea what to expect from Morocco, hearing things from how dangerous it was to how safe it was. We actually had lost a day in Morocco (we were supposed to arrive February 2) due to rough waters. We stopped in Gibraltar (the southern most tip of Europe before Africa) to fuel up, but due to the rough seas, they were unable to fuel the ship. So we had to wait until the next morning to fuel up when the waves were less calm. Once we fueled up, we headed to Casablanca; it took us about 12 more hours to get there. We got to the port at like 9 pm and we had to turn off the stabilizers so we could enter the port from the side, and let me tell you...it was insane! Me and Jaclyn ran up to the 6th floor to watch people in the dining hall. People were literally flying through the hallways. The waves were the largest we had experienced. The biggest wave hit and people fell out of their chairs, plates broke on the floor, all the furniture shifted to the other side of the room. It was a lot of fun, to be honest. As we walked back to our room, we walked past the bookstore and campus store, and everything had fallen off the shelves, it was a mess, as was our room when we got back.

The next morning I had a Semester at Sea trip planned; the camel trek in Marrakech and Palm Groves. We were leaving at 800, and I woke up feeling kind of sick, but none the less still got up and headed toward the bus. Well, it turns out that I wasn't feeling as well as I had anticipated. I ended up getting sick right before we left, but felt better afterwards and decided to go ahead with the trip, and that I would just sleep on the bus for the 4 hour drive to Marrakech. I originally, and still think, that it was because I was dehydrated. Once we arrived in Marrakech, we had lunch at this beautiful Moroccan style restaurant. It was called Le Palais Des Ibilates. The inside was so beautiful. All the windows were stain glass, and there were huge chandeliers everywhere, and the ceilings were high. They fed us 3 courses, the first being traditional Moroccan appetizers, then we had some type of fried pastries, and then finally cous cous with chicken. For dessert, they brought out oranges, and tea and some type of cookie. I was still feeling sick, so I didn't get to try much, but it all looked delicious, none the less. A lady even came out and did belly dancing, to Big Pimpin’ Moroccan style, none the less. At some point during lunch, I guess I took a turn for the worst and became really dizzy and pale. So being that the next stop was the camel trek, I tried really hard to pull it together and stick it out and push through it, but it just wasn't happening. Needless to say, I didn't get to ride the camels :( But to be honest, it was for the best, I think it would have gone pretty bad if I had tried, and I mean, how different can it be from riding a horse? I guess I will just have to keep it on my list of things to do in my lifetime...I'm going to try to do it in Namibia or South Africa if I can find time. We checked into our hotel which was BEAUTIFUL, and it was located in the new city of Marrakech. It was called Ryad Mogador Opera. Hotels are called Ryads, instead of hotels. There were seven floors, and when you looked up, all you saw was a HUGE chandelier in the middle, going all the way to the top, down to the first floor, and the middle was open, and when you looked up you could see every floor. They offered us tea and cookies again and we checked into our rooms. I decided it would be best to just get sleep and water in me, so I called it a night and recovered for the next day.

The next day was our full day tour of Marrakech. I woke up a brand new person, and was ready to go, thank goodness. They had breakfast for us at 800, which was complete with pastries, literally every kind of thing you could imagine, from a delicious type of coffee cake thing, to chocolate croissants, to cake, it was great. We got on the bus, and left at about 900 to explore the city. Our tour guide looked like Moses, and he was excited to show us all around Marrakech. My first encounter was on our way to look at a mosque, we approached two men, dressed in brightly colored costumes and hats and our tour informed us that in order to take a picture of them, we had to give them money. Just a glimpse of what was to come. After, we went inside another mosque, and it was really similar to the one I saw in Spain. It had similar architecture and intricately detailed walls and ceilings. The weather really wasn't that great this day, unfortunately, it was cold and rainy, but it didn't rain the whole day, which was good.

Next, our tour guide took us in into a huge market type place, but it was called a super market, but it had absolutely no food. They call their food markets something else. It was filled with honestly some of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It was really overwhelming; they had two HUGEEEE floors of everything and anything. They had clothes, souvenirs, hookahs (which upsettingly we aren't allowed to bring home with us, otherwise, everyone would be getting one, they're cheap here), plates, carpets, jewelry, really everything. We spend about an hour or so, and everyone bought some things, then we had lunch. Lunch was very similar to the day before, only difference being that this time I could actually eat. They didn't give us cous cous, it was a rice dish with tomatoes and pork and olives, which, Jen and Mom, you will be proud, I acquired a taste for green olives, still hate black though. After lunch, we went to the Medina, which is known as the old city, which is literally just like something out of Aladdin. We were immediately approached by the snake charmers and people with monkeys on leashes. My first experience with the medina was having a snake wrapped around my neck (not harmfully of course) and the man making Jaclyn take a picture and then making the snake kiss my forehead for good luck, and thinking, all is well and good. Oh no, that picture right there was worth 2 euros, and of course they haggled us until we paid them, and then we got haggled by the guy with the monkey saying that we took pictures of his monkey and didn't pay, I proceeded with, "I hate monkeys" and walked away. It worked. Surprisingly, people there all assumed we were from the U.K. or Australia. Several times, people yelled out, "Good day, mate" to us, or the ever so popular broken English version of, "What up, homie?" But I was most taken by the fact that many people knew English there. It wasn't as hard as I had expected to get around and communicate with everybody. We walked through the old city and the markets and there was just so much to take in. People were begging, kids probably 7 or 8 years old were selling things to try and get money. Many of the markets and places had brains for sale, which I really would have liked to try (being 100% serious) but we didn't really have anytime. We went back to our Ryad and ate dinner.

After dinner, Jaclyn and Smith had met locals the night before and we were going to meet up with them at a local bar/pub. After our cab driver drove us literally the complete opposite way and dropped us off and told us we could pay "whatever you like", we walked about two miles and finally got where we needed to be. It was an awesome local pub with a live house band, which covered songs from Bob Marley and Amy Winehouse and ACDC. It was amazing. They were soooo good. The singer was this awesome chick who was rocking it, she had an awesome voice. We met up with Rita and her friends, who lived in Marrakech. We had a few drinks and then we headed to another local bar/lounge called Yellow Sub, and yes, it was ALL Beatles music, and you can probably understand how excited I was. Outside of the bathroom, there was literally a Jim Morrison shrine. Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Andy Warhol, and John Lennon posters were all throughout. They had the Yellow Submarine cartoon playing, and all the songs were like 60s, 70s, and 80s music, some techno remixes, pretty awesome. Then we proceeded to go to the biggest club in Morocco called Teatro. It was awesome, and very fun. After the club, we went to get some late night food at a local café that Rita showed us and it was pretty authentic. Cats and dogs just come up to your table and beg for food, well not quite unlike home (Dad, I hope Jack has learned his table manners).

The next morning our wake up call was for 615 and at about 730 we headed back to Casablanca. Needless to say, everybody pretty much fell asleep on the bus and we woke up in Casablanca. We had about an hour until we had to be on the ship so we walked around and spent the rest of our Durhams (the Moroccan currency). We tried to get to an internet café so I could put some pictures up for you guys to see, but it wouldn’t read our USB drives. So I’m going to try and do it on the ship.

As we departed Casablanca, they had to turn off the ships stabilizers again, and this time was worse than getting in. Our beds literally detached from the wall and rolled all the way to the other side of the room, with us in them. It was a lot of fun to be honest.

Next stop is Namibia. We have about 8 days until we arrive. It’s crazy to think that I have been away for almost 3 weeks. Time is just flying by. We cross the equator on Monday and we don’t have classes because it is Neptune Day. I don’t really know what they have in store, but shaving your head is a tradition. I will obviously not be participating in that part, but surprisingly several girls I have met will be. I am excited for that. The waters a little better today, but still rougher than they have been. The weather is still kind of chilly, low 60s, but I cannot wait until we can layout again after classes! Hopefully within the next couple days, especially with crossing the Equator. Hope everything is going well at home, miss and love everybody!