Morocco. Maroc. Marruecos. المغرب.

On March 29, I went to Morocco.

The day started with me meeting Becky and the rest of the DiscoverSevilla.com (DiscoverExcursions) group at the Portuguese Consulate at 9:30 and jumpin’ on a bus. We jumped on this FULL bus and hit the road for Tarifa, Spain. There are two ports where one can catch a ferry to Morocco: Algeciras, Spain and Tarifa, Spain. After the 3 hour ride and the Toy Story 3 watchin’ on the bus, we finally got to the port. There, we loaded a ferry (pictures below) and headed to Africa. It was so cool that we could see Africa from the land of Spain. We stood on one continent and looked at another. How cool is that?! So here are the pictures of the ferry.

 That's Africa, y'all.

Okay, now we’re in Morocco! After going through the “security” which was just people shoving each other through some “metal detectors” that did absolutely nothing, we were boarding the bus that also rode with us on the ferry. As we’re exiting the port on the Morocco side (Tangiers, Morocco), I look to the right outside the window only to see 5 teenage boys running at our bus. We’re driving and they JUMP ON OUR BUS. They begin riding with us on the back of the bus. Now, at this point, I’m not sure what to think. I’m wondering if this is normal. I mean, this is my first time in a third world country, so I have no idea. Turns out, they were actually trying to get in the bottom of the bus to get our luggage. Someone got out and ran them off, though, so it was all good. So, that was my introduction to the country. From there, we drove about an hour to our REALLY cool hotel. It was on the beach, but the beach wasn’t visible. We were covered by trees. It was set up like a resort. Super cool. That night, we ate at the restaurant in the hotel (like we did the second night as well). The interesting thing about this restaurant is that they bring the big plate and uncover it and put it on the middle of your table. Then you just get your food off that and put it on your plate. Also, everyone just smokes inside the restaurant. The weirdest thing to me, however, was the fact that there were cats walking around the restaurant. Like, real cats. They just walked around, ran under the table, or whatever else. It was so weird. After eating, we ran off to bed and went to sleep.

Okay, it’s March 30^th now! We are headed to Chefchaoeun, Morocco. We got on the bus, and rode for 2 hours through what was quite possible the most gorgeous landscape I’ve ever seen. Seeing mountains in North Africa was something I don’t think I’ll ever forget. We finally get to the city and meet our hilarious tour guide. First, about the Moroccan people, they’re wonderful. But, like other Arabic-speaking people, they’re body language is so foreign to us. They’re in your face, loud, and mean-sounding. They SCREAM at each other just in regular conversation. It was so odd and off-putting. Anyway, so he tours us around the “Blue City” for a little while and it was SO picturesque. We did the tour and then hit the streets to shop and have free time. The cool thing about shopping there is the fact that EVERYTHING is bartering. You never accept anyone’s price. I did all my haggling and everything in Spanish. It’s funny because when I’m in a foreign country, Spanish just comes out first. I automatically assume the people speak Spanish. I don’t know why, but it just happens. So the Moroccans spoke Spanish and English with me like it was no problem. As a people, they speak many languages. There’s several people there that speak 3 or 4 languages. I bought little keychains, pins, and leather products and then we left this city to return to our hotel, have dinner again, and crash. Overall, I loved it. Before I went to bed, though, I went to sit on the beach by myself. It was really cool. It was completely dark and it was just me and the ocean in Morocco. Gosh, I loved it. Here are a few more pictures of Chefchaoeun:

Tour Guide 

The whole city was in the mountains.

So then, on the 31^st, we got up, and left for Assilah. We drove once again on the bus for what seemed to be 110 hours and finally got to Assilah. Assilah  was another really cool city. To me, though, it wasn’t as cool. Whereas our hotel was on the Mediterranean, Assilah was along the Atlantic Ocean. They had some more amazing views of the ocean. However, it rained like the whole time we were there as well. We didn’t really get to do much there because it wasn’t that huge. We didn’t have a tour guide or anything. We did the ocean and things and once again hit the streets for some shopping. I once again haggled and bought some more handmade things. We then left and headed toward the...CAMELS. We drove like 30 minutes or so, stopped at a cool cave, stopped at a restaurant to eat, and then hit the camels. What’s funny is that the camels were just on the side of the road in like a driveway. We rode around a tiny circle and then got off. We weren’t on the camels long, but hey, I can say I rode a camel in Africa. We then left the camels and headed back to Tangiers (the port) and headed back to good ole Spain. Below are some pictures of Assilah and the camels.

Overall, my Morocco trip was nothing short of life changing. Although I spent less than 48 hours there, I learned so much about a new culture. It was truly a different world than anything I’d ever seen and I’m better because of it. If you ever get the chance to go to this beautiful country, do it.