Howdy,
As if my life here couldn’t become any more like a dream, I went to Africa two weekends ago!! On November 18-20 I took my first trip out of the country of Spain with the CIEE kids! We went to Morocco, Africa, and I absolutely NEED to go back.
The trip to a different continent began in the same way as many do: with an early morning. On Friday, November 18, at 6:45 am, we all piled onto a giant bus and began the 2.5 hour drive to the coast. The Americans from Madrid took a plane, so they actually got to sleep in a bit, but the Sevilla folks did not have that luck. Most people were fast asleep on this bus ride, me being one of the guilty parties. After this ride, we grabbed all of our stuff and went on a ferry boat. Now this was probably one of the most miserable boat rides I’ve ever been on. It’s probably a mix of not having been on a boat in several months, being very stuffy and hot on the boat, not really being able to go outside, going ridiculously fast, and the large amount of waves that we went through, and just generally the fact that Spain/Africa doesn’t really have the most hightech equipment. Long story short, I did not feel very good on the boat. A few kids actually got sick because it was that uncomfortable. Thankfully, it only lasted one hour.
After that, we went on yet another bus, but it wasn’t long before our bus stopped at the customs line. We all had to get our passport stamped which took YEARS, but hey, at least I now have a super rad stamp on my passport in Arabic. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that once we got off that first bus, we could no longer really communicate with anyone. They all spoke Arabic and French (none of which I speak) but if you were lucky, a rare person spoke broken Spanish or English. But for the majority of the trip I was reminded of how it felt to have a complete language barrier (exactly like my first month here.) We drove for about a half an hour and then arrived at our hotel. It was very pretty but it had a metal detector. However, I’m pretty sure the metal detector was just for show because it beeped at every. single. person. But it reminded me of how lucky I am to live in such a safe area where I don’t even need to think about metal detectors or wether you can go outside alone or what it means to be blonde. Once inside the hotel, they gave us room keys and the most delicious tea I have ever had in my entire life. I don’t usually drink tea, but I would drink that for the rest of my life if given the chance.
We had to return our room keys when we left the hotel (which made us a bit uncomfortable, but pickpocketing is real here so I guess it’s a good thing) and went to an art school. Our tour guide is from Morocco but speaks fluent English, Spanish, Arabic, and French, which is SUPER CHULO if you ask me! In fact, almost all the students in Morocco learn multiple languages and are fluent in several. Anyways our tour guide showed us around the entire art school, where students learn to paint, craft wood, and eventually iron.
After that, we went to a restaurant, where we dined on soup, couscous with chicken and onions and raisins (which was actually godly) and mandarin oranges.
We got henna done and had a tour of the city of Tetouan, ending in an herbal medicine shop and the BEST back massages you could want. So here are my thoughts on the first day of Morocco: you absolutely absolutely cannot have any part of your body showing. I wore a maxi dress that showed my arms and shoulders but I ended up putting on a sweater (even though it was so hot) because the moment I stepped out of the bus, I started getting catcalled and stared at like I had three heads. I thought I was used to getting stared at in Spain, as you can pick an American out from a crowd of Spaniards from a million miles away. But this is NOTHING compared to the ways in which the Moroccan people stare at you. Another very culture shock moment was when I was told that I was not allowed to photograph people or religious items. I wasn’t prepared for this and often had to second guess everything I took photos of. Our guide said that we COULD take photos of people if we asked them first, but seeing as almost no one spoke English/Spanish, I really didn’t know how to ask. Finally, we walked through an urban market, which initially seemed very cool and unique but I don’t think I had been prepared enough before hand. There were a lot of live chickens that were being killed on the spot with blood just running down the middle of the street. It seemed very unsanitary and opened my eyes to exactly what culture shock was. Although this seemed like a very cool thing, I decided that I would much rather VISIT Morocco than LIVE there. But I also don’t think I stayed long enough to say that definitely, so I would love to travel there again.
On the second day, we drove about an hour to the city of Asilah, in which we were taken inside a fortress and allowed to walk where we wanted. It was full of adorable little shops selling jewelry and tapestries and art, and I ended up buying so many things here. I couldn’t resist! One thing I absolutely CANNOT do is barter, so what ended up happening is the owner would say a RIDICULOUSLY high price, I would say no, thanks, and start to walk away, and then he would say “WAIT YOU’RE A STUDENT AND A GIRL AND AN AMERICAN HERE LET ME GIVE THIS TO YOU FOR ALMOST FREE” and then it would be an extremely cheap price and I would agree. The money exchange rate is WEIRD! It is about 1 euro for every 1o dirhams, so things would appear to be cost 200 but would actually only be 20 euros. I thought this was funny (probably funnier than it should have been) when I wanted to by a 20 dirham snack and it was only 2 euros!
Today I was so close to the beach and it really made me miss Savannah and sailing and water. After this little shopping spree, we drove for another hour and arrived in the town on Tanger. We had a beautiful lunch that seemed out of a movie, and then some friends and I wandered down a steep cliff all the way to the ocean. IT. WAS. STUNNING. (and SO HIGH).
After that, we drove to the middle of nowhere, where we got to RIDE. CAMELS!!!!! I had been looking foward to this since I was still in America, and it honestly did not disappoint. It was a short ride, but I am DEFINITELY doing it again.
so WHAT if it is touristy and American and I squealed really loudly when I was riding it? I am never going to forget riding camels in Africa!! Next, we went to the Hercules Cave, which was very. veryyyyyy. touristy. People were climbing all over the rocks, touching incredibly old stalagmites and taking a million photos. There were lights everywhere and metal railings, so it was honestly a little disappointing. What did NOT disappoint however, was the entrance to the water. It is said to look like the shape of Africa, but either way it was stunning.
Afterwards, we walked through the Tanger market, where they handed us mint leaves and told us to not breathe anything else. Once instructed, we walked through a tannery, which smelled like literal death. It was nauseating, but once on the other side, you could see the entire city and was absolutely gorgeous.
We were given more free time, and we looked at all the touristy shops. One boy stopped me on the streets…here is our conversation (translated into English for your convenience):
him: hello beautiful! Want to but a bracelet? They are real gold and I need money for my school.
me: no thanks.
him: ahhhh are you from sevilla?
me: yeah! how did you know?
him: you have the face of a sevillan girl.
me: well I’m not actually from sevilla. I’m american. I just live in sevilla.
him: ahhhhh American eh? give me money now or I’ll stab you.
ANNDDDD this is where my friend Blythe steps in and whisks me away from the scary boy on the street. Honestly thank God for her. I still today could not tell you how he knew that I was from Sevilla…in any case, I learned my lesson and do NOT talk to street vendors now.
The next day, we woke up before the sun and were driving before 7 am. We drove about 1.5 hours and arrived in the city of Chefchauen, a completely blue city. We had a short tour of the city but were then able to explore. For those of you who don’t know, I’ve had Chefchauen on my bucketlist of places that I want to go for YEARS. It was honestly beyond amazing and exactly like I’d imagined it.
We said goodbye to the Madrid kids, who had to catch an early flight, and this was met with a few tears, as we realized that we would not be seeing the Trimester or Semester kids there EVER. AGAIN. 🙁 One thing about exchange is that it makes you VERY close to people very quickly. So everyone feels like part of your family: even if you rarely see them, you know that they will be there to listen to your problems and love you. After our goodbyes, we ate a DELICIOUS lunch and then began our trip home. after a 3.5 hour bus ride, we were at the border of Africa. As we were waiting in line, 4 kids ran underneath our bus and hung onto the underside. The bus driver got out of the bus, pulled the kids out, and beat them up RIGHT OUTSIDE OF OUR VEHICLE. It was so scary but it really made me reflect on what I take for granted. These kids were willing to give up their families and friends for the chance to get a better life. It was so dangerous and we were told that many of them didn’t have birth certificates and weren’t even seen as real people. Even if they had made it across the border, I have no idea what their plan would be next. It was so hard to watch. We made it back to Sevilla at 9:45 pm on Sunday night, and I promptly fell asleep, hardly being able to wake up for school the next morning. It was an overwhelming, emotional, but utterly incredible experience and I am so so so thankful to have had this opportunity to do it.
Peace,
~Parker Grove
