Saturday, December 10, 2011

Morocco

..or as we say in Spanish, Marruecos. In Spain, people love their holidays and any excuse for a day off work/school. So, it was only fitting that at the end of the semester we had a full off school. Long weekends are called 'puentes' meaning a bridge, but this break was taken to the next level. An aquaducto. I spent my 'aquaducto' in Morocco with four of my closest friends here...and 80 other people. It was the most incredible experience.

We started off in Rabat and made our way down to Fez. After Fez we stopped in a few towns along the way until we ended up in the Sahara! We drove through the Mid-Atlas mountains, the Atlas mountains, saw monkeys, snow, rain, desert and more. We were only in Rabat for a day so we had lunch at a beautiful restaurant on the water, walked through the kasbah and toured the famous square that Abd Al-Rahman III built. On our trek down to Fes we stopped for lunch in Midelt, drove through both the Atlas and Mid Atlas mountains, and stopped to play in the mountains with the monkeys that live there! We spent one night at our hotel in Fes before we began our 8hr drive down to the desert. Once we got there we hung out at our hotel in Xaluca (that we returned to the following night), had tea and regrouped. We proceeded to get into 4x4 jeeps and drove through the rocky desert into the Sahara (not kidding). I was amazed at how the drivers knew exactly where they were going when it was dark outside, not to mention the fact we were just driving through rocks and sand with no landmarks to stick by. Our group was greeted by camels which we then rode 30 minutes into our tent village (Desert Oasis) in the Sahara. We spent the night sitting around the campfire, talking with the Berbers and listening to them play the drums.

Our tents were made of beautiful Moroccan rugs..but we chose to sleep outside under the stars. It was 0 degrees Celsius (about 32 degree Farenheit) but we brought a ton of blankets outside and slept under the stars. We saw a total of 16 shooting stars that night..magical.

The next day we got back on our camels and rode 2hrs to a hotel in the desert to have lunch and relax for the day. After lunch we had the opportunity to tour a Berber village. This particular village is home to only 30 families. Education is only guaranteed for 3 years before the students need to find school in another town. However, as one can imagine, it is very rare for the students to continue their schooling past the first 3 years due to financial reasons.

That night we spent the night back in Xaluca at the most beautiful hotel I've ever stayed at. It wasn't ritzy, but the colors and traditional Moroccan decor made it more beautiful than any Ritz Carlton. It wouldn't have been a real Moroccan experience if I hadn't gotten food poisoning...which I did. That was the low of the trip, but even still I was in such a beautiful place I didn't even mind.

Our last day we toured the Medina in Fes (the oldest part of the city dating back to the medieval ages). There we were able to shop in the local markets and have lunch at a traditional restaurant. This was probably my favorite part of the trip (besides sleeping in the Sahara :) ) We got the real experience..donkeys, carts, and children running at you every which way in the most narrow streets you could ever imagine.

It was the most beautiful, yet saddest place I've ever seen. This was my first experience in a developing country like this and I think what I found most striking was the country's natural beauty but also the sadness of all the poverty. It seems to be the most beautiful places in the world are always home to the poorest as well.

There is so much more that I could write but I would probably be sitting here for hours..or days. The most amazing part of my trip was that even though this was Africa and not the Middle East, I was still in an Islamic country. I felt as if everything I've been learning was coming off the pages off my textbook and turning into a reality. That was the coolest thing of all, that all of my hard work and studies from the past year and a half have paid off in ways that I could not be more grateful for.

It was a great way to end my experience abroad (very bittersweet), but nonetheless I'm happy I had the best trip so far at the end. It is my last weekend/week in Sevilla so I don't think I'll be updating the blog too much, will be too busy with finals and spending the last few days with my friends and host family. Can't believe how quickly this has gone by, does not feel real that it is already December!

Happy early holidays :)

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