Just spent five days in Africa...no big deal. :)
We ported in Casablanca, Morocco. (I have actually been to Morocco befor, but not the same part. We went to Tangier befor.) The port was very strange because it was more of a commercial port than a cruise ship port. AKA lots of huge containers everywhere and cranes and we had to take a shuttle bus to get out of the port.
And let me just say that Morocco has some pretty serious visa requirements. My friend Andy - who is pretty much the cutest littlest 5 foot tall Ecuadorian I know was not allowed off the boat because of all of this weird stuff involving visa and international policy and consulates (that i do not quite understand). It was only funny because if you could just see this girl, you would just know that she did not pose any sort of national threat to Morocco. But hey, we live in a crazy world I guess!
DAY 1: We went to the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. This is the thrid biggest mosque in the Islamic world with the biggest minaret (call to prayer tower) overall. It was HUGE. and so beautiful. It was built right over the waves and has so many layers to it. It even has a retractable roof for when they have alot of worshippers and it gets really hot. Then we went to a souk in Casablanca which is really just the Moroccan word for a bazaar or market. Pretty cool stuff including these magic boxes that have all of these hidden keys and sliding wooden panels among many other typical Moroccan souvenirs. That night, we all stayed on the boat and had a game night because we knew the next few nights, we wouldn't be able to get back to the boat! Monopoly got real serious real fast. Haley and me lost (we had to play teams because there were approx. 10 of us playing) but at least we had Marvin Gardens for a while!
DAY 2: We were hoping that Andy was gonna be able to get off the boat so we hung around for a while and played more games. (I can't even look at Apples to Apples anymore). But by dinnertime, it was pretty clear that she was gonna have to hang out on the boat. :( ....so we went on to the Casablanca train station to catch a train to Marrakesh! By the time we got to Marrakesh it was about 10 at night. We had arranged in advance for a driver from the riad we were staying at to pick us up from the train station so within half an hour a Moroccan man approached with a sign that said "Tah Tah Haley" LOLOL. (The name of our riad was Dar Tah Tah and one of the girls in our group's name is Haley). So then we got to the riad which was an adventure just finding it. It was essentially the most dangerous maze i've ever been through. I was almost run over by 50 different mopeds. but the riad.. IT WAS SO NICE. Three floors, slept technically 12 people but if all of the couches were beds, you could easily sleep 20 in there. I'll have to show you pictures but even that wont do it justice. There were 8 of us in the riad the first night then 9 the second and then 10 the third and we each had our own bed and bathroom. This is all especially impressive when you consider the fact that total, for all 3 nights (with breakfast included!) I only paid 88 US dollars. INSANE. The other riad we could have gotten for the same price (but another SASer had already booked it) had free wifi and a pool. (We ended up going over there to snag some wifi).So basically that night we just ran around like crazy people exploring and then went to bed.
DAY 3: We arranged for a tour guide through the riad to go on a Berber village hike. The Berber villages alot more rural than Marrakesh. We went to a small village almost 3 hours away and got a little tour of their homes and all of their common stuff. EX: they all share one big oven. Also all of their stuff is water powered! Then we walked across this bridge that was essentially 2 pieces of cable with sticks layed across it. Then we went to another village with a waterfall. One of the most perilous hikes of all time. At one point we had to climb up a random dripping wet ladder casually resting against a slippery waterfall rock. We had to climb all the way til our feet were on the top rung and then a Berber man sticks out his hand for you to grab and he forces you to not die and be able to scratch/crawl the rest of the way. the whole 1.5-2 hr hike was pretty much like that and it also rained!! Which was so nice because I've only seeen rain 2 times this summer. Anyways, as deadly as the hike was - it was definitly worth it! After that we got lunch couscous and vegetables (all cooked) at a restaurant that the guide took us to. Remember this meal, it was my demise.
Then that night, we got internet at the neighboring riad. I use the term "neighboring" very loosely. For anyone that knows how bad at directions I am, this was quite a struggle but I didn't get lost once! (And sometimes I was even leading the group!) From the internet we were able to set up a meeting time to go get the girls that were on the 3 or 4 days camel trek through SAS. Then we found them with no problems!! The rest of the night we just hung out and played games. Marrakesh is not the city to go crazy. Especially during Ramadan (which for anyone that doesn't know is the Islamic fast that takes place for 30 days. They can only eat when the sun is down or something along that general time frame.)
DAY 4: Shopping! This day we went to a fixed priced market. Ah so many things and at such good prices and no one to harass you!! This was wonderful and I got all of my souvenir/gift shopping done (except for one thing which I got outside of the market because I knew I could find a better price!) Then we went to a grocery store to stock up on food and water since its sorta hard to come by in an Islamic country during Ramadan... and then we hit up the train station to get tickets for going home. This turned out to be tricky because everyone wanted first class because its the only way you're guarunteed a seat and we all had lots of bags. (On the way there our first class compartment was 4 of us girls in a 6 person thing that literally looked like we were going ot Hogwarts.) Anyways they ran out of first class but said they would be adding another train the next morning so we just had to get there early to get tickets. (A few of us ended up being very antsy about the situation once we got back to the riad so 4 of us decided we would just get to the station realllly early and get on the earlier train so that we didnt even have to worry about not making it back.)
That night we had a really nice dinner prepared by the Moroccan family that owns the riad (at a little extra charge). Dinner was sooo good. And then the fun started. So we were all having a good ol' time and then I didn't really feel so good. I thought I was just really full. Next thing I know BAM food poisoning all over the place. Couldn't keep water down for 36 hours. In that time, I spent the night in the riad and traveled all the way back to the boat. All the way through a 3.5 hour train ride and 2 taxis. it was awful. Haley got sick right befor we left the riad and then Abby got sick once we got back on the boat. SO BAD. I'm not 100% positive what it was, but the only thing that makes sense (based on who ate it and who got sick) is the couscous and vegetable dish from day 3. So yeah, never again.
Day 5 was essentially just traveling.
Other than the food poisoning, I had a wonderful time in Morocco and if anyone wants the contact for a cheap riad, I'll try and hook you up!
Now were back on the boat for about 6 more days (already been on for 2) and then on the 20th I'll be in Boston! Today I turned in my last graded assignments minus 2 finals. Yay!
Cya soon America!
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