So after 5 and a half weeks in España, I have made it back to the United States safe and sound. Even though I am now currently home, this blog has been my so-called online journal of my travels. My last week in España encompassed everything but sleep and free time, so I have not had the time to update my travels. So I guess now is a better time than ever!
My last weekend abroad 4 of my closest friends and I decided to travel to Marrakesh, Morocco. We had booked our flights, train tickets, hostel, and day trip. After packing and taking our Final Exam in our Spanish Art/Culture Class, we took the Metro to the Valencia Airport around 4 pm Thursday afternoon. We arrived at the airport early, but it was well worth it, because we weren’t aware that our cheap RyanAir flight at 7:10 pm that night wouldn’t have assigned seats. So it was a battle to get in line and to claim the seats that we wanted. We flew for about 2 hours and landed in Marrakesh, Morocco around 9 pm (Moroccan time) that night. This city seemed like a foreign world to all of us. There is an hour time difference between Spain and Morocco time, as Marrakesh, Morocco was an hour earlier. The taxi drivers at the Marrakesh Airport were excessively begging us to ride with them to our destination. But we strayed away from them and took the bus instead to the main plaza in the city – Jamma el Fna Plaza – as our hostel was off a main road that lead into the main plaza. But the plaza at night is filled with many people and smoke, making it difficult to read signs, etc. And we quickly learned that in Morocco the only traffic policy is “every man for himself,” as there were no traffic lights or crosswalks. We were stressed, scared, and just wanted to find where we would be staying for the next few days. With little to no one speaking English or Spanish, we were faced with a bit of a communication barrier. But we luckily found a café that was on the main road that our hostel was off of, and after venturing down what seemed like a sketchy alley, we found our Hostel – Amour d’Auberge. To us, all of the difficulties that we faced did not even matter, because we were in a different continent – we were in AFRICA. We settled in, and we quickly fell asleep in our new beds.
On Friday morning, we woke up early, as we had to meet at the Office of Moroccan Views at 9 am for our day excursion to Ourika Valley on the outskirts of Marrakesh. Only 2 of my friends and I did this day trip, as our other 2 friends ventured into the desert for a two day, one night trek. Their office was right outside of the main plaza, and it did not take us long to find it. The other 3 people that were supposed to be on the day trip with us that day cancelled, so we basically had a private tour of Ourika Valley with our guide, who thankfully spoke English. Our first stop along the excursion was to a Berber house in the Berber Villages. These people actually do not speak Arabic and the other Moroccan languages, but instead, they speak Berber, as you could probably tell from their name.
“Wikipedia says that the Berber people are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River.”
We were able to tour a traditional Berber house, as a Berber lady made us the customary mint tea of Morocco. The Berber people live a very “old-fashioned lifestyle” in clay houses in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. We were also served Moroccan breakfast, which consisted of homemade bread with homemade butter, honey, and olive oil.
The Berber house that we visited.
Berber families have cows that live inside their houses that they use for milk and other things.
A traditional Berber kitchen.
In front of the Atlas Mountains.
Learning how to make the customary Moroccan Mint Tea.
Our traditional Moroccan breakfast.
Trying the Mint Tea.
After thanking the lady in the Arabic language by saying “Shukran,” which she understood, we were off to our next stop – riding camels.
We pulled off to the side of the road and encountered the camels that we were about to ride. I thought that I was the lucky one, as I was able to ride this beautiful white camel. Riding a camel was definitely not like riding a horse, since their backs are not completely flat. It was a little bumpy ride, but it was so amazing as you are so high up! They are really incredible creatures, and it was a once in a lifetime memory that we were able to ride through part of the Atlas Mountains on camels!
We briefly stopped at a restaurant to make reservations for lunch, and we continued into the mountains to Ourika Valley. We entered the main town, where the markets could be found and crossed the Ourika River using rocks and small wooden bridges. Then, we started our trek up the Atlas Mountains to the main attraction – a beautiful waterfall. We had to basically scale the side of the mountain to eventually reach the waterfall at the top. After enjoying the lovely scenery of the Atlas Mountains and the Ourika Valley Waterfall, we climbed back down to the bottom. We again walked through the small town and crossed swinging bridges, etc. to capture lovely pictures of the mountains. After getting back into our van, we continued down the road to our lunch stop, where we ate outside on a deck overlooking the Atlas Mountains. We were told not to eat certain Moroccan foods, as they would make us sick, but since our lunch was complimentary, we decided that it wouldn’t hurt to try some of the traditional Moroccan dishes. On our way out of Ourika Valley, we quickly stopped at a house where cooking oil and oil for body and beauty products were made. We admired the work of the women, as they cracked the different nuts used to produce each type of oil. At the end of our visit, we were given the opportunity of smelling the different beauty and body oils used for shampoos, lotions, lip balms, face creams, etc. Our day excursion was over, and we were dropped off in the Jamma el Fna Plaza.
They use the waterfall water to cool the oranges and drinks on the mountain!
In front of the Atlas Mountains.
At the restaurant for lunch overlooking the Atlas Mountains.
Our traditional Moroccan meal.
The view from the restaurant.
Learning about the different types of oils.
After our long day, we went back to our hostel for a little nap. We had the opportunity to meet other travelers staying in our hostel, and we quickly grabbed muffins and snacks as our dinner at a little market on our street. We showered, and our day was done.
Saturday morning we decided to sleep in a little bit, since we did not have any huge plans for the day. We were able to eat the complimentary breakfast served by our hostel, which was bread and a crepe with butter or orange jelly along with orange juice, mint tea, and coffee. It was a lot more than we were expecting. After getting ready for the day, we ventured out to El Badi Palace and El Bahia Palace. They weren’t too beautiful from the outside, and we didn’t have the opportunity to go inside. But we just wanted to explore the city of Marrakesh for a little bit. And after walking around in the dangerous streets surrounded by motorbikes, bicycles, cars, horses and carriages, etc., we decided to make our way back to the main plaza. It was now time to shop! Since everything was so cheap in Morocco, you can bargain for almost anything. The taxicabs do not even have meters, as you bargain for the price of your ride. The markets are in the Jamma el Fna Plaza, and they are called the Souks. They consist of small streets covered with shops that intertwine and connect. It’s definitely easy to get lost! We were able to bargain for little trinkets and gifts, and we ended up paying like nothing for them, because the currency exchange is around 10 Moroccan Dirhams to 1 Euro. After the exhaustion of shopping, we grabbed a late lunch, and we made sure that it was something that we could eat. We found a little café that had a menu in English. We each had a Panini and French Fries. After lunch, we returned to our hostel for some rest and relaxation. Our 2 friends returned that spent the night in the desert, and we later went out for a quick dinner with them. Our next step was to pack, shower, and get ready to wake up early, because our flight in the morning was at 8 am. We were out of our hostel at 5:30 in the morning, and on our way to get a taxi to the Marrakesh Airport for our long journey home.
El Bahia Palace
The main roads in Morocco.
The Souks (Markets) in Marrakesh
Jamma el Fna Plaza
Lunch in the plaza.
Since there was no flight available from Marrakesh, Morocco to Valencia, Spain on Sunday, we took the flight from Marrakesh to Madrid. Our flight out of Morocco was a little delayed, but we still had plenty of time before our train ride back to Valencia. We landed in Madrid and took a bus from the airport to the Atocha Train Station in Madrid. Once we arrived there, we ate lunch at our favorite restaurant Cien Montaditos and went all out by stopping at the McDonalds next door to have McFlurrys for dessert as well. We made our way back to the Atocha Train Station to print tickets and to find our train. Little did we know that we had to take a smaller train to a train station right outside of Madrid to catch our train to Valencia. This was pure chaos. We were never 100% sure if the person that we were talking to was leading us in the right direction. Especially, when each employee that we talked to seemed to tell us the information a little differently. But we decided to trust one of them, and we arrived at a smaller train station outside of Madrid, which happened to be the train station that we needed to be at to take our train to Valencia. Ironically, we actually ran into another student in our ISA-Valencia program that was taking the same train back to Valencia. Well, we got on the train and awaited the 6-hour journey back to Valencia. We arrived in Valencia around 10 pm that night. We took a bus from the San Isdre Train Station, which happened to be on the outskirts of Valencia. Once we got to the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, we each went our separate ways back to our Host Homes. I arrived to my Host Home around 11 pm that night, and after a very long day of traveling, it was time for bed.
Our Theme Song for the entire trip was “Waka Waka” by Shakira, which was the FIFA 2010 Official Anthem.
“Waka Waka eh eh,
Tsamina mina zangalewa,
This time for Africa”
