Marrakech

Ok, here it is finally, sorry for the delay...I was not happy with the quality of the video blog that I shot for the trip so I am going to go ahead and do this one by hand.

Marrakech (yes it says it is a spelling error in the U.S. but here in Spain, this is how we spell it) was quite the adventure. The week leading up was relatively uneventful, just was getting back into the swing of classes. Thursday night we finally got all the guys together for the first time to go out for Indian food. Pitu had been on exchange in Wiesbaden, and some of the guys were in exams, so this was our first big reunion. The dinner was good as always, the owner Jalal had just come back from a month of vacations (probably thanks to Marc and My habit of going there once a week!) and we had a great meal as usual. By the time we were done with dinner it was about 1a.m. and we headed over to Pitu's house to hang out for a while. It takes about an hour to get there by metro and then car, so it already put us to about 2a.m. and the flight was at 6:30 a.m. so to be at the airport by 5:00a.m. there was not much reason to sleep. We all laughed and hung out until it was time to go.

I was not expecting many people at the airport at 5a.m. but goodness was I wrong. There was a huge line to get through security; luckily we still made it to the gate on time. We were some of the last people to board the plane, but we made it. Upon boarding the adventure began. Just as the last few passengers were getting on the plane, a fellow about 5 or 6 rows back from me started having an epileptic attack. It was one of the scariest things that I have ever seen. they made an announcement over the intercom to see if there were any doctors on board and a couple of fellow's jumped up and began helping him. The fellow that had the seizure appeared to be going home to Morocco, after a few minutes they carried him off the plane, and the other two or three people that were with him were yelling at the crew members and doctors helping him telling them to let him stay on, and it was not a big deal, it happens to him often! It was quite an exciting bit of time. It took more than 15 minutes for an ambulance to get to the plane and start helping him, which I would venture to guess is about double or triple what it would take in the U.S. Everything is slower in Spain I guess, for the good and bad.

After this whole ordeal we were delayed a total of about 1 hour. Finally in the air I was able to catch up on some ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ's that were much needed. Before long I was rudely awoken by the pilot speaking on the intercom. Apparently due to poor weather conditions below, we were put into a holding pattern, circling above Marrakech. An hour or so went by until I was awoken again by a frenzy of angry passengers after the pilot cam on a second time and told everyone that we would be landing in Agadir which was about 300km away. We landed in what was by far the smallest public airport I have ever been too. There were not even stairs to help you down from the planes; apparently even these big planes have stairs built into them! It took about a good 45 minutes for the Moroccan police to punch all of our information in by hand, and then it was another hour or so waiting for the buses to arrive to take everyone to Marrakech. The whole detour turned out to be a blessing in disguise, not only did we get to catch a few more hours of shut-eye on the way there, but we drove through the mountains and villages that we would not have seen otherwise. The approach to Marrakech reminded me a lot of poor areas of Mexico. It was very undeveloped with people washing clothes in the streams, kids walking around barefoot, and people riding donkey pulled carts. It was one of those eye opening experiences where you see how well we really have it. After being dropped off at the bus depot, we caught a taxi with a couple of other passengers from the bus trip to get to the main square(yes 5 people in a mini Taxi, Alvaro and I were intertwined in the front seat, as the other two passengers that shared the back with Marc were bigger!).

Upon arriving at the main square with some, but not enough rest, it was time to try to find the Hostel and then some food as we had not eaten anything all day and it was 4:30 pm by the time we arrived (yes 8:30 was the scheduled arrival, you do the math). Luckily, Marc had done some research and kind of knew how to get to the hostel because it was just through a small arch way and a big labyrinth in the middle of the city! We arrived and got checked in, grabbed quick showers and it was time for some chow. We went to a place that the guy at the front desk of the hostel recommended, or tried to at least. I am not sure that we made it exactly to the right place but it was really good none the less. We all had couscous with chicken and lamb. After the late lunch we began to wander. Going out from the main square there are a ton of different Souke's (groups of stores) that sell different things. One might sell spices, while another will sell animals or rugs, or clothes...anything you wanted you could find. After wandering aimlessly for a few hours we found ourselves deep in the labyrinth not exactly knowing where we were, or how to get out; just that we were the only foreigners and it was dark! After some wandering we made it out and back to the main square, heckled some shop keepers to get a feeling for how it worked and made our way back the hostel to take in the sights from the terrace while enjoying a mint tea. After relaxing for a little bit we wandered back out into the city to find some dinner. We went to the main square where about 40 or 50 vendors bring out and set up make shit restaurants that serve grilled meats, couscous and a variety of different wild things such as Goat Head. The first night we stuck to just the basic grilled skewers and vegetables and ate very well for about 6 Euros each after food, drink, tea and tip. After that we called it a night.

Being that Friday was cut short, we only had the day Saturday to do touristy things because we left early in the morning Sunday. We got up bright and early for breakfast at the hostel and were treated to Fresh squeezed orange juice, Crepes, and toast, not too shabby for $15 a night! Right after breakfast it was off to see the Madrasta, an old school in Marrakech that Marc had read about in the travel guide...Marc basically was the travel guide seeing as he was the only one that did any reading as about what to check out, I would have just wandered aimlessly the whole time! The Madrasta was breathe taking with the wood and tile work all over, to think that it was built so long ago, and yet still was so well kept intact and impressive was something else. Apparently, it was used until about the late 1950's. After the Madrasta it was off to ride some camels, or that was the plan at least. We got to the park that we were recommended and it was POURING down rain; apparently camels or their owners don't like to make money when there are silly tourists out in the rain!!! After failing to go for a camel ride we went back into town and had lunch in a little square outside the main hustle and bustle of the city. This was the best meal that we had the whole trip, Marc and I both had lamb couscous and Alvo had a meat sandwich of some sort. It was just a cool little spot and nice people.

Later in the afternoon we went to an old palace of one of the king's or rulers that I do not remember the name of. It was supposedly one of the most impressive palaces of its time, but it has since gone to ruins. The wild thing about going to the palace was that none of the ruins were roped off, we were able to walk around, touch and see whatever we wanted...there was not a single person there to tell you what to do or not to do. We wandered through the ruins that were underground and climbed across fallen down walls (pictures of all this to your right, up above a little bit). After doing the tourist thing all morning we were worn down and ready to kick up the feet for a little relaxing. We hung out on the covered patio of the hostel, out of the rain and ended up meeting a group of really cool people. We met 4 girls, 3 from the states and one from New Zealand, if I recall correctly it was Margaux, Eileen, Lucy, and Vanessa. Two of them were working in France as English teachers, and the other two were studying abroad in France. We spent the afternoon talking, and telling stories and that evening we all hit the town for some dinner. We went to a little restaurant that Margaux and Eileen had been to already that was really good. We all had couscous and I took out my culinary desires on everyone! I ordered a serving of goat's head to try! It was something that I was really quite unsure about eating so I figured I would order some as a side and make everyone join me! Unbelievably EVERYONE ended up trying it! Yes there is a video...and it really was not as gnarly as I was expecting it to be, I think I ate both some cheeks, or other meaty part and I also had some of the brains. the last thing on the list of things to do was to buy some typical clothes from the Souke's. I ended up buying a Jalapa, and a Head Wrap, and also a few typical hats. After the shopping, heckling and heckling was over it was back to the hostel where we all hung and chatted for a bit more before calling it a night.

Luckily, the flight back was much smoother than the flight to get there. I slept again for 90% of the trip and we made it to Madrid ahead of schedule. Just a for fun side note, this was the first time that my Portuguese Passport was stamped...the trip to Morocco that I am sure I will never forget.

Well, it might not have been as fun as the video blog, but I have not mastered it yet, and was not willing to put up some super poor quality product so I leave you with this. I hope you all enjoyed, and this finds everyone doing very well.

Much Love Always,

Phil



P.S. Strange fact that is useless to everyone but interesting to some, maybe like my momma! Lots of my memories from this trip were in Spanish, so I had to translate them to put them down! I think this is a good thing, means I am learning the language and thinking in it!