Nine of us went to Morocco for a long weekend and it was life changing. There were countless fruitions of lifelong dreams that expanded my horizons as a steward of this earth and the universe. It was an unbelievably spiritual experience and so incredible to get back to the rudimentary world that is only read about in textbooks. Sometimes we would be walking down a street and proclaim out loud, almost as a verbal way of pinching ourselves, "Hey guys, wait. Do you realize we're in Africa!?" And everyone would just be grinning, digesting the surroundings. It was absolutely mind boggling to travel to the Sahara, ride camels, barter in marketplaces, and so much more.
Just off the plane making a deal with the cab driver to take us to our hotel
These are the names of the two city's we visited
This was our cab driver that called me his "beautiful Mexicana".haha He started to get a little creepy when all day he would talk about me being his wife. Dirty old man!!!
most of the buildings are white!....beautiful!
So we flew into Tangier, which is a main port town of Morocco. We stayed in a hotel on the beach within eyesight of the Iberian Peninsula across the Strait of Gibraltar (yes, it is really that close!) We shared 2 hotel rooms among the nine of us, which was funny and a great bonding experience. We were paranoid about them "catching" us, so we had to do rounds of walking out separately to different exits and meet up across the street on the boardwalk. Nevertheless, we succeeded!
View from our hotel room...SO LUCKY!!!
The people there are so kind and generous, and even though they are desperate for money from "rich" American tourists, one can't despise them. Whenever they annoyed us, I would have to take a step back and realize truly, I would be acting no different in their situation. How unbelievably blessed I am to be from the US and to have grown up the way I did.
A sweet store owner that dressed my up for a picture.haha
A little bit of what we experienced....
The cutest little boy, that def. knew how to work the tourists for money. His smile made me melt.:)
At the store where we bought our tunics. I really don't like things that crawl.haha...priceless...haha
Thursday we arrived and walked around the marketplaces, which was entrancing. Women sitting with their yard of cloth with their precious select herbs they had picked that day, or selling fresh chickens, fresh fruit or delicious ready-to-eat hotcakes with jam or honey, nuts and dried fruit. Later that day we went to a restaurant (where one of our new street vendor friends showed us to, literally walking us down the street and introducing us to the restaurant owner, and later making sure our experience was favorable- so kind) and had delicious bowls of cous cous with lamb. The meat, combined with the perfect ratio of spices and raisins was pure delectable heaven.
The markets!
Olive oil anyone??....
There were still some feathers on the eggs they were so fresh. Just a little too fresh for me!!haha
Our purchase of tunics and the store owners that became our buds.:)
In Morocco, I saw first-hand what literal devotion means. On Friday, the Muslim Sabbath, we were walking around in the streets when the call to prayer began. Markets promptly closed, and prayer rugs were rolled out. We walked up to the Medina and saw the town flooding out after their services were over, donned in their gorgeous tunics and wraps. It was a beautiful scene.
The Medina
On Saturday (from making a friend with a Moroccan taxi driver the day before), we got to take a tour of Tangier's wealthy area with the palaces where the royalty and oil lords vacation. Then we proceeded onto the lookout point where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. Then we RODE CAMELS, which was so euphoric in its archaic simplicity. I was just overcome laughing the entire time in that African sun. We wore our new Arabic tunics and wrapped our turbans and needless to say, our pictures are awesome. What a riot!
Then we took a tour of the Hercules caves, where the Turkish Berbers invaded from the north centuries ago. Then we visited a nearby town of Assilah (that has a Portuguese influence), where among other things I got a henna tattoo...although after the henna I wanted to get a real one.haha;)
Hercules caves!
Since Tangier is a port town (and actually what the movie Casablanca was based on, but the director changed the title), even what you would call "the commoners" know so many languages! We'd be walking down the street, and they'd be asking us what we speak- Arabic, German, Spanish, English, Japanese..."Whatever you want!" they'd proclaim. The best way to learn languages is to learn through others and to speak-what implications that has.
We love Flan!!:)
The fabrics, ornamentations and furniture are exquisitely stunning. We would talk about how much we wanted to one day own a house in Morocco just so we could furnish it with "this table, that rug"- such beautiful tapestries! At least, I'll definitely need to return so I can pick out things for my own home furnishings one day!
All in all, my Moroccan experience is one I will reflect on for the rest of my life! It was AMAZING!!!!
