Oh the places I've been, the things I've seen....how do I even begin to describe them to you
I guess I'll just have to start from the beginning
The Route: Ifrane, Azrou, Midelt, Erfoud, Merzouga, Erb Cheggi Dunes, Rissani, Nekob, Ouarzazate, Atlas Mountains, Marrakech, Essaouria
Left Rabat early Saturday morning for Ifrane, a small resort town in the Middle Atlas mountains that is home to the Al Akhawayn University, which is modeled after the American system and everything is in English. Being in the mountains, it felt like Fall. It was windy, gray, and chilly and it basically felt like I was back on a small college campus in the US. What a drastic change from Rabat, and everywhere else I've been these past months.
We got a tour there, and had lunch there (which was not so tasty) and then got back onto the bus to stop in Azrou, which is apparently the oldest town in the Middle Atlas Mountains. It was cute and funky, we got some tea to warm us up and prepare us for another bus ride and the Cedar Forest, which was absolutely stunning....i love trees (and i showed them my love by hugging them, yes i hugged some trees)
Also saw the famous Barbary apes there, which was pretty cool.
Stayed the night in Midelt at a BEAUTIFUL hotel where I shared a HUGE room with Drew. First night away from Rabat/of the excursion so we all enjoyed ourselves with wine during and after dinner. I don't think I've laughed so much here yet.
Breakfast the next morning was a sight to be seen.....eggs, so much chobz, raif, dates, fruit, cookies, donuts, stuffed raif that tasted like indian food and MORE.
Ate and boarded the bus for a LOONNNG and windy bus ride through the mountains. the mountains, i cannot even begin to describe. So big, so vast, stretching in every direction. Lunch in Rissani before getting into land rovers to go to the desert for the night. Lunch was great....well the salad appetizers were great. Lentils, beans, pepper-tomato dip, squash dip and hearty chobz yumm. "Moroccan Pizza" for the main course which was weird but good, just chobz stuffed with mashed up veggies
Land Rover ride not so fun since I didnt enjoy the people I was sharing it with but I was too giddy to be completely miserable. Got to our hotel in the dunes and rode camels to the top to watch the sunset. Words honestly cannot describe what I saw and how I felt the entire time, it was just too spectacular. The whole time I was thinking "this is not real, am I really in the African desert right now??!?!"
Dinner that night was......absolutely incredible, i love the south....so much flavor!!!
So after getting back from the camel trek, my friends and I went out under the stars and had a little fun with my sipsi before going to dinner. At dinner we enjoyed a gnawa (type of music) musical performance and the exact types of food my fresh vegetable deprived body has been craving. So many types of salads, beets, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, lentils and so much more. I had maybe three heaping plates full, it was AWESOME
the next morning I woke up at 4:30 to climb to the highest dune and watch the sun rise. it was so cold and dark when we woke up (i was miserable) climbing to the top was not an easy trek (especially after all this chobz eating) but I managed it and i am so glad i did. literally there was no sun and then it was just there, a huge ball of fire. watching the sun come over the horizon and begin to warm the cold sand (and my body) reaffirmed my choice in coming to this place.
Climbing (or sliding) back down was fun and we were rewarded with warm backs and a breakfast feast once we made it to the hotel (raif, dates, olive oil, honey, jams, etc)
Packed up and took the land rovers back to Rissani...this time my car was full of people I liked so all was well. Walked around there for a little (bought some things) and then loaded onto the bus to travel to Nekob, which is somewhere in the Draa Valley I believe. Everything was beautifully styled after Kasbahs and the hotel/organization we ate at was so peaceful and pretty. Not hungry but the food we had was wonderful....a communal appetizer plate that included rice, eggplant, onions, peppers and squash. Then a special veggie tagine for me, but it actually had lots of flavor so that was a great change.
Climbed BACK onto the bus and wound through the mountains for a few more hours until we reached Ouarzazate, which is called the "Hollywood of Morocco" on account of a zillion movies (Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, etc) being filmed there. We stayed the night at a dorm for girls who come from villages in the Atlas mountains to attend school. We put our stuff down there and then walked aound and explored the city a little before coming back for dinner. Typical Moroccan dinner: Harira (soup) and cous cous, which we enjoyed with the girls. At this point I could barely keep my eyes open so dinner was a little painful but cool that we tried, and somewhat managed to communicate with the girls. After presentations, dinner, and a little music I climbed into my bunk bed and went to SLEEP.
Left the next morning around 8. Longest bus ride ever through the mountains. I slept alot but managed to stay awake for some of the more spectacular parts, such as the highest point in the Middle Atlas where you can see the Snow of the High Atlas off in the distance.
After what seemed like forever we made it out of the mountains onto flat land aka SO CLOSE TO MARRAKECH
First impressions: flat, clean, wide streets, deserty feeling but still GREEN....big city, verrry organized
Got to our hotel, put our stuff down and had lunch (more salad like stuffs!) showered (finally) relaxed a little and then out to explore! Walked to the main square (Jeema El Fna) where we enjoyed fresh squeezed orange-grapefruit juice from one of the many carts and watched the scene. And what a scene it was....so many nuts and dried fruit stands, orange juice stands, musicians, magicians, snake charmers, ladies doing henna.....it was like walking into a carnival.
We wandered around the souks for a little in search of a cafe we had read about in a guidebook, foound it in the spice souk....got spiced tea (others got spice coffee, cinnamon tea...yum)
managed to find our way back to the main square where, with the setting of the sun, everything had totally changed. Now food stalls created little streets and smoke and scents of food cooking poured through the air. As we walked through the rows, men tried in everyway to make us eat at their booths. We chose number 97 after much debate, and we were NOT dissapointed. salsa-like dip, olive/chili dip, olives, and chobz greeted us as we sat down. After chowing down we ordered kebobs, and various salads...i ate the salads which were very tasty. Got this special tea (made of soo many spices) after dinner at another stand, which though slightly spicy i really enjoyed.
Walked back to the hotel, put our new purchases down and went to a a seedy local bar Point Rouge. Cheap beers, drunk locals, band + singer....very entertaining. When it started closing for the night we hopped into a taxi and went to Le Theatro (a night club) where it happened to be ladies night aka no cover for me or my girls and a free drink. It was so much fun, we drank, danced, and went wild. At one point there was a little cirque du Soleil esque act that went on, the bar was lit on fire, and every time a VIP guest ordered a drink they had sparklers.
Haggled intensely with the taxi drivers (and not for the last time on this trip) and finally got the price down enough that we were satisfied with our bargaining skills. Oh to be drunk in Morocco.
The next day...still in Marrakech. We left the hotel around 11, picked up snacks/breakfast and walked to les Jardins Majorelle, where we snuck a picnic and wandered through the beautiful pathways with what felt like a million other tourists.
After leaving there we walked through a junk yard/flea market, various souks and the streets of the medina before visting various museums. LOTS of walking today.
Back to the main square for a quick snack (of course) of nuts and juice before beginning our search for the Earth Cafe, a vegan restaurant in the medina......
SUCCESS.
Signs leading up to the turn began the excitement. The warm smell of cooking garlic that wafted up my nose as I stepped through the little blue door made my heart pound. "Veggie burger, spring rolls, rice and lentils...." Reading the words on the menu made my mouth water. My eyes lit up when my veggie burger was set in front of me....essentially a potato patty resting gently onto of a mountain of lightly sauteed veggies. I took a tentative first bite, and then dug in....only slowing down to take forkfuls of my friends dishes.
Talk about satisfying your soul.
Returned to Point Rouge again, then hit up ClUb Silver, which was a total bust, and then Pacha, the biggest club in Africa with the best sound system.....that was COMPLETELY EMPTY.....which was fine, we danced alone.
Bargained like it was our job to get a taxi back to the hotel where I layed down and immediately fell asleep.
Up at 7:30 to take the bus to Essaouria, with a quick stop at a Women's Argan Cooperative's Shop to listen to a presentation and sample some goods (very tasty)
Lunch at Chez Sam on the port in Essaouria, not good and went on entirely too long. Drama with our hotel so we had to move but I finally managed to make it to the beach where I read my book and relaxed all alone....ahh peace and quiet.
Met back up with friends and watched the sunset from a rooftop terrace, then went to meet our group for dinner which was also not so great BUUUT it was in a square that was also home to 3 veggie restaurants....where we were patrons the following evening (keep reading for more info on THAT amazing meal)
SIT left the next morning but I stayed with six friends. Moved our stuff to a different hotel (in the medina) and went to lounge on the beach. After being hassled there quite a bit we went on a very successful search for a Mexican restaurant Max had stumbled upon the day before.
Owned by a British couple, the restaurant wasn't all it's name said it was, but DELICIOUS none the less. Got chili which was not soup but rather beans and veggies cooked in tomato, chili flavors and served with rice and salad. Finished up lunch with delicious homemade deserts....banana bread, scones, chocolate torte yuuuuum I was in food heaven
Got the owners info in case we come back during ISP and want to rent an apartment
Walked around a little shopping (had tea with a shoe salesmen who I bought a pair of sandals from) before stopping briefly at the hotel, changing, and heading out again to search for a place that served alcohol. You are probably thinking SOO MUCH DRINKING AMIEL! and in a Muslim Country too....but hey we were on vacation and wanted to treat ourselves.
Got some bottles of wine at a bar like place, which we drank fairly quickly to make it to dinner at the veggie restaurants we had seen the night before
What an experience. Somehow asked the waiter if they had wine, which because they were not licenseed they did not but he said he could get someone to bring some if we kept it covered up under the table...we agreed.
After stuffing ourselves with delicious food and mediocre wine we proceeded to have a drum circle with our waiter and other restaurant staff and share a lovely pot of tea with them.
Group Consensus: We love Essauria, most definitly coming back during ISP
Woke up early the next morning to try to catch the bus back to Marrakech so I could meet up with Lindsey (known form here on out as LSR). First bus we tried was full, so we started to leave to try another station when a lady called us back and suggested we take a mini bus that would be 60 dh instead of the 70 we were orignially going to pay....of course we agreed. The driver got there and told us NO it was actualy 100 dh. we said no and started to leave again, he said okay okay fine 70....we agreed.
By this point I was NOT a happy camper. Had totally hit my wall, exhausted, anxious to see LSR and just not in a good mood.
THe driver sucked, it took us so long to get there and when we did we paid him the 500 dh agreed upon. He FREAKED out, threw Grace's backpack back into the van and started saying we owed him 700 dh (100 each) and yelling stuff about the police, who WE went and got and they told us that the driver was right, a mini bus ALWAYS is 100 dh per person (its the law). FUcking snake of a driver, we were PISSED.
oh well, at least we were in Marrakech and that much closer to finally seeing LSR.
Found a hotel, wine (to drown our frustrations away) and made it to the Earth Cafe for round two. These three things may seem easy but they were not...I won't go into the little frustrations that make Moroccans drive me nuts.
wonderful lunch/5 pm meal, sunset on the roof of the hotel and LSR in the square!!!!!!!!!!
what a wonderful reunion....
walked around shopping and catching up etc until we got hungry again and chose a food booth to eat at.
Finished the last bottle of wine at her hostel before saying goodbye heading back to ours. A wonderful afternoon and evening to counter the terrible morning....typical Morocco
Train the next day back to Rabat where I spent the late afternoon into the evening at the train station attempting to catch up on internet responsibilities.
This week was wonderful (how many times have I used that in this post? WAAAy too many, but i'm at a loss for other adjectives)
groovy people, incredible sights and activities, loooong bus rides, trying experiences, travel woes, friends from home.....and sunshine, good food, and wine (among other substances) to go along with iit
Activity packed week, I'm exhausted and have been up since 7:30 am (back to Arabic three hours a day woohoo) but I'm not planning on going anywhere this weekend so hopefully I'll get some rest then before starting my ISP traveling, researching and paper writing!
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