Category: On the Road

Paella. Believe the Hype.

Spain was, in short, glorious.

After a morning of Arabic (I was the only one who had class Friday which made it even lamer) and a four-hour, sweaty bus ride to Tangiers (a place that would merit its own weekend excursion, actually), we got a taxi to the port and took a ferry across to Tarifa. The orginal plan was to continue on to a city called Algeceiras but by that time it was 8:45 and the last bus to Algecerias was leaving at 9. (There is a weird time zone change from Morocco to Spain).

So, throwing out the idea of Algeciras, we asked the people working in the cafe for a hotel (not hostel) recommendation and they gave us some directions. Upon arriving we found the hotel clean and adorable. And only 100 Euro for all three of us for two nights! I’m not sure if that’s a good rate but sounded reasonable to me–a little over 15, each, per night. After putting our stuff down (I love that I packed the lightest out of us three–even lighter than the guy in our group) we went out and got dinner in a cafe. Brynn and Pete took every opportunity to drink something alcoholic–drinking in public (even at a cafe) is severely looked down on in Morocco. Those two sure can put it away.

The next day we slept in until “ten” (really nine, Morocco time) and went to the beach until around one or two. I had to buy a towel since I completely forgot to bring one with me… across the Atlantic… at all! Haha. Now I have a cheapo towel to remember Spain by. Its pretty at least. I was very careful not to get sun burned and it was delightful. Even though its seperated from Morocco by only a little bit of water (one could actually see Morocco from the beach) it was so much less humid and several degrees cooler. When we’d had enough sun we went back to town to do some shopping but realized that all the stores were totally closed until like 5pm for the siesta. So that was a bust. We went back to the hotel and napped. After our nap we ate at a pretty nice restaurant, then did some window shopping and finished up the evening with dinner.

To your left, a handsome young man. To your right, um... not so much.
To your left, a handsome young man. To your right, um... not so much.

Since we were in Spain but we weren’t really going to any historic sites or anything we took the opportunity to delight our tastebuds in hyped Spanish foods–namely, tapas and paella. First off, tapas. OVERRATED. Don’t bother. They give you what looks like potato salad and put it on  bread and expect that to be your meal. First off they totally skimped on the bread so half of our tapas went uneaten. Secondly, the stuff we chose didn’t really taste that good. After the disappointement of the tapas, we were delighted when the paella was brought out and it was ~delectable~ even though it contained all manner of questionable seafood. Steering clear of anything that wasn’t chicken, fish, or those small shrimp I’ve had before, I scarfed my portion of paella in no time. I am determined to learn how to cook it when I get home.

Yummmmmmm.....
Yummmmmmm.....

The weekend ended far too quickly. Being in Europe reminded me what its like to eat with a knife and fork, and how lovely it is when people follow traffic laws.

Other notable moments included a crazy Spanish bachelorette party at a club we went to, Pete being convinced the flamenco dancer outside the restaurant we ate at was a tranny, and wearing a tank top the entire time I was there.

Weekend Trip #1

So, I’m the only one that has school tomorrow morning, and really I’m not sure why I do and the others don’t… but I’m not asking questions because I want to get full credit… so yeah. I’m bringing my bag with me to school in the morning and the others are meeting me at 12 after I get out of class and we’re heading over to the train station. I’m taking a train! How exciting, right?

Now readers, you know I’m just stringing you along, because the train may be part of the trip but you clearly don’t know the destination yet. So, our train ride should be a few hours, and we’ll get into Tangiers (the top, pointy part of morocco where the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean meet) around like six PM…

Then…. we’re going to take a ferry to SPAIN! That’s right, sail across the glorious Strait of Gibraltar and spend a day basking in the delightful sun of l’Espana! I mean, we’re only going to be there for a day, it will probably be pretty similar to Morocco… and its going to be ungodly expensive compared to our past two weeks but… you know what… I get to add another country to my map!  I’m excited. I want to buy a souvenir with a bull on it or something :D

I’ve never done something this spontaneous… I mean there was that spontaneous trip to Las Vegas, but I definitely had a place to stay when I got there. We have no place to stay so this should be rather interesting! Adventure, right?

That said, I’m leaving my computer at home so it doesn’t get stolen on our journey. So I will be incommunicado until Sunday evening. :) Leave me lots of lovely commentsto read and smile at when I get back! Hopefully I’ll come back with an interesting story or gorgeous pictures!

Note that the #1 in the title implies that there will be subsequent weekend trips! Probably not to other countries but hopefully just as exciting :)

Lack of Update

I really don’t want to miss a day of updating, but I always feel lame and cheap if I just put something (such as this) so as to “update” with my lack of anything to say.

Today for class we went to the archaeological museum, which had a lot of interesting things but kind of seemed like it’d been built in the 1970s and not updated since. Not that I was around in the 70s. But I guess I’ve gotten spoiled by going to really cool museums in the US that are all about fancy lighting and laser security systems and two inch thick glass and stuff. I mean there were these skeletons, a couple of the earliest complete skeletons found in the region, and if I had a mind to I could have reached down into the enclosure and touch them. Obviously this was out of the question, but a layer of vaccuum-sealed 2 inch glass would have made it even more out of the question.

I most certainly was not supposed to take this picture. Sneaky sneaky, flash set to "off!"
I most certainly was not supposed to take this picture. Sneaky sneaky, flash set to "off!"

The thing I found most interesting about the museum was the huge quantity of Roman artifacts found in all corners of Rabat. It really drove home to me how wide the span and influence of the Roman Empire really had been. I mean, you think about it in Europe and it sounds normal enough. Famous stories of Romans in Egypt, sure. Israel? Of course. But Morocco? More surprising and interesting, I think.