Tag: Traveling

Weekend Adventure #3

Crowded Buses. Tents. Camels. Read on…

After class on Thursday we went to the train station and got tickets to Meknes. The train had little compartments just like Harry Potter!! Some old guys were amused by my Beginning Arabic textbook. Three hours later, we arrived in Meknes (around 4PM) and got bus tickets to Rissani… the bus didn’t leave until 10PM so we had somet time to kill. We’d heard good things about Meknes but didn’t see them while we were there. Searched in vain for a restaurant for about an hour… it was so hot we gave up and stumbled into the first place we saw, which was a bar. A note about bars in Islamic countries… technically Muslims aren’t supposed to drink, so the whole bar scene is on the down-low. They have very dark and small windows and usually some kind of curtain in the doorway so passers-by can’t see in. We asked if they had food; they did! We were guided to a room in the back with nicely set tables–it was so bizzare, like being in a speakeasy–and we got a LOT of great food for a supremely cheap price. It was awesome. Above all, they let us stay there for hours on end, escaping the heat in our dark and cool refuge. Oh, and they had plates with Christmas trees on them. Irony?

We took a night bus to our destination, which is the best way to do it because, I don’t know how much you’ve heard about deserts, but they are HOT. Even an air-conditioned bus is not pleasant during the day. It was impossible to sleep on the bus, but at least most of the other passengers were asleep so it was quiet. Eight hours later we arrived in Rissani, where we were promptly accosted by several tour guides who wanted to take us to their auberge. We were kind of skeptical but also supremely tired so we threw up our hands and went with them. Arriving at the auberge, they gave us hot tea and breakfast and gave us a few minutes to relax. We then discussed the price. Luckily, we had met two Canadian brothers on the bus who had come to the auberge with us, and thus we had a group with five people in it. This was a GREAT bargaining chip to get them to come down on the price. Brynn amazed us all by driving a hard bargain–in Arabic–and we eventually wound up with a one-night camel trek, sandboard included, plus accomodations at the auberge for 475 DH each, down from 700 each. Wow!

We slept all day in the beds provided at the auberge. Or at least tried to. It was over 110 degrees! Later at 6pm, after the worst of the days heat had passed, we set out on our journey!

It was AWESOME.
It was AWESOME.

After two hours on camel (rather tiring) we arrived at our camp, sandboarded a little (which is just what it sounds like… strap on a snowboard and head down the sand) and then our guide prepared us some dinner. Which may or may not have been gazelle meat.

Then we attempted to sleep under the stars, which were AMAZING out in the desert with no light pollution, but I woke up at about 3AM with a mouthful of sand and discovered that the fierce winds had all but buried us. Noticing that the Canadians had moved into a tent, I too moved inside, where it was uncomfortably warm but I wasn’t being pelted by sand. Pete and Brynn lasted all night in the sand.

Also, we asked the guides if we should be worried about scoripions (there were cats out there in the tents–5km into the desert–they said it was to catch scorpions), and he half-joked that scorpions weren’t a problem but to watch out for the Algerians [ongoing border disptue]! Thanks for being reassuring, guys.

The next morning we camel trekked two hours back to the auberge–I discovered bruises I had previously been unaware of and we had breakfast and a SHOWER. I think I brought home half the Sahara in my hair. Then they brought us back to Rissani where we caught a bus directly to Rabat–much better than changing in Meknes–and we arrived in Rabat at 5AM. I felt bad for my host dad who came and picked us up, and only in part because I smelled like three days in the desert and camel. Phewwwww.

As always, check the facebook and flickr for more photos.

Also, I have created a new section on the site called “Your Turn” where I put info about places I’ve stayed and services I’ve used just in case you want to do this kind of trip yourself.

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.

Journey to Morocco: Part Two

Okay so where did I leave off–Madrid?

Flight three: Madrid to Casablanca: So, nice, finally I get a window seat, for the shortest leg of the journey–just an hour and a half. I tried to nap and I think i may have succeeded…. at this point the whole thing was a blur. I woke up in time to see us cross from Europe to Africa, seeing the familiar geography from the plane was actually really thrilling. At that point I thought we were close to landing but I was wrong–we flew over Morocco for what seemed like forever.

Casablanca: cut to Staci standing in line at the passport-checker-place (I am so tired right now the correct term is escaping me) FREAKING OUT because of an irrational fear that they for some reason wouldn’t let me in the country and I would just have to turn right around. My worries were exacerbated by the fact that the guy in front of me was getting hassled for some reason or another. Luckily there were no problems, I found my baggage, and I stepped out where someone from CIEE was supposed to be waiting for me–right? Wrong, nobody was there–no sign with my name on it, no nothing. I sat around and tried to look conspicuously lost and American in case someone decided to help me but no such luck. I made a couple laps around the terminal, changed a little bit of money, and sat some more. Like half an hour later (I thought waiting 30 min was a good amount of time) I bought a phone card and called the emergency contact for the program.
An English-speaking, chain smoking Moroccan guy (worked for the phone card place, I think–or was just friends with the guy at the phone card place) was SUPER helpful and without his help I might have lost it. Anyway long story short I got picked up, the CIEE guy had been waiting for me at the wrong terminal. I guess my plane got in at an unexpected gate.

Casablanca to Rabat: I got here by car, it took like an hour but really I dozed for a large part of the journey. I was awake enough to notice that Morocco is just as flat as Kansas and just as hot as Temecula. I also saw a ton of donkeys just chillin wherever they thought would be a good place to be. The houses and buildings along the road were actually pretty rustic, falling apart and whatnot, but I did see a lot of satellite dishes (for TV) the closer we got to Rabat. FINALLY I got to Rabat, checked into the hotel, called the parents and got some SLEEP!!