After a 12 day break from classes and 12 days of exploring new countries! I am back on the boat safe and sound. As you read before Spain was amazing, but things just keep getting better. Morocco is kind of not describable. It was absolutely amazing. I said to everyone I don’t think words can describe this country, but I will do my best for you guys.
We arrived in Morocco a day early because the captain changed where we were going to get fuel. So we arrived on the 9th to Casablanca Morocco. The morning we arrived we had our Cultrual and Logistical Pre-port which is what can I say FUN! Haha not really but you learn about the do’s and don’ts and what to expect in the country. After that it was time to get off the boat. When I walked off the boat we were like a ship yard so I said oh this won’t be that different. WELL I was wrong. When we got to the port entrance where the bus dropped us off , we walked through the gates and it was like no other. The way people dressed, the smell, the way people drive, everything was different. I knew everyone was going to dress a certain way because we attempted to dress like them in a way to be respectful. ( meaning no cleavage ,knees covered , no shoulders showing). The crew of the ship slightly scared us because of the fact we were in an Arab country for 9/11. There was a national warning out because of the man in Florida that was going to burn Quar’ans. I hated that guy because he obviously wasn’t thinking about others. But everything ended up being fine and honestly everyone was really nice to us. Even though we tried to blend in everyone obviousy knew we weren’t from around here. We went and exchanged our money and then headed off to eat some lunch. This was difficult because it was the end of Ramadan. We went in and the people who owned the restaurant were amazing to us. I tried Lemon Chicken Taijine which was very very good. After we finished lunched we desided to go to the Souks (market) to look around. We didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into.
Walking into the Souk there was everything you could imagine for sale. I would compare it to a flea market at home except way better. There was jewelry, shoes, clothes, purses, and so much more. We all looked around people bought things but a lot of us were scared to barter we didn’t really know how. We were walking through the food part of the Souk and that’s when it got really scary. Kayla and I had put our water bottles inside a backpack as well as some napkins ( since they don’t believe in Toliet paper) and a couple other things. Nothing valuable. As we were walking through the busiest part of the Souk ( mind you there were 11 of us I believe) All of the sudden I feel my bad being pulled. I turn around and rip it out of a ladies hand and instantly got extremely scared. Kayla and Mackenzie were pushing her away. All of the sudden her husband who spoke English unlike her walked up to the boys and said my wife was just trying to tell her to put her bag on the front of her ( that’s a lie because why would she grab my bag) then he said I lived in New York blah blah a bunch of lies. As I was scared out of my mind I said thanks and moved along. We thought about it and realized that was a cover up because the way she handled telling me that was not the right way.
After that I was pretty scared and part of me wanted to say screw this I’m going back to the boat. But I didn’t I just stayed with the boys near and went along with my day. People trying to sell us stuff left and right. I saw a ring I fell in love with and guess what .. it had a green stone in it ( big surprise) so I decided to get it but didn’t barder much or at all. He said 40 dirhum and I said okay. After that I was about ready to just head back to the ship for dinner and stay in for the night. They said night life here was different but I opted out of experiencing it because I just had an uneasy feeling. The next morning we woke up and tried to go back out to the market but it was the end of Ramadan so everything was closed. We headed back to the boat and then we went on a City Orientation that was run by SAS. It was very interesting the places they took us. We saw the kings palace ( the outside) and went and saw the Mosque which was also very interesting. After the city orientation was over we just went back to the boat ate dinner and hung out for the night. We had a long day ahead of us the next day .
The next morning we woke up and headed off to the train station to go to Marrakech. We packed up all our stuff and head out. Got a taxi ( got ripped off) then when we got to the train station we had realized we were going on an overnight and SAS requires you to take your passport if you leave overnight. So we had an hour until our train. So we found a taxi to take us back to the ship wait for us and then bring us back. ( got ripped of again ) We ran all the way back to the ship from where the taxi left us got our passports and ran back. We made it back to the train station on time for our train. The trains here are very interesting and very uncomfortable and smell pretty bad. After a 3.5 hour train ride we got to Marrakesh and found our hostel but got ripped of on the way there from a young boy who decided to help us out we thought he was being nice. . no no he just wanted money. We made it to our hostel and it was okay nothing like our Spain hostel. We went and walked around in the Souks for a bit before it got dark ( we did way better today bartering) . Bought some Moroccan pants to wear on our camel trek the following day. Ate lunch at a pizzeria because we just wanted pizza for some odd reason! Then headed in for the night, because it was only Mackenzie, Carly , Kayla, and I and we didn’t feel safe out at night just us four girls. Kayla and Mackenzie both had there first dose of homesickness so I helped them through it ( sorry everyone I didn’t I am so far from home sick but doesn’t mean I don’t miss everyone ) For me its different than them I have been wanting to go away for so long that I probably won’t get homesick but I love you all I do J . We met some other people that were staying at our hostel and the people who owned the hostel and workers were absolutely amazing. I tried mint tea which is a must have in Morocco. It was very good I enjoyed it. After hanging out for a while we headed to bed because we had to be up early.
The morning of our Camel trek we had to wake up around 630 A.M we got picked up at 7:45 went and picked up everyone else that was signed up for the trek and headed for the Sahara. A little while later we stopped in the Atlas Mountains that we were driving through for some breakfast which was pretty unhealthy haha first I got peanut m&m’s and Pringles then decided I would get an omelets (but omelets here are just a flat egg with nothing in it . and there is no salt and pepper.. yummmmmy ..no). After about a 30 minute break we were back on our way through the Atlas mountains. This was pretty scary adventure with the skinny skinny 2-way windy roads and cliffs. Our driver loved to drive fast so Carly and I were having a mild heart attack. After driving and stopping for about 11 hours through the Atlas Mountains in ridiculous heat. we finally around 640 p.m got to the Sahara desert. Mind you we had one road block of a accident with one of our vans and a bus ( not my van) so we had to fix a flat tire before we could head move on. So when we pulled up to where we were getting on our camels there was about 40 camels just sitting waiting for us. We all got put on camels and was this an experience like no other. I named my camel Toby and as we were going along on our camels through the Sahara the sunset which was absolutely beautiful. This was our camels 4th trek today so they were a little warn out. Some even had a mental break down. Toby tripped once and I thought I was going down but I didn’t ( one girl got thrown off her camel it was kind of fun but only because she was okay) after 2 hours of trekking through Sahara we go to our Nomad tents. They made us dinner and then we listened to them play music for us which made me speechless. It was amazing laying in the sand of the Sahara watching these berbers dance to their music. We decieded not to sleep in the tent but to sleep right outside it under the stars which was BREATHTAKING. It was simply amazing, I don’t think words could explain this situation. We got woken up in the morning to watch the sun rise which again was a breathtaking experience. We sat on a dune wrapped in a blanket and watched the sunrise. Something I will never forget.
After we watched the sunrise we headed back on the camels for the trek back to the vans. I got a different camel and I named it Jamal! He was amazing! When we got It back to the vans we started our trek back through the Atlas mountains all the way back to Casablanca except we were much more annoyed this time it took forever! We started driving at 7am and got back at 11 pm.. 15 hours in the car I Was ready to explode. We stopped and saw were Gladiator and some other movies were filmed in morocco which was pretty awesome! After our long long drive back through the mountains ( I have a video of how scary it was) we finally got back to the boat which was probably the best feeling ever!
All and all I had an amazing experience in Morocco so much that can’ t be explained because I just don’t know how. There were some beautiful parts and some not so beautiful parts. But I will never ever forget this.
I hope everyone at home is doing great! I defiantly am. I love the emails keep them coming. Love you all.
I’ll write again soon.
Amy
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