Morocco Part 3: I'm Blue Da Ba De Da Ba Da

Heading north, baby! We wanted to go towards Fes which was the biggest city next to a small town we really wanted to go to called Chefchaoen.  Chefchaoen is known as "the blue city." It's a small mountain city that reminds me of the song "Blue" from Eiffel 65 because they literally painted the entire town blue.  All shades of blue, all the houses, buildings and streets.  Who knows why but it was a good move for them cuz it brought tourists like us there.  After seeing the red and orange of the desert for six days we thought it would be especially cool.  We were in a bit of a time crunch because we only had about 36 hours before our flight took off in Tangier which is about 3 hours north of Chefchaoen.  

This concludes the geography lesson but you get the idea that every minute and hour counted.  So when we got off the bus at the furthest north stop towards Fes called Erracheddia we felt hopeful that there would be a bus to Fes that we could hop on right away There was a bus! But it wasn't for another 12 hours.  Not gonna work so we thought - why not catch a cab?! It will definitely be more pricey- we heard it cost up to 1500 Durham to get to Fes (about 150 Euro) but we planned to bargain- big time.  We talked to the taxi driver and he easily accepted 250 Durham (what?! Maybe a red flag but we decided to believe we were just that good at bargaining) but for the catch that we couldn't go to Fes, but rather a neighboring city because he was already taking a guy that way and we would just all go together.  Ok that sounded like no big deal - this other guy in shot gun and Robby and I in the backseat, fine.  We slid in the back of the taxi and continued to make ourselves comfortable.  But we weren't leaving yet.  Suddenly the door opened next to me and another guy starts getting in the car with us...we heard that Morocco likes to pack their taxis and that shared taxis are the only way to get a decent price.  Alright that's fine, three of us In the back is a little cramped for a six hour taxi ride but we can do it.  Still not leaving.  Minutes later another guy opens the door, this one even bigger and smellier than the last.  Squeezes on in and at this point I have half my butt sitting on Robby's lap and these two grown men next to us are practically lap sitting as well and they seem as if this is no big deal.  Still not leaving.  The front door opens and another climbs in this time in the front of the taxi and totally sits on the center console between the driver and the guy in the front passenger seat.  At this point it would break all laws of physics to be able to fit another person in the car so the driver finally took off! And here we sat, buttcheeks falling asleep, legs squashed, arms contorted and all...for six hours.  Did I mention there was no AC and we were driving across the desert? I guess you get what you pay for.  This is how they roll in Morocco and once again i felt like a spoiled brat for the cush life style that I'm used to. They are warriors out there! The guys in the cab looked totally content the entire time, while I was gasping for air and practically punching myself in hopes to just pass out so I could wake up and be there.

Hard to see here but there is one other guy between me and the guy on the very left! 

Gettin cozy up in front!

(Can someone tell me if this video works and if there is audio? It's been so hard to upload our videos to this blog for some reason!) if it doesn't work try this http://youtu.be/upHkw5vO_mw

We finally made it to our taxi destination, Meknes! But not before the taxi driver made two random personal stops on the way up which probably set us back about an hour. Hahah but I have never felt better as I did stepping out of that car and into freedom.  It was about 6pm and we were only three hours away from Chefchaoen.  Another bus ride but at this point the bus didn't seem so bad In comparison. Our flight out of Tangier left the next night so we had about 24 hours now.  Plenty of time to get there and explore for a while!! The taxi ride was worth it!! (I can say that now that Im out of that taxi cab).  

The city Chefchaoen!! 

Yes we were exhausted, but being close to the mountains and it feeling 10 degrees cooler with a breeze was exhilarating! This city is totally a hidden gem- no one really talks about it as a "must see" but it was one of my favorite places! I was obsessed with all the different patterns of the houses and especially the doors!! They are so many cool looking doors!!

The city backs right up into the mountains

Can't get enough of the doors!

This was the medina which you can always expect to be a bit of a maze. It's cool to just get lost in the blueness and stumble on all the different designs and doors!

In Morocco they have these public bath houses where you bathe in hot water and then get scrubbed down by someone, a hardcore cleansing.  They are called hammans and I think are probably a lot like Turkish baths which in turn are a lot like being a 5 yr old and getting scrubbed down by your mom.  That was the first thing Robby wanted to do when we got to Chefchaoen, understandably so.  I could've gone for a good scrub down too but I had a feeling it might not be exactly what I envisioned and figured I'd wait for a Turkish bath.  I took off and explored while he experienced the hamman.  When we finally met up again the look on his face was priceless!

sheer relief? Confusion?

Apparently it was very different than we thought and he was slightly traumatized. I  will leave it at that for now...

They had little shops and medinas just like every other city in Morocco but these seemed much nicer and much less of a hassle.  The people didn't bombard you here and were really respectful when you said no.  

I loved it,  we walked around for hours checking out the shops and scenery and even up to a little waterfall at the top of town.  Which we ended up passing out next to and sleeping for two hours.  The perfect setting for a nap!

We woke up hungry so went and ate some couscous at a cool restaurant which ended up being the next best meal we had in Morocco! (next to the Tangene in the desert).  We were well rested, well fed, Robby was well cleansed and it was time to catch our final bus to Tangier!  I was ready for it. Although if I could do the trip over I'd definitely want a couple days in the cute city of Chefchaoen!

Couscous with veggies and some freshly squeezed OJ.  So satisfying. A meal a mother would be proud of and a huge step from the 15 yr old boy dream diet of corn nuts and cookies we had been living on for days.

This last bus ride wasn't unlike all the others in that it was pure torture.  The bus had no AC, no windows down, and was packed!! People were standing in the aisles for this one and Robby and I got the very back seat, which essentially sits above the scorching hot engine that you can feel under your legs, which are smashed up against the seats in front of you because you have zero leg room.  It was our last bus ride and that's what we told ourselves during the 3 hour journey.  The smell of body odor mixed with Moroccan spices reigned supreme for those three hours.  I am grateful for this bus ride though because we met the most amazing Moroccan man.  His name was Mountacir and he knew some English so he started talking to us on the bus.  He was such a sweetheart and was eager to learn all about our experience in Morocco and was so proud and happy to be a Moroccan and to tell us more about his country.  He talked to us about life and how living simple was the best way to live for him.  He talked to us about his family and some American friends he has in Morocco - there was a group of them living in his city right now and they gave English lessons and that's how he had learned.  It was so cool talking to him, we could tell he had such a good heart and when we got off the bus he told us to follow him because he knew we were in a time crunch to make our flight and he wanted to make sure we were ok. He rushed us straight to a taxi area to get a cab and spoke with a few different taxi guys to make sure we were getting a good price.  He translated everything for us to the cab driver and then he even rode with us all the way to the airport to make sure there was no hassle and that we made it!!! He wasn't even going that direction at all and would have to ride back with the cab driver to the bus station to get to his own destination.  At this point we were accustomed to helpful Moroccans expecting tips but we especially wanted to give him something.  By now we were friends and he had gone out of his way so much for us! When we got to the airport he got out and carried our bags and gave us huge hugs.  I wished we had some kind of cool momento to give him but we are traveling so light and have no excess right now so all we could offer was a small cash tip.  He looked at us confused and said no you have shamed me!! You are my friends and that's why I do this, you needed help and I wanted to help you!  It was the coolest way to leave Morocco, Mountacir had a heart of gold.  He even added us on facebook later to message us and make sure we made it okay to Spain.  Meeting him was the best way to leave Morocco and to remember how humble and sweet so many of the people are there. 

Morocco Part 2 - The Circle of Life and A Whole New World

The Lion King:

Real life:

Between the long walks in the heat and 8 hour bus rides in cramped buses - Morocco totally felt to me like we were on set of an exotic Disney movie. Like the Lion King or Aladdin. "A whole new world" was definitely broken out in song spontaneously throughout the trip. It's the perfect duet.  And I can promise you that I was singing "the circle of life" on repeat as we cameled (new word) through the Sahara Desert.  It really was a whole new world and everything seemed a little magical and a little bit like you were stepping into ancient times where if you rubbed the golden lamps they sold at the store then a genie would appear ready to grant you a wish!

Well not everything seemed like a Disney movie. The bus stations definitely didn't feel quite like that. To paint you a picture of the one we camped out at for a few hours in Marrakech picture an open air area with flies buzzing all over the place, stray cats wandering at your feet and beggars asking you for money every where you turn. I guess it's probably not too unlike some bus stations in LA.  Except when Robby went to the bathroom he was in for a surprise as he found men in there hosing themselves off from head to toe. I guess it coupled as a rinse down area as well! Haha I didn't end up using the women's bathroom after A) I found out you had to pay B) when I walked in the entire ground was covered in inches in water and some lady was hosing down the place including everyones feet and 3) the actual toilet was a hole in the ground that you squatted down in front of. I'm not saying I never used a bathroom like that while in Morocco, but just not then since it included a rinse down. Which looking back now seems like a good two-for-one!

Here is one of the bus stations pet cats, it was hilarious to see it get comfortable and just chill in the middle of the place

We were down to almost no food and desperately hungry and the snack shack at the bus station didn't look appealing.  One of the only things we had left was a mix and go tuna packet and crackers.  Of all things, tuna. Cat magnet and this place was crawling with them!  

Anyway our plan was to get to Merzouga and although we were presented with multiple offers from tour companies at the bus station to take their small, luxurious air conditioned buses across the country where they included meals and then a camel ride in the desert once you got there, it just didn't seem like the right way to do things.  Anything booked in a "tour" and anything that was too easy was not interesting to us.  We wanted to do things the authentic way.  So we booked a local bus for a city about five hours away called Ouarzazate to stay there the night and then hopefully catch a bus to Merzouga which we had no idea if there were buses from there but we were going with it!

We seemed to be the only tourists In the bus station for a while and when we saw a couple walk In with big back packs we were so excited. They probably thought we were weird because we immediately jumped on them and were like "where are you from!?" Please be our friends! Desperate. But they were awesome and Im glad we did.  They were Mary and Shammuck from Poland and had been in the Atlas Mountains for a few days and on their way to Merzouga cuz they wanted to do a camel ride as well. They said they had tourist companies try to get them to book with them but they weren't interested in the tourist way of things. Bam! We loved them already.  Turns out they had booked a bus to Ouarzazate as well and had no idea either if they could bus from there to Merzouga but were hoping it would work out. so glad we were now in this together and they became our travel buddies for the next three days.  They were newlyweds and on their honeymoon so it was the perfect couple for us. Although now looking back we totally crashed their honeymoon, maybe they hated us for that haha

I'll stop being so detailed but we bused to Ouarzazate, got a hostel with our new friends and then the next morning bused to Merzouga (they did have a bus!) which took eight hours! I always think of time like that in terms of how many movies could be watched in that time or how many church blocks it's equivalent to.  Almost three church sessions back to back.  Atleast not fast Sunday and you better believe I was stocked with snacks!

Bus ride from hell #1 and #2 highlights:

1) pitch dark winding roads up through a mountain range.  Road hardly big enough for one car, but cars coming in both directions. When an opposing car comes in our direction they play "chicken" with the bus. As the beast of the road the bus never backs down. Even til the last minute, luckily the cars finally pulled to the side each time!

2) wheels of the bus on the very edge of the road which leads to 2,000 feet drop offs

3) pouring rain as the bus climbs up and down mountain ranges, speeding up rather than slowing down on turns - these buses were doing up to 80km/hr on the mountain roads!

4) man gets on the bus, sits next to us and immediately starts barfing into this plastic grocery bag.  Continues to barf in the bag throughout the 8 hour ride and wipes his mouth on his shirt each time 

My only escape was to try and fall asleep as fast as I could!

I've seen better days!  

It's so funny because at home the buses are annoyances that cars are quick to pass on the highways.  Here, the biggest of the road rules and the buses are the fastest and craziest on the road! They are always trying to pass up and cut off anyone in their way.  It's kind of funny and impressive even though at times I really really thought that we were going to die on the mountain roads.  Luckily Robby told me after, but he had read about tragic accidents where some night buses fell down the mountainside.  AHhh! We made it though!

Oh on the bus ride we made friends with this guy Marcos who was playing the ukulele which was our saving grace to the sounds of throwing up.  Marcos was from Barcelona and was going to Merzouga to try and film a documentary. He spoke really good English but was happy to find that Robby spoke Spanish too.  Marcos was rad and saved us from the piranhas of locals waiting at the bus station for tourists to get off.  They are immediately in your face wanting you to go with them and will follow you for a while even if you say no. We didn't have a hostel booked but Marcos said just follow me to mine and us and Mary and Shattuck all joined him at the hostel "The Petit Prince". It was super cute and on the edge of the Sahara Desert, the dunes were right in the backyard of the hostel!

Our hostel was just past this building.  I love how the sand dunes jump out at you with this beautifully different colored sand! 

We found out it was Marcos' 22nd birthday that day so we had to celebrate! We gave him our most prized possesion, a delcious half eaten box of hazlenut cookies.  We all hung out in the common area for a while and Marcos was our entertainer for the evening on the ukulele when he wasn't performing magic tricks for us.  We talked about different stereotypes people have of America and the differences between our countries: Spain, the states, and Poland and it was funny to hear what they were.  Marcos loves country music and so from listening to those lyrics his view of America was that we are all gun loving hicks! He didnt know the word hick but the way he described his image that is exactly it Hahah and Mary and Shattuck said most people in Poland view America as full of fat people who will order huge hamburgers and fries and then get a "diet" coke....(guilty!!!!) 

Mary, Marcos, some random blonde girl, a chef from the hostel, and Shattuck

Yes this is part of the magic trick...really it was 

The next day was go time to the desert!! I cannot even explain how cool this was.  Hopefully the pictures will help, but I know it doesn't quite do it justice.  In the morning we roamed around and played In the dunes that stretched for miles and miles as far as we could see.  It's a never ending playground! That night we started the camel trek a little further into the Sahara where we would watch the sunset and sleep in Berber tents!  It was just us five: Mary, Shattuck, Marcos, Robby and I who went out together and we had a real Berber who spoke zero English as our guide.  Completely trusting he would take us somewhere good :)

At the campsite they had snowboards we could take down the dunes! 

Yeah it was a glamour shot photo shoot in the desert- plenty more where these babies come from! 

At the tents we met up with other guides and a couple other guys who had trekked out there - Greg and Ian.  Greg was from Quebec and had been in Morocco for a few months traveling with a band and Ian was from France.  They had just met on the trek.  We all had dinner together which was this amazing Tangene meal.  Tangene is the traditional meal in Morocco which is meat and vegetables cooked in a ceramic pot.  Reminds me of crock pot meals just like mom makes! This meal was seriously the best we had had since we started traveling!! Yum!!! It was all under candlelight and super serene.  It was crazy to think we were in this huge desert - just a few of us hanging out with nothing but sand for miles and miles, a very cool feeling.

Tangene!! There's carrots, potatoes, rice and chicken hiding under it 

It was so fun to talk with everyone and so interesting how we all came from different places with different languages but were all able to find common ground and even a common language.  For instance,  Greg spoke French and english, but Ian only spoke French.  Most the Berbers spoke French and a little English and one spoke Spanish.  Mary and Shattuck spoke polish and english,  Marcos spoke Spanish and English, Robby spoke Spanish and English and as an underachiever I came in with just English (will be purchasing Rosetta stone soon).  So Greg translated to Ian anything in English and translated anything French from the Berbers to us and Robby talked to the Berber in Spanish and translated anything to Marcos that he didn't get (but he was pretty good), and I sat there and listened and spoke English as I stuffed my face with great food.  It was cool to see the diversities in just a small room and see how all of us from around the world could find a connection :). I loved it!

All of us!

After dinner the Berber guides jammed out on some hand made instruments.  It was so much fun we sang and danced to the music and things got pretty crazy.  At one point someone almost lit the tent on fire and people were dancing on tables!  Ok maybe there were no fires but Robby was dancing on tables and banging glasses and plates to create some beautiful music!

Jam session!

Just minutes before things escalated to the table

The next morning we watched the sunrise as we rode the camels back to the city.  It was amazing, lots of bonding with nature, soul searching, and excruciating pain due to being saddle sore.  Contrary to popular belief riding a camel is NOT comfortable so never trade your car in for a camel, you would regret it.  We wished we had more time in the Sahara but it was time to go! Our next plan was to head north to Fes, but there weren't any buses going to Fes for 12 hours! plan B was to take the next bus as far north as we could go and then hopefully take a bus from there to Fes or figure something out.  It was a risk but we did not want to waste any precious time!  Did the risk pay off? To be continued...dun dun dun!

Morocco - Part 1 of 12 Marrakech

Just kidding.  There probably won't be 11 more posts about Morocco but with all that happened there I feel like could write at least 12 posts about it! Morocco was everything we went on this trip for.  It was pure adventure and took us completely out of our elements into an unfamiliar and totally different world than we were used to.  You probably just want to see pictures but I have to tell stories too.  For posteritys sake and for the chance that this will be published into a book and be sold at gas stations worldwide.  Or in case it gets made into a movie with Danny Devito playing me and Arnold Swartzzneggar portraying Robert.

I dont even know where to start!! Well our journey into Morocco started at the northern city of Tangier. Which was only a 45 minute flight from Madrid.  We flew via Ryanair which required us to do some ridiculous things like have Robby shove a blanket down his pants and wear a bath towell as a shawl just so we don't get charged a huge extra fee for luggage space. Ok I guess it only required some ridiculus stuff of Robby. But I watched and laughed.  It was crazy how much could change in just a short flight. Spain and Morocco are so completely different in terms of climate, geography, people, culture, and just about everything.  It was crazy to see the contrast.

As soon as we landed we caught a night train to the big city of Marrakech in the south west side of the country.  The train left at 9pm and arrived in Marrakech at 8am the next day so this would be our hotel for the night as well!  I was excited to sleep on the train - it seemed fun! And we were pretty lucky - although it was busy we were able to find our own compartment with two benches for us to sleep on.  We got in our pajamas and fully ready for bed as if this was the normal thing and woke up in the crazy city of Marrakech!

I had no idea what to expect of morocco.  Getting there it seemed like a total blend of cultures and places I had been before, but all put together in a way that my senses weren't used to!  The streets were desert-y, very dusty and many very run down which reminded me of places I've been and seen in Mexico so at times I expected them to speak spanish, but never french!  Their religion out there is Muslim which I typically associate with Middle Eastern Islamic so it was especially weird to see French signs everywhere and hear everyone speak French.  Although there was still a lot of Arabic as well.  I totally respect these people for their dedication to their religion.  At five different times throughout the day (which I'm sure were specific times but we have no sense of time right now) a man would get on some kind of intercom and you would hear a booming voice chanting prayer.  This meant you had to go pray and people would disappear to the nearest mosques.  They had them everywhere, even in the middle of bus stations! And they weren't afraid to put everything on hold when they went to pray - stores would close, streets would empty and if the person selling train or bus tickets went to pray then you'd have to wait for them to get back. Major dedication- and that's not mentioning the fact that the women completely cover themselves in robes and scarves over their hair in 105 degree heat! 

To be honest I had prepared myself for weird looks in Morocco - being a blonde American - but it seemed like no one really looked twice!  I soon found out that they have become very used to tourists in this city.  

The city is made up of a huge Medina which is basically rows and rows of houses built up on top of and next to each other.  It's seriously like a crazy maze because they have alleys and streets going every which way and crossing each other a million times.  These medinas are where everyone lives.  They hang out a ton in the streets which are typically too small for cars so they race around on bicycles or scooters.  And they have no boundaries with these bad boys! We were constantly diving out of the way haha

The streets of the Medina

Rabid Robby in the streets!

Although the country is poor they have extremely awesome accommodations there called Riads.  They are basically rooms within huge mansion type houses that they rent out to tourists.  Most Riads have about 10-15 rooms in them.  Although they are pretty cheap, they were still out of our budget so we planned to stay in a hostel until we found a riad online for $35!!! We booked it at the train station and a taxi dropped us off just outside the medina (since he can't fit in the roads).  We actually had to pay a couple little boys to guide us to our Riad - otherwise we would have NEVER found it in those mazes!! Even after going to the Riad a couple times we would still get lost in the medina and not because we are directionally challenged, it's just that bad! You need to leave a trail or something to find your way back! Anyway-  walking up to the Riad we were a little skeptical.  It didn't look too inviting (although I LOVE the look of this door as well as many others in the medina)

But this is what it looked like on the inside

You're welcome

Our room!

A roof terrace with an amazing view!

View looking down from the terrace

The best part is that there was no one else in the Riad with us- the other 14 rooms were empty! We had it all to ourselves! To date this is still the best place we've stayed on our trip and im guessing it will stay that way!

Oh and they also made us breakfast in the morning!  Homemade Moroccan bread with jam and honey - so delicious!!

Us with our Riad host, Norgay who was such a sweetheart!

Ok so we spent a lot of time at the Riad but we did venture into the medinas.  The medinas all lead to different squares or plazas which are large openings where a lot of people gather.  This is where you will find many vendors, restaurants, entertainers, etc and the most popular one in Marrkech is Djemaa El-Fna.  We made our way over there, thanks to our Riad host Norgay for walking us through the maze. Within the maze and before the square are rows and rows of shops, which they call souks.  These things are crazy and it's booth after booth of handmade goods, purses, food, jewelry, lamps, you name it!

Inside the souk

They had the most amazing plates and bowls and these awesome looking lamps! I wanted to buy a bunch of them and shove them in my backpack to carry around for the next three months.  If only this was the last stop on our trip!  Robby loved the plates too so we want to go back one day and get a full dinner set. Maybe a weekend trip sometime. 

Beautiful colors!

I could use at least 29 of these 

Amazed

They even had farmers market type stuff 

After getting lost in the souks you are then dumped out into the square Djemma El-Fna.  This is where we saw lots of other tourists and where we saw how much the vendors play off them.  They have lots of entertainment there including music, snake charmers, acrobats, etc but it seems more geared toward tourists now than being authentic. Even in the souks you are pulled so many different directions with people begging you to buy things or just give them money.  It's sad to see how much they rely on tourists and it breaks your heart to see their conditions, but after a while it gets extremely exhausting.  For example, we were walking through the square and walked over to watch these snake charmers.  Well one guy grabs us and puts the snakes around our neck and says to take a picture. Sure!! So after we do Robby gives him a tip probably equivalent to 2 bucks.  The guy looks at it and says "that's nothing!" and asked for 200 Durham which is equivalent to almost 20 Euro!! Yeah right!! So we said no way and started to walk away.  He even grabbed Robby's arm and was yelling at us as we walked away. We thought it was ridiculous! There was a lot of that type of stuff that went on there.

These are worth $20, right?!

I kissed a snake and I liked it!

K the guy looks pretty scary here.  Although he did yell at us, most Morrocans were some of the nicest people we had ever met!! They just get pushy with money, but if you stand your ground they back off.  And we did meet many who were so helpful and kind and never asked for money for their helpfulness (sometimes if you asked for directions they would expect tips if they gave you an answer).

More pictures in the square:

A cool mosque in the square

Snake charmer! Don't look - it'll cost you ;)

it was extremely hot and we were sweating like crazy!! Then I'd look over and see these ladies. I have no idea how they do it!!

That's not a shadow. That's backpack strap sweat baby!

After a couple days of exploring, having fun, and sweating our butts off we wanted to make the cross country trek to Merzouga, which was the gateway to the Sahara desert!!! Stay tuned for the rest of the journey!!!

Off to the bus station where we would spend the next few hours and then from there some horrendous bus rides, little did we know!