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June 6-7
Joe and I woke up around 3am and caught a cab to the bus stop. Ryan didnt sign up for the trip and tried to but it was already full. He went to Cadiz(nice beach) instead. For the first time in this whole trip, everyone arrived on time to the bus! So 4 am off we go to Morocco with no real idea of how long it will take. We were told the currents really decide how long the ferry across the strait will take. It is required by law that anyone driving in Spain for 3 hours or more must make a stop so after 1.5 hours we stopped for a cafe con leche (coffee with milk) and a toast. Andalucia is known for its toast and I got a giant piece of toast. After the short stop, we got back on the bus and I passed out. When I woke up, we were approaching a city called Algeciras and I could see the ocean. Algeciras is the southern most tip of mainland Spain and we caught our ferry from here. The ferry was much bigger than the ferrys we are used to in the gulf and on the inside there were some casino games and airplane style seating as well as table and chairs. Everything inside the ferry seemed about 20 years old. The best part of the ferry was the views from the deck. We saw Gibralter and really pretty blue water.
After arriving in Morocco, we had to wait for the ferry to get off so we played hackey sack while we waited and got some other people in our group involved. We play this game where three different people touch it and then you can peg someone with it! The locals were looking at us like we were crazy. Back on the bus, we voted on a movie to watch and many people fell asleep until we got farther into Morocco. The roads began to make the bus sway back and forth non-stop! It was terrible.
We finally arrived in Fes and started walking towards what looked like a Brazilian favela. It was just shacks built upon eachother with makeshifts roofs. Right after we walked into the medina, there was a cute little boy who was looking at our group in awe and he didnt notice a donkey coming down the street. When the boy realized the donkey was there, it was too late and he was pushed backwards and fell right into a dirty puddle of I dont know what. I felt bad for him but he didnt cry at all, he just got up and ran back into his house with his grey pants now brown and wet. There were places where parts of buildings had fallen down and nothing had been done about it. I saw many stray cats and kittens that the people must feed because I didnt see any rats. It was a very depressing place. Dentistry is not heard of here, everyone has brown teeth. I felt uncomfortable here. It was dirty, dark, and dingy. The smells were the absolute worst. I cant begin to describe what it was that was passing through my nostrils, but on more than one occasion I had to hold back my lunch. Many people in our group had watery eyes and were covering their faces with their shirts to keep the smell out.
We got a short walk through some of the medina before they took us to shops. We went to a place that sold anything from lamps to jewelry to swords and I bought a knife! I think I got ripped off on the knife but that was the one thing I wanted to I'm okay with it. We went to a carpet place where they corner you in a room in the store and pressure you to buy a carpet. I did not buy a carpet. The owner of the carpet place tried to tell us this bs story about how proud my parents would be if I bought a carpet. I laughed at his story. My favorite store we went to was the traditional pharmacy! It was the one thing that smelled good in Morocco! They let us try all these natural perfumes and we smelled spices and a natural headache medicine that was interesting. After the pharmacy we went to the tannery and I could smell it from a mile away. Disgusting. The smell was so overpowering that they gave us mint leaves to put in our nose. It looked really cool and they made great stuff, but it was rough. Finally we went to the ceramics place. It was great! We saw a guy making pottery and he made it look so easy. Then we had a chance to go through the store. After I finished shopping, some other students and I walked outside to a beautiful view. We were on one side of the city and we overlooked the whole city with the mountains in the background. It still smelled like something died nearby, but soon after we walked outside, we heard the call to prayer over the loud speaker! To me the call to prayer is so cool and eerie; I really wish I could have heard it more.
Finally we went back to the hotel, had dinner, and then hung out until bed.
June 8
Today we had breakfast, then took the short ride to Meknes where we toured an amazing mosque. We saw a massive grainery which was built to allow the city to survive a 20 year seige, and the massive horse stables that once housed 20,000 horses. Parts of the movie Gladiator were shot in the horse stables. After the stables we went to the Meknes medina which was a little nicer than the Fes medina, but it was more in your face. There were cow and goat heads on the ground, I stepped in pools of blood, carcases hanging, hooves, legs, animals in cages, all kinds of sweets and fruits, spices, and all of these with flies swarming around the medina. The smells were bad again here and almost everyone had trouble with this one. I put on a good face, but it was bad.
We had lunch overlooking the medina and then tea on the roof before heading back to the hotel. Joe asked me to go back to the medina with him so he could find these shoes he wanted. We were the only westerners there so we didnt stay long after he found his shoes. We went back to the hotel, I got a henna tattoo of the Dark Mark from Harry Potter, and some of the guys and I went to the hotel bar to watch the live band. Prostitution is legal here and we saw several prostitutes in the bar.
We also went to the ruins of Volibus. They are 2000 year old Roman ruins and are somewhat in tact thanks to archeologists rebuilding them after an earthquake in the 1950's. The tile floors are still very well preserved and they were very cool to see. While touring the ruins, we walked past a guy that we thought was homeless and sleeping in the ruins but after looking closer we found out it was a guy and a girl having sex in the ruins! Then, not 50 feet away, we ran into another couple that was having sex in the ruins! Joe asked our guide if this was a common thing and the guide said "No this is not common, you are very lucky to see this" hahaha!
June 9
I got good sleep but I am still tired. We are on the bus back to Sevilla. I cant wait to show off all the cool stuff I got in Morocco. It was cool, but I dont know that I would ever go back.
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