Weekend trip to Africa? No biggie!

I cannot even begin to describe my time in Africa. It was unlike any other trip that I have ever taken. I am so thankful for the opportunity that IES Abroad has provided us with. This was not your average site seeing trip where we stayed in luxurious hotels and had meals in fancy restaurants, no this was the real Morocco! To begin my accounts of Africa, "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start". 

Thursday November 1: Around 8:30 am we left Granada and drove about 4 hours to our hotel in Línea, Spain. We spent the afternoon in Gibraltar which was only a 30 minute walk from our hotel. Getting into Gibraltar was my first time getting to cross a land border. Gibraltar, even tho it is in the South of Spain, is actually a British Colony. Gibraltar is a small peninsula of about 2.6 miles with about 30,000 people living there. In Gibraltar we boarded mini buses and had a tour from a British man. He took us out to the coast and showed us the muslim mosque, the light house and even a small area for the Jews. Thankfully we had a clear enough day in which we were able to see the mountains of Africa, which are only about 9 miles from the coast of Europe. After sightseeing along the coast our guide drove us up along the Rock of Gibraltar and we went spelunking in the caves. In the caves there are more tunnels than there are actual roads in Gibraltar. Most of these tunnels have the capacity for vehicles, since Gibraltar used to be a military base for Great Britain. After our quick stop for spelunking, we continued up the mountain to spend some quality time with Monkeys!!! These monkeys are so used to people they will climb right on top of your head and sit there. I had some pretty good conversations with them, they are a good group of monkeys :) I was not able to get them to hop on to me but a couple of them held my hand and grabbed on to me. After our time with the monkeys we went back down to the main square in Gibraltar and had time to shop before we all met up to have dinner at an British Pub. My group of friends decided not to do dinner with everyone since we would be spending the next 5 days with them and instead decided to have dinner at the U.S. Embassy, McDonald's! That was my first time having it since August. As good as it tasted it did not feel good to eat it. We have been so accustomed to eating healthy here and our diets and stomaches have changed, but I still managed to enjoy my cheeseburger, fry, Coke and an Oreo and Carmel McFlurry! After we were done at the Embassy we headed back to our hotel early and watched Spanish television shows and played games, overall a great way to start off our trip.

Friday November 2: We left Línea and headed to our port city of Tarifa, Spain. There we met our tour guides that would be with us all through Morocco. Our tour guide was Jess, a lady from Whales who has lived in Morocco for the last five years doing art and tour guides for Spanish students. This was also when IES separated us into our individual groups of around 20 people. We then proceeded to head through customs and board our boat to cross the Straight of Gibraltar for Africa! The boat ride was about a 45 minute trip. Thankfully I did not get sea sick! Once we arrived in Morocco we met our bus driver that would be with us during our time there. Raschid drove the blue, bubble, disco bus! He loved listening to Spanish and American pop music, so we were always rockin' out to DJ Raschid.

Our first stop for that day was a small town not to far away, Tangier, Morocco. There we visited a NGO, Darna's Women's Center. There we met two Moroccan students, Salma and Mohammed. They lead us around the center and introduced us to some of the women working there. They have a small textile room in the building where the women make blankets, rugs, shirts and other items in which they sell in their gift shop. After our tour we sat down for a discussion on women in Morocco and in Islam, and of course we enjoyed Moroccan tea and pastries. It was really interesting to learn about the women from a male and female perspective. After 9/11, for many Americans, our views on Islam and its followers were extremely negative and quite wrong. We learned that just because of one evil group of people that happen to practice the same religion does not mean that everyone who is a Muslim is a terrorist and is out to get America. These people that we talked with were extremely kind and understanding and hope to visit America someday. We also learned about the women and there culture and how there are many misconceptions about how women have to be completely submissive to their husbands and must wear a Hijab (the vail) and cover their entire body. The people we met were much more progressive. Salma did not wear the Hijab or other traditional Muslim clothing, instead she dressed very much like Europeans or Americans. For her she said, "Just because the Quran says that a woman is supposed to dress modestly and cover up does not mean that she must adorn in clothing that her ancestors wore. You can still be modest today in normal clothing and still be following the Quran's teachings. Some people take things way to literally and try to use the Quran as a way to suppress women". As a woman in Morocco she said that she has many rights that women in the Middle East can only dream of such as voting or driving a car.  Morocco is a much more open country and is less strict on their beliefs. It was nice to see the others side of Islam where women do have rights and do not have to live their lives in daily fear of the men. 

After our time at the Darana's Women's Center, we headed around the town and through the local market place to by some snacks for the bus. The market place was interesting. There were tons of booths of spices, fruits, and vegetables as well as meat and fish booths. They are not really concerned with refrigeration there. The section for the meets was basically dead and skinned animals everywhere. Chickens were hanging from the booths, there were whole legs of cows on the counters and fish displayed in bins all waiting to be bought. It really was not a pretty sight, it smelled terrible and you had to watch where you walked so you were not walking in the animals blood and who knows what else.  After the market we got back on our bus and headed to our next town of Asilah, Morocco. Along the way we had to make a camel stop and it was here that we got to ride the camels along the beach. This was so fun and such an exciting experience to have. It was not easy getting on the camel. They start out kneeling on the ground and you have to hold on extremely tight. They get up with their back legs first so you have to hold on and arch your back or you would be almost horizontal with the ground until they bring their front legs up. The same goes for getting off the camel, only front legs go down first. After our camel ride we were off to Asilah. We were only in Asilah long enough to see the old Portuguese fort and eat lunch. Then we were off to Rabat where we would meet our host families and stay there for two days. 



Friday night around 8:30 we made it to our host city of Rabat. Rabat is the capital of Morocco. Our house was situated in the old medina. A medina is a walled city with all of the houses and markets inside of it. Our house took 10 minutes to reach and we went through so many different turns and streets that it was terribly hard to know where you were, and there are no street names. But I eventually figured out my way around the city.  In my house there were three of us from IES Granada: my friends Rob and Travis and myself. Our host family had a husband and wife that were probably late 30's, theri cousin Hadija and an exchange student from Norway. The dad had lived in New York for 5 years so he spoke good English. His wife could speak some English and Eric, the exchange student knew English as well, but the cousin did not. That night we had a big dinner of Cous Cous and mint tea. The family was extremely hospitable and kept trying to get us to eat, and eat, and eat! The way the house was set up was you have the living/dinning/bedroom in one area. There were these extremely elaborate benches that lined the entire room and there was a table in the center. It was here where we ate and slept. 

Saturday November 3: The next morning we woke up to Hadija, making toast and jam and mint tea for breakfast. After breakfast she took us back to our meeting point. Our group met back up and heading back out with DJ Raschid in the blue, bubble, disco bus. Our first stop that day was to a small part of Rabat that had the ruins of an old mosque as well as the mausoleum for the late king Mohammed V. After this part we headed to another NGO, Hope for Sale. This organization focused on helping out the poor that lived in the shanty towns throughout Rabat. They had classrooms full of computers and books where they taught the English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Computer to kids that could not afford to go to school. Here we also had the opportunity to meet three Moroccans who were volunteers at the center. We had another group discussion, but this time it was more geared to politics and issues within Morocco and Islam. 

After our time at the NGO we headed out to a small town outside of Rabat, Chellah. Here we visited an are of ancient Roman ruins that has been turned into a place for sight seeing as well as a small park. We had a guide that took us through the ruins and explained the history of the Romans in Morocco. From there we headed back to our medina and went back home for lunch. Saturday's lunch was my favorite meal in all my time in Morocco. We had a cold rice, corn and cream salad and Tajine! Tajine is a special earthenware pot that the meal is cooked in. It was basically this rich thick tomato stew/sauce with lamb meatballs in it. We all had our pieces of bread. The way you eat in Morocco is with your right had (the left hand is considered dirty) and you take the bread and dip it in the Tajine, you do not use utensils. They believe in communal eating there. It was a really fun experience! After lunch I and my friends managed to navigate our way throughout the streets back to our meeting place where we met a large group of local Moroccan students who took us in small groups around their beautiful town. This was a lot of fun getting to spend time with Moroccans our own age and getting to learn about cultural differences. 

That evening we got to experience one of the neatest activities that I have ever participated in, an Arab Bath House. The men and women go to different bath houses. All of the guys went to the baths and we had one our the Moroccan students as our guide. Once you get there you strip down to your underwear grab a big bucket, soap, and a Kiss, which is a rough scrubbing glove. The bath house has three rooms. You enter in the cold room first and then the medium and finally the hot room. In the hot room is a giant fountain with taps of hot water here you fill up your bucket and sit in the hot steamy room for about 10 minutes to let your body sweat our impurities. Then you move on to the medium heated room where everyone is sitting on the ground with the buckets, soap and kisses scrubbing away at their bodies. You could have payed a man about 30 Moroccan Dirham to scrub you, three of our guys did, I decided to wash myself. So you basically just sit there on the ground scrubbing away at your body till your skin is bright red. You know you are getting a good clean when as the Arabs call them, black snakes, are on your skin. This means that you have been scrubbing so hard that the Kiss is falling apart. After you have gotten a good scrub it's off to the coolest room to rinse off and relax for a while. After the Arab Bath House we headed to one of the girls home stays where we all received Henna tattoos. The house that we went to was the house of one of the IES Abroad Rabat girls that was in my group when they were in Granada. 

Sunday November 4: Once again we woke up to Hadija making toast and tea. This was our last time with our Moroccan family. We had such a wonderful time there. Once we packed up our stuff and got to the meeting point we were on our way to our next destination. We drove about 2 1/2 hours till we stopped in a small town were we stopped for tea and coffee and supplies. I went with our tour guide Jess into the town market to buy bread, cheese, fruits and vegetables. After our little rest stop we were on the road again. We were making our way to a small rural village up in the Rif Mountains of Morocco. This was probably my favorite part of the entire trip to Morocco. DJ Rashid and the blue, bubble, disco bus could only make it so far up the mountain so we had to hike the rest of the journey up. After about a 20 minute walk up the mountain we made it to a house where there was a family waiting to allow us in to have lunch with them and to stay there for the day with them. We had to have a translator with us because the family could only speak Arabic. 

When we got there the girls of our group went with the mother and began using the fruits and vegetables we brought to make a big salad. The boys went off to play soccer with the children of our family and some other of the kids in the village. I was the photographer for the group since our tour guide did not want all 20 of us walking around snapping photos of everything. ( I have yet to publish these photos on Facebook) Once the salad was ready when went to this big concrete room with pillows all over the ground where we sat and ate our salad and the Cous Cous that the mother had prepared for us. After the meal we all went around in a circle and shared with the family our names, where we are from, what we study, and our hobbies.      
Then we asked the family general questions about their life and the village. Finally the father, Mohammed took us on a walk up around the mountains showing us his land that he farms and the rest of the village below. It was a really neat experience getting to spend time with the family in rural Morocco. They had electricity and very little running water and for the bathroom it was a big hole in the ground. So when you were done using the bathroom you grabbed a bucket and went to the hose and filled it with water and dumped it in the hole, this served as their flushing system. Mohammed and his family have been living on this land for many generations and he hopes that one day one of his sons would like to take over the farm. They were extremely humble and generous people, and all of the kids were really fun too even thou we could not understand a word anyone was saying. 

Once we left the village we were on our way to our final destination, Chefchaouen, Morocco. Chefchaouen is a city that is nestled into the Rif Mountains. This was my favorite city that we went to in Morocco. The houses are all painted white and blue and are stacked up together all along the mountains and valleys. When we got there it was dark and pouring rain. We made our way to our hostel and got our rooms and then we had two hours of free time to go shopping in the village. The nice thing about Morocco is how cheap it is to buy things there. Once Euro is equal to ten Moroccan Dirham. When you go shopping the price that you see is about double of what you should pay, so you have to barter with the people to get a good price. Thankfully the people there spoke Spanish or we would have been completely lost. I was able to get some pretty good deals, I cannot say what I bought since they are all Christmas gifts for people!  But it was a lot of fun getting to meet the different venders and bargaining for the best price. After our little shopping spree we went to Aladdin, a Moroccan restaurant where I had a vegetable and cheese salad, Tajine, and fruit salad. 

After dinner we went back to our hostel and all gathered around on the couches on the top floor. We sat there by candle light and shared our experiences of the trip, our favorite parts, things we learned, and how we were going to help and set straight negative stereotypes about Islam, muslims and other groups. This was always one of my favorite parts of a group trip, and apparently others noticed it since I was the most comfortable and I talked a lot lol but I had learned a lot and had a lot to be thankful for. At the end of our discussion our guide Jess gave us all leather bracelets that she had bought as well as Arabic soap made with perfume. Then it was off to bed, because with the next day came a lot of traveling. 

Monday November 5: Some of us in our group woke up really early with our tour guide and decide to hike up the mountain to one of the highest points in Chefchaouen to see the sunrise. Unfortunately it was an overcast and rainy day. We still had a really good hike up the mountain. At the top was a small mosque where sat above the city and read some poetry that reflected on our time in Morocco. Overall it was a really neat morning. We then made the hike back down and we out to breakfast. We had cornbread with apricot jam and crepes with honey and mint tea. After breakfast we packed up, left the hostel and took the bus to our border town of Ceuta, Spain. Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain that is on the coast of Morocco. There they DJ Rashid left us and we walked across the Morocco and Spanish border and then we boarded our boat and headed back to Spain! 

Reflection: Overall I was really thrilled with this trip. It is something that I will never forget. I will always have tons of memories, experiences and photos (since I took 700 there). I learned many new things about Islam and Muslims and their culture and lifestyle. The way these people believe and practice their faith is encouraging to see. Even if we do not believe the same beliefs it is nice to see their dedication and their faith, if only the rest of the world could believe in God they way these people believe in Allah. I got to grow closer to the people in my group since we basically lived together for five days. We formed many friendships that will hopefully last when this semester ends in December and we all have to head back to the United States. I learned things about myself that hopefully I can remember in life and just how to be a better person in general. I cannot wait to see what the rest of my time in Spain has for me. And I am even more excited to be coming home! 

So hopefully I will have another blog up for everyone soon as I do something fun and exciting! Only two more weeks and I am off to London. I will definitely have a post then!

Hasta Luego, Nathan :)