From Morocco!

Hey All!

I know it has been a while since I checked in! I was backpacking my way through Morocco. Actually I took a bus, but I had everything in my backpack (Thanks to learning how to pack from my mom and Hope!) and then we trekked all around once we arrived with our backpacks! We got here during the end of Ramadan (which all depends on the moon) and so it was up to the moon when it would come to an end. But everything was closed and everyone was hungry and ready to celebrate! Once the moon ended Ramadan the celebrations began and it was really fun to be there for the occasion!

We got to Casa Blanca and had a day to just explore. I was impressed that I could remember how to get to the bank and the postage stamp stand from the last time I was here. The next day we took a bus to Marrakech. I missed the memo that Marrakech is in the desert (literally like Palm Desert, minus the golf courses and Hawaiian shirts and white shoes). I am not one to complain about weather…but it was SO SO HOT in Marrakech. It was kind of nuts. I have no idea how they have there heads covered and wear full-length clothing and don’t pass out from the heat, but they don’t. We stayed at this cool hotel with lots of tile. The shower didn’t work and there was no air conditioning and so we were roughing it, but it was in a perfect location and we had a good view of the city and it had a really pretty pool. The thing that I couldn’t seem to remember is not to drink the water—and so you can’t hold your toothbrush under the sink unless you want to get sick.  We found this awesome restaurant that literally felt like being in Oceans 11. The whole night I was waiting for George Clooney to come down this flight of marble stars that was lined with candles down the middle of the restaurant and sit down with us, but he never did. Tim Gunn would have been mad that I didn’t pack any “night out” clothes and literally wore Nike to dinner. Maybe good George didn’t drop by.
We visited the Bahia Palace, the Dar Said Museum and the reed-covered bazaars. The Palace has this AMAZING tile that you can’t possibly capture in a picture. It is totally incredible. My favorite part is that there were these circular holes in all the doors throughout the Palace and they put them in for all the feral cats that wander the palace so that none of them get stuck in one room and claw the place apart. We tried to imagine what it would be like to be a cat living in a Palace that was built in 1880. The gardens were really amazing with Palma granite (my favorite), grapefruit and oranges. At the markets we got a work out. It is so EXHAUSTING to get a good price and we literally spent an hour in one stand trying to get a good deal on a blanket. The guy was so funny, saying, “I am your friend, I say truth, I don’t spit because you cannot put that back in your mouth…so I give good deal.” We were literally in this blanket stand dishing it out with this guy for the best price—but it ended in success! A wool blanket from the Atlas Mountains! Then the guy wanted us to take his families name and number and stay with them in the Atlas Mountains. Not enough time! Ha-ha! That wore us out and so we left for the Jema el Fna Square and that was INSANE! There are these snake charmers that put snakes around your neck and NO means nothing. They have monkeys that they try to put on your head, fire-eaters and storytellers and tons and tons of food. It is wall to wall filled with people! It is nuts! I–THANKFULLY- did not have anything put around my neck or on my head, but a few guys got a hold of a fake snake just to freak me out!

The next day we went to Safi. We stopped in Essaouria and it was a cute little beach town. The shops were cute and we got Nutella Crepes which tasted so good, but are so bad for you. Then we got a carton of Moroccan OJ (Which is the best stuff on earth) and sat by the ocean with the International Herald Tribune and caught up on the world. When you are traveling the world you have no idea what is going on IN the world and when you are home sitting at your desk you know everything that is going on in the world! I miss news! Then we went to Safi. We got there late and so we had dinner and green tea. If you ever go to Morocco you have to have green tea. It is the second best stuff on earth and it is not sold at Starbucks or at Tazo. This stuff is SOOO GOOOD–AMAZING. The pottery in Safi is so pretty. It is impossible to choose what to get and so we took lots of pictures of things that we liked and the pottery wouldn’t fit in an overhead compartment unless we broke it into a bunch of little pieces anyway! Oh and Marla, if you are reading this, I got an AWESOME beaded bed cover in attempt to make my room as cozy as your dorm at Haystack! You would love it!

If you haven’t been to Morocco you should know this: Morocco is really special and it is such an amazing place, but it is also a hard place to visit. There is a lot of pollution and poverty and it is dirty and there is litter everywhere, homeless, hungry and shantytowns. It is busy: there is traffic, cars in all directions, donkeys carrying fruit and eggs and chickens. There are chickens for sale, (even, chicks that they dye in all different colors and sell in boxes) hookah, lots of yelling and shouting. There is peace: the call to prayer, compasses in cars and lights that flash from the tops of mosques that point to Mecca, and there are mosques with beautiful tile and patterned rugs to pray. It is dusty, dirty, hot, busy, and crowded with blue oceans, beaches, palm trees, mountains, olive orchards, sheep, goats and donkeys. There are people from all over the world, unlimited pot full’s of green tea, heaps that are all colors of the rainbow, henna and camels–and that is just a small taste.

The last day back in Casa Blanca we went to one of my FAVORITE restaurants (that I found last summer with Lauren—I missed you girl—and that I went to with Courtney and Brooke—missed you two too!) and ate amazing food and loaded up on as much green tea as possible. It was the perfect way to wrap up Morocco. I love it! I will miss it and I am excited for Ghana! Hugs to all of you and LOL---meaning LOTS OF LOVE!