Hello, hello, hello! Its been quite a while since I've written... things have been hectic, I've been lazy... you know how it is. Anyways, these past two weeks have been absolutely insane... probably the best two weeks of my whole semester here. I just got back from a glorious beach weekend in Malaga, a Mediterranean beach city...
But thats for later. I gotta take it back to the beginning of Semana Santa, our spring break, back to Morocco. We took the ferry across the straight of Gibraltar, and arrived in the city of Ceuta. We were on the continent of Africa, but still in a city owned by Spain. We had to drive across the border, which presented us with our first set of problems... Godilievre, a girl in our program, has a Congolese passport (from the Replublic of the Congo, fyi), and apparently she needs a VISA to get into Morocco (due to excessive sub-saharan immigration). After a couple hours wait, she got her VISA, and we got into the country. We drove to the city of Chef Chouen, which was painted completely blue. It was gorgeous. From there we headed to Fez, and saw what the big city had to offer. The food in Morocco was incredible, as was the tea. They don't drink much alcohol, being an Islamic country, so they call their tea "Moroccan Whisky". It's absolutely delicious. Here's a view of Fez:
On our way to Erfoud, our bus broke down and we were stuck on the side of the road for 5 hours. It was an interesting time... we played a lot of camp games and killed our time as creatively as possible. Eventually another bus came to rescue us, and took us to our restaurant for dinner. To keep us quiet, they fed us some free drinks while we waited to figure out what we were gonna do as far as getting to Erfoud. We were able to score mini-buses to get us there, and we got there at 4:30am . The hotel was cool, and we scored some more food before hitting the sack. We rose early the next day to get in our SUVs to traverse the desert flatlands. It was insane... flying through the desert, blasting Tina Turner, cruising over dunes and stuff. We hit our camels and rode them across the real loose sand to our campsite. On the way, we stopped off to climb a huge dune and catch the sunset. It was incredible.
After that, we headed to our campsite for some food, campfire, and drum circle dancing and singing. It was truly magical, something out of a movie... all of us dancing in this oasis of tents in the middle of the Sahara. We rose early the next morning to catch the sunrise, and just after it came up my camera died. Unfortunately, there was no saving it, and I was without a camera for the rest of Semana Santa. The last day in Morocco was pretty awesome- they put on a great show with dancing and drums at our final restaurant, and the food was delicious. We hopped the ferry back to Spain returned to our respective houses to crash and burn after the most phenomenal trip ever.
On our way to Erfoud, our bus broke down and we were stuck on the side of the road for 5 hours. It was an interesting time... we played a lot of camp games and killed our time as creatively as possible. Eventually another bus came to rescue us, and took us to our restaurant for dinner. To keep us quiet, they fed us some free drinks while we waited to figure out what we were gonna do as far as getting to Erfoud. We were able to score mini-buses to get us there, and we got there at 4:30am . The hotel was cool, and we scored some more food before hitting the sack. We rose early the next day to get in our SUVs to traverse the desert flatlands. It was insane... flying through the desert, blasting Tina Turner, cruising over dunes and stuff. We hit our camels and rode them across the real loose sand to our campsite. On the way, we stopped off to climb a huge dune and catch the sunset. It was incredible.
After that, we headed to our campsite for some food, campfire, and drum circle dancing and singing. It was truly magical, something out of a movie... all of us dancing in this oasis of tents in the middle of the Sahara. We rose early the next morning to catch the sunrise, and just after it came up my camera died. Unfortunately, there was no saving it, and I was without a camera for the rest of Semana Santa. The last day in Morocco was pretty awesome- they put on a great show with dancing and drums at our final restaurant, and the food was delicious. We hopped the ferry back to Spain returned to our respective houses to crash and burn after the most phenomenal trip ever. The actual celebration of Semana Santa was something magical in itself... enormous processions of people in these very interesting costumes walking all over the city, followed by enormous religious floats that were also carried by men... these "pasos" were to represent the pilgrimage for repentance, and many of the people marching didn't wear shoes. There feet would bleed and bleed, but they kept marching. It was quite beautiful, all in all.
After that, it was back to school. I thought it would be really hard to get back into the swing of things, but it wasn't too bad. The week was busy, with many papers and whatnot, but I got them all done while looking forward to the weekend. The weather was supposed to be really nice, so me and my buddy Sam started planning a beach getaway. We settle on Malaga, a coastal city East of Sevilla, right on the Mediterranean.
We were only going for the day, with our friends Omar and Rod, but when we got there we realized it was an awesome city with a lot to see so we decided to stay over night. As you can see from the picture at the top, the mountains just rise straight out of the beach, right out of the sea. We checked out two of the beaches there, and then went out again to see what the night had to offer. We ran into a bunch of American students from Rome who were doing the same thing we were, except it was their spring break. We hung out with them and had a few drinks, then retired to the hotel. Yesterday morning, we got up and headed out to find the Castle. Its on top of a mountain really close to the ocean, and we found our way to the top. You could see the entire city from the top of that castle, it was breathtaking.
We were only going for the day, with our friends Omar and Rod, but when we got there we realized it was an awesome city with a lot to see so we decided to stay over night. As you can see from the picture at the top, the mountains just rise straight out of the beach, right out of the sea. We checked out two of the beaches there, and then went out again to see what the night had to offer. We ran into a bunch of American students from Rome who were doing the same thing we were, except it was their spring break. We hung out with them and had a few drinks, then retired to the hotel. Yesterday morning, we got up and headed out to find the Castle. Its on top of a mountain really close to the ocean, and we found our way to the top. You could see the entire city from the top of that castle, it was breathtaking. As a pirate myself, I was drawn to the charm of the port. We found this cool boat (I maintain its a pirate ship, all my friends said I was crazy) that was a restaurant/disco/bar. This is the best picture I got of it.
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend to end a fantastic two weeks. Next weekend I'm off on a trip to Grenada, and the week after that I'm going to Germany to visit Mark D. I'm so excited! But, there's only 7 weeks left here... a scary thought. I was speaking to my friend Maggie, who's abroad in Australia, and she's only got 3 weeks before she goes home (2 in Bond, and one week in Fiji... lucky.), which is really wild. We both talked about how lucky we are to be doing what we are... what a great opportunity it is. Its gonna be weird, going home, but it will be nice to see all you fine folks again. Much love, and stay tuned!
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend to end a fantastic two weeks. Next weekend I'm off on a trip to Grenada, and the week after that I'm going to Germany to visit Mark D. I'm so excited! But, there's only 7 weeks left here... a scary thought. I was speaking to my friend Maggie, who's abroad in Australia, and she's only got 3 weeks before she goes home (2 in Bond, and one week in Fiji... lucky.), which is really wild. We both talked about how lucky we are to be doing what we are... what a great opportunity it is. Its gonna be weird, going home, but it will be nice to see all you fine folks again. Much love, and stay tuned! 
No comments:
Post a Comment