God, where to start.
So, after a grand total of 2 nights in spain getting down to the south tip, we caught a short ferry into Tangier, at the very top of Morocco.
God, it was hot, and pretty intense. Seemed pretty tourist friendly, but most people struggled to speak much, if any English. Good thing I am almost fluent in French. Hugh disagrees.
So we got to tangier, and instantly made a few best friends who proceeded to follow us around for the next few hours trying to convince us that their hotel was the best in Morocco, etc. After a meal and a quick wander, we got to the station, to get tickets for our overnight train. A pretty pleasant experience, we got a bed, and as a souvenir we decided to steal the logo-embroidered pillow cases (so hardcore). The come about 8 in the morning, we got into Marrakech..
One of the few boxes I had yet to be ticked was the 'ripped off by a taxi driver', but Marrakech sorted that out, as the taxi driver originally said 40dh, but then at the end of the trip decided it was 40Dh EACH (for what we later discovered was really a 10Dh trip). Luckily with my staunch-ness and well developed bartering skills, I got it down to 60Dh for the two of us, only paying 6 times to much. Wonderful. The main square was amazing however, busy with markets and stalls all over, although very few restaurants. I'm sure you've figured out that the time of year we went was Ramadan, so all the Muslims (essentially all the locals) do not eat between sunrise and sunset. We had a wander, and managed to get spectacularly lost, which we could not understand until we realised the locals point you in the wrong direction on purpose, so then you have to get them to lead you out of the maze of winding alleyways that is the Medina, and give them a tip in reward. They've got scamming tourists down to a tee. Anyway, at night when they're allowed to eat, the whole place really comes alive. As well as the huge temporary market of restaurants, wandering through the masses of people in the square we saw a boxing match, stories, games, what Hugh believes to be a witch doctor, and a whole lot more. Ramadan is awesome.
We stayed at a pretty amazing place, very authentic, and that evening we met with Tash and Matt, a receptionist and assistant houseparent from the school I work at. We started playing cards, and decided we'd keep a tally for the entire 10 days and the winner takes a small trophy, loser a wooden spoon. Next morning we went by 7-hour train to Fez; a ridiculously hot train, with the temperature around 50 often outside, beads of sweat dripping. Fez was a very cool place, very authentic and huge Medina, the biggest traffic free city district in the world. Amongst getting completely lost, Hugh getting attacked by small african kids, seeing livestock markets and some very derelict ancient alleyways, the highlight was almost seeing a camels head on a butcher counter, just sitting there. No big deal. Eye's peacefully closed, complete, as if it were photoshopped. When the butcher realised we were taking photo's of it, he picked it up by its ear, and the sight of the skin all stretching as he picked it up is something I think will stay with me for way too long.
So after Fez, we decided to hit up Cassablanca. Although we'd been told its a pretty average city, we all wanted to be able to say we'd been there. We weren't lied to. By far the most western city in Morocco, it was nothing special, the only memorable part of the night we spent there being myself and Hugh's taxi ride from the restaurant strip to the hotel. We jumped in a taxi, and said the name of the hotel. 'oui, oui'. Idiot. He had no idea, and decided to drive around random hotels, just on the off chance he managed to find ours. With the meter running, we decided to bail, and get some directions from a nearby 5 star hotel. The apparently helpful guy at reception quickly 'googled' our hotel, wrote down the address in full, directions, and circled it on a map. What we later found out in our second taxi of the journey, was that the address he wrote, did not match the instructions. And neither matched the map. And all 3 were wrong. That was a long journey back..
Next stop Essaouira, a beach side city/town, we spent a couple of nights there, wandering around, went for a swim, was very relaxed and nice. The temperature actually dropped to around 30 degrees at one stage which was a welcome surprise, so far during morocco it had been around 45ish every day. So after that very pleasant couple of days, we went back to Marrakech for a night, and joined up for a 2 night tour out to the Sahara. Without a doubt the highlight or Morocco, and perhaps even the trip, the Sahara was absolutely amazing. On the way we passed the windy roads of the Atlas mountains, and as specky as they were, we were also just trying our best not to be sick - our driver was insane, not the slowest driver. I did start feeling quite sick at one point, and Hugh being the great friend he is, decided the best thing to do would be to take out MY toothbrush, and poke it out of the zip of his bag (refer to the facebook picture) to be assured that I wouldn't chunder on his bag. Thanks Hugh. After 2 days of specky driving, sightseeing and photo-stops, we finally reached the edge of the Sahara, where we bough headscarfes (no idea what they're actually called, refer to picures), and started out camel trip into the desert. 2 hours on a camel to our campsite, we finished just as the sun set. After dinner, we stargazed for a bit, watching some spectacular shooting stars, with the only light pollution at all being a tiny candle in the sand. Which actually managed to attract a scorpion that we later researched and found to be called a 'deathstalker', no wonder the tour leader was so quick to kill it. Out went the candle. Anyway after that we had no problem in climbing a 200m sand dune in bare feet, and stargazed again at the top, before heading back to sleep under the stars. I cannot describe the Sahara in words, being out there was one of the more amazing things I've ever done. All you can see is sand dunes, nothing remotely man made or touched by people, neither this blog of the photo's really do it justice. The next morning at sunrise we went back, and spent the whole of that day driving back to Marrakech.
Another day of wandering the Medina, and it was time to finally end my huge trip. Flew back to England, pretty keen to finally not live out of a bag. It had been about 6 and a bit weeks, and I hadn't spent more than 2 nights in one place. Looking back on it now, it was a pretty amazing experience, the spontanuity and adventure of it all, and some of the unexpected experiences.
Now its time to pay back Mummy and Daddy....
