Did we ever leave Africa?: Marseille June 5 and 6

So, we had a relatively expensive hotel reserved outside of Marseille because it was all we could find online. Well, we took the train from the airport into the city center, had no idea where we were and decided we'd go find internet to see if we could figure out how to get there. We ended up wandering down to the city and found a shady hotel near the train station. We figured "why not?" and found out they had some rooms for only 35 euro per night. Soo... I cancelled our other reservation and we've been staying in the old part of town. It's mostly north african immigrants and moroccan and tunisian restaurants in the area... which makes me miss morocco a little less. (Just a little though - I love that country!)

Well, we spent the afternoon being good tourists and wandering around to see all of the landmarks like St. Victor's Abbey (there happened to be a funeral so we couldn't actually go in.), the cathedral, the old port, etc. We also stopped to try the baked specialty of Marseille at a bakery that is like 220 years old. They are called Navettes and kind of taste like a really hard lemon cookie. Ehh.. it was an experience anyway.

We decided to get some food but everything was pretty expensive around the old port so we settled on a little venezia pizzeria. It ended up being a good choice as we spent the evening chatting with the owner about everything from the joys of traveling to the social problems in France. He didn't want us to leave yet, so he gave us a bottle of Limoncello to start drinking... Never mind that we had already shared a bottle of Vin de Provence. We were also talking with his friend Kamel who apparently owned a bakery in the suburbs and told us that if we came back the next day, he would bring us a special dessert. Why not, right? Well, we wandered the city by night for a little bit to check out all of the monuments all lit up and then went to crash at the hotel.

In the morning, we decided to take a bus early out to the Calanques and the bay of Cassis. Unfortunately, our hotel owner recommended we not go that direction since a woman had just been kidnapped while she was hiking there and it wouldn't be safe for 2 girls to go alone. Instead, we went to the Calanques in the south of Marseille. They are these crazy rock formations from when glaciers were cutting through the area. Anyway, when trying to get there, we got on the wrong bus about 4 times, but eventually made it there. Basically we ended up hiking through the mountain-like things. It was ok, but not fabulous... until we got to the top of one of the big ones and found the sea. It was an amazing view of the Mediterranean, little islands off the coast, and the little fishing village where the bus dropped us off. I kept telling Megan how surreal it was - like something out of a movie.

Finally, we hiked back down and decided to take the bus to one of the beaches... I forgot they had topless beaches in France. Whoops. Anyways, we napped there for a while and got horribly sunburnt, and then went home. It went much smoother on the way back. :)

We decided to go back to the city, and ended up trying to grab dinner at the pizzeria again. We were greeted with bises and warm welcomes. Kamel wasn't there yet, but I ended up chatting with a guy who works for the oil industry in Algeria and owns a hotel... so after talking for a while, he told us he would get us a tour guide and a place to stay if we just come to visit. Really, the people are so generous! Kamel never came and we decided to leave, but Christian (the Italian owner) told us he might be by later. Megan and I went to go grab some ice cream for dessert and came back. Kamel still hadn't been by, so Christian insisted we call him... so I had to explain over the phone to this person I had just met the day before that it was okay that he had too much work and couldn't make it out for dinner... as if we'd been friends for like 10 years. Well, Christian felt bad, so he gave us.. more Limoncello. Finally, we took a couple of pictures, exchanged email addresses, and went home to our shady hotel.

Would you like a massage? Fes: June 3 and 4

Wednesday morning, I woke up early and just spent a while chatting with Yassine until everyone else woke up. Eventually Sandra (Farid's flatmate) invited me to run to the market to get some food for breakfast while Farid made some more fresh mint tea. It was so quiet and calm there in the morning while everyone was still cleaning out their shops. The only downside was that I almost slipped in a puddles about a half dozen times.

Well, Megan and I took a fancy, air-conditioned, fast train to Fes, and arrived around 3pm. We wandered around for a while, asking for directions, and finally found our hotel. We explored to find some lunch, and then decided we'd ask about finding the old Medina since we were definitely living in the new part of town. The concierge told us it would all be closed, but I wanted to adventure out there anyways. As it turned out, it was nowhere near closed. After walking down probably a good mile of boulevard with a fountain every 10 feet, we could hear the Medina. We wandered around inside for quite a while trying not to get lost or harassed too much and found ice cream and other snacks for dinner for anywhere from 10 cents to a dollar each. Saweet. :) Megan's family requested that she bring back some Saffron, so we asked about it and were led into this labrynth of spices behind a shop front. Really, it was just walls and walls of spices piled up to the ceiling. We wandered a bit more and found a beautiful door in the Medina. I decided to take a picture. Bad idea. As it turns out, it was the royal palace and the police came over and scolded me and made me erase it. Oops. Anyway, it was getting late, so we headed back to the hotel.

In the morning of the 4th, Megan and I decided we would be brave and to to a Hamam. Since the people here usually have only cold water to shower with, they go to this spa kind of thing once a week or so. We did not know what we were getting ourselves into. The guy at the counter told us it was one euro to enter and 4 euro for a massage: would we like a massage? We said sure, paid, and walked into the women's side of the Hamam. You go all the way back to a steam room for a while and then they bring out tons of pails of steaming hot water in the second room where you can scrub up. We looked like idiots wandering around since we had no idea what was going on, but it was interesting anyways. Then came the surprise "massage". An old Moroccan woman comes up with like a loofah mit and scrubs the hell out of you. It was not what we expected, far from relaxing, and hilarious to laugh about afterwards... once we had our silky soft skin. Ayayya.

Finally, we realized we were running a bit low on cash if we were going to take a taxi in the morning, but luckily, we found a sandwich shop selling what seemed like falafel sandwiches for 4 Dirham... which is equal to about 50 cents in the US. Thank you Morocco! Tonight, I think the plan is maybe to relax by the pool for a bit, head up to the old Medina to check out the music festival, and call it a night so we can catch a taxi to the airport early in the morning. Ahh, c'est la vie!

UPDATE: So we did end up going to the Medina and since it is really our first city in Morocco without male escorts, there were some positive and negative aspects. For the negative, there were a tremendous amount of stares and catcalls in every language you could imagine. For the positive, I was out of money so one of the vendors called me over and just gave me a pair of traditional slippers for visiting Morocco. I guess I can't complain too much! :)

The twin cities: Rabat-Sale June 1-2

Tarik made us a quick breakfast in the morning and drove us to the train station before he had to go to work. We took second class from Casa to Rabat and it was a bad idea since it was really stuffy, hot, and crowded. By the time we got off the train in Rabat, we felt DISGUSTING.

We didn't see our friend waiting for us, and we weren't positive if we were even at the right station in the city, so we tried to use the phone. Luckily for us, our friend showed up right behind us as we were calling them. Yassine had brought Farid and another friend with him, and since Yassine was busy getting ready for his first screening of his documentary, he sent us in a taxi to Farid's house. It was in the old part of the city, at the crossing of Rabat's river and the ocean. It was founded by pirates - basically all of the Muslims who were kicked out of Spain came and claimed the area. Anyway, the house was amazing. It was pretty big and had a gorgeous terrace with an overshelming view of the ocean and Rabat's twin city: Sale.

Megan and I went to wander along the river for a while to try to get a feel for the city. The shopowners are much less pushy here. Well, we grabbed some delicious crepes for dinner and headed back to meet Farid so we could all go see Yassine's documentary. People started taking pictures of us right as we walked in. Apparently, it was a big deal with lots of press... and we were slimy, un-showered, and casually dressed. Unfortunately, they wanted "an international perspective" and interviewed us to be aired on the news in Morocco. So, if you see a pasty white girl talking about the disparities between the tourists and the local people in the town of Ifrain, you'll know how I spent my time in Rabat. Ha. ;)

Anyway, we met a bunch of Yassine's friends and all decided to go to Rachid's house where we ended up just chatting quite a bit and having 13 people eating veggie tagine (cooked by the men of course) around a small table. We talked a bit more, and then Yassine, Eunice, Hamza, Rachid, Abdel, Farid, and another friend all walked us back across town to Farid's house where we ended up staying that night.

In the morning, we slept in pretty late, but Farid still bought us some traditional bread from the market and made us some yummy mint tea for breakfast. Then, we went out to visit the Mozoleum, the big Mosque; and the roman ruins at Chellah. The ruins were crazy - this huge labrynth of old bricks, beautiful flowers, and almost a jungle-like atmosphere. It seemed even more so because they had these huge nests full of nasty giant birds cackling away the whole time. After walking all over town, Megan and I decided to take a taxi back to Farid's in the old part of town. That was an adventure and a half to explain to the driver who only spoke arabic and broken french since it is so far north it is not on the map.

We returned, hung out on the terrace, talked with Farid's flatmates a bit, and then found out Yassine would finally be coming to meet us. When he arrived, the guys proposed that we go see some local dance performance. No big deal, right? Well, we forgot Yassine was a photographer and Farid was a journalist. So, we had to sign in as the press, walk down a red carpet (again dressed like bums) and hear questions like "pardon me, but have you met the ambassador?" Apparently it wasn't just some small dance show, it was symbolising some kind of partnership between Europe and Morocco, with the president, ambassador, etc. Whoops. The guys snapped some pics after mingling a bit and decided they would rather take naps than watch traditional European dance, so we ducked out the back door.

The guys wanted us to make them dinner, but we didn't know what we'd be able to find there, so they agreed to make dinner and we would make them traditional american dessert: cookies. :) We spent quite a while walking through the market picking up everything we would need and eventually made it home to start cooking. We spent maybe an hour preparing, and then the whole group of like 7 of us decided to have dinner by candlelight on the terrace since the view of the lights reflecting on the ocean was just amazing. I think it was after midnight by the time we finished eating and cleaning, so we all went to bed pretty soon after.

Casablanca: May 31

Yesterday in Marrakech, I got an email saying that our host in Casablanca would also not be able to meet us because of work. I tried to figure something out, but didn't have much luck and didn't want to impose for another night in Marrakech, so we just hopped on the train and hoped for the best. We arrived to realize that Casa is MUCH larger than we imagined and most things were closed because it was a sunday. Finally, after asking many times, we found internet. Tarik had sent me an email saying he would leave work to meet us, so we called him right away.

He picked us up and brought us to his place to relax. Since he is Muslim, he had to leave right away because it was time to pray and we didn't know when he'd be back, so I just hopped in for a much needed shower. When he arrived, he took us on a tour of the city - especially spending a lot of time at the Hassan II Mosque - the 2nd largest in the world. It was breathtaking. We're still really the only white people we've seen around here, so we were a bit of a spectacle by ourselves. Later, we grabbed a sandwich and wandered the old Medina for a while before trying to go meet one of Tarik's friends. Unfortunately, Tarik had some trouble with the directions, and we never found the friend.

Instead, we met up with his friend Ali, went to the boardwalk and sat at a cafe to sipping orange juice and watching the sunset. It was a nice night. Then, we all decided we'd like to dance, but apparently clubs don't open until later there, so we had some time to kill. We ended up walking again through the old medina and the boys convinced us to try moroccan spiced snails. That was an experience to say the least. Finally, though, we ended up at a nice bar and ended up just drinking some wine and chatting all night since the place wasn't really full enough to merit dancing that night. All in all, a good night in Casa.

"Where is your husband?": Essaouira May 30

Said brought us to the bus station early in the morning so we could get to Ess pretty early. After 3 hours, we arrived and asked for directions to Hamouda's (the guy we were to be staying with) riad. We found it, but they said he wouldn't be back that night. We tried to call him, and he didn't answer. We also managed to find out that we couldn't continue our trip from Ess like we thought, and the only way to get to Casa is to go back through Marrakech.

So, we left the riad and decided to enjoy as much of the city as we could. Ess is on the coast, so there was a beautiful beach filled with swimmers and kites, etc. We also spent some time walking through the markets looking at souvenirs, but since this was our first time walking around without a male friend to guide us (AND we were stuck carrying around out big old bags screaming tourist) there was a lot of heckling, cat calls, etc. We eventually settled down for a great tagine (fish because we were by the coast) in a good restaurant along the market streets.

We decided since we had no place to stay and would have to go back to Marrakech anyway, we would call our friends there. Luckily, they were available to meet us, but the car was not working, so we attempted to navigate the public transportation. It would have been fine, but the police spent a while trying to subdue and kick a drunk man off the bus, so we were paused for a while. By the time we got back to the flat, I was so tired I just went to bed.

Desert trip continued: May 29

So I slept in the desert tent, but apparently my area had a hole in one of the rugs, so I woke up covered in sand... everywhere. I also woke up about 2 hours before everyone so I took some time to sit outside and watch the wind storm reform the dunes. It was unreal - like the scenery was being created while I watched. Eventually everyone woke up and we had a little breakfast and hopped back on the camels to get back to a road at the edge of the desert.

We stopped in Ouzazarte for lunch and a little shopping. I went into one of the shops and was talking to a man who showed me how to tie the traditional berber headscarf and he ended up selling it to me for 50 Dirham instead of 200 after I sat down and talked to him a bit. Anyway, we hopped on the minibus and drove the rest of the way back to Marrakech only stopping for tea a couple times along the way. We were dropped off and our friend Said was supposed to meet us, but apparently we weren't dropped off back at the agency, so we spent some time wandering in the Medina trying to find our meeting spot.

When we made it back to our friend's flat, we finally got to shower off some sand. We met up with the other guys, the showed us some of the pictures of their families' village, a few friends stopped by and we spent another evening just chatting, talking politics, etc. until the early morning. We all exchanged info. and said goodbye before going to bed because Megan and I would be leaving Marrakech in the morning for Essaouira.

To the Dunes! : Desert tour May 28

We woke up around 6 to get to the agency in the city center by 7. We were a little late and there was nobody there, but it turns out everyone was just late. We paid for our tour and got on the minibus when it arrived. There were about 15 people on the tour from all over the world. It was crazy how we all managed to get along with so many languages floating around the car.

We fell asleep for a while and woke up in the middle of the Atlas mountains - the Tichka. It was beautiful! We took a little break to take pics and get a snack and it was just crazy how much different scenery we saw. There was everything from desert/cactus to waterfalls, snowy mountains, palm trees, and mini forests. We drove on and took another break at a real bathroom and happened to run into Isham who was leading a different tour to the desert that day.

We drove quite a bit and stopped for lunch at a nice restaurant and giant Kasbah (old city center like a giant sand castle). A guy was charging entrance but we told him we didn't know if we wanted to go in so he let us in for free since we were "nice girls". We eventually went back to pay him after wandering around for a while, but he was doing his afternoon prayers.

Then, we continued on to meet the camels on the edge of the real desert. We had 3 camel trains for all of us and 3 berber guides to go with. Megan and I named our camels Elfie and Gertrude. Let me just say it's a weird experience when a camel stands up for the first time. They do the back legs first so you feel like you're going to be thrown off the front. Yikes! We rode a few hours into the desert to meet our camp - a big Berber tent where they would make us dinner over a fire and teach us traditional drumming and dancing. Unfortunately, the bathroom tent had blown away in a desert storm the previous week. This wasn't so bad at night because you could just wander away from camp and find a sand dune, but in the morning, it got a bit awkward. I spent some time with the camp leader - Mohammed, who told me all about the values and principles of living in the desert. He also gave us new names. I am Fatima and Megan is Latifah and we've been called that by everyone ever since. Anyway, after a chicken tagine, tea, and vegetables, we all sat around talking before the Berber men started drumming and we all talked and danced in the desert until the early hours of the morning.

Bienvenue en Afrique: Marrakech May 27

We took the early train to the airport in Paris, and of course our flight was delayed. We arrived at the Marrakech airport a couple hours late, greeted by Arabic writing on sand colored buildings. This was NOT Europe. :) We walked in and attempted to go through customs but first had to check in to make sure we didn't have the swine flu. When we finally made it to the arrivals area - about 2 hours late - Said and Isham were waiting for us. We got into their Range Rover and headed over to their flat where we met the people they lived with: Ahmet, Rafik, Abdo, and his brother.

We hadn't really eaten all day so I was really grateful when they showed us how to make a Tagine (traditional Moroccan food with meat and vegetables cooked over fire) almost as soon as we arrived. The boys were some great cooks. Also, they showed us how to eat "like Berbers" with just bread and our hands, all together from the same plate. All of us just sat around getting to know each other for a while in the kitchen which consisted of some small leather chairs, a sink, cabinet, and a low table to sit at.

My next shocker was the bathroom. I was somewhat prepared, but still a little surprised. It had one of those toilets that is pretty much just a porcelain hole in the ground. The shower/sink/ toilet flushing mechanism consisted of a cold water spigot and a pail. It was definitely different, but it worked.

Anyway, we continued on to the old market which was craaazy amazing. We walked in and were greeted with snake charmers, pet monkeys, street vendors, beggars, everything you can imagine. The boys helped us get a good price on henna tattoos so Megan and I each got that done. Then they took us for some delicious fresh squeezed orange juice, special Moroccan bread, sweet tea, special chocolate dessert, and a tea made from probably 50 different spices. I almost exploded. :) Anyway, the men there were real gentlemen and wouldn't let us girls pay for anything... kind of a nice change from America. Ha! Well, we finally went into the Souks and I was overwhelmed by the size. There were literally thousands and thousands of scarves, slippers, leather bags, silver jewelry - shop after shop.

We got a bit tired and decided to head home since we would be heading to the desert in the morning, but realized we didn't know where to meet in the morning. Luckily Said knew quite a bit about tourism in the city and he ran around and found our agency for us. Then, it was back to the flat, but the traffic was crazy. Two lanes of traffic held 4 or 5, cutting people off is normal, and there seemed to be no speed limit. Donkeys, horse carriages, cars, motor bikes holding entire families, cabs with 7 people in them all shared the roads as well. Anyway, they boys planned a small party for what was supposed to be our only night in Marrakech and we all ended up dancing, talking, and having lots of fun until around 2 in the morning.

Pictures

Sorry for the lack of pictures everyone. Unfortunately, I have not had access to a computer with the capabilities to upload. I will post some as soon as I can! :)

Paris: May 25 and 26

Monday morning, we got up early to repack everything and get ready to catch the bus to Paris. We arrived so early that we were able to hop on a bus that left an hour earlier than planned. :) This was a good thing since it took almost 4 hours to get there. We arrived, hopped on the metro, got off on the wrong stop and walked probably .75 miles to find our hotel with all of our stuff. I was joking that we would end up at the top because I always did when we were in Paris. Well, we checked in and the man told us we were in room 31... on the 6th floor... up the spiral staircase... with no elevator. It was actually kind of funny as we each had about 40+ pounds of stuff to carry with us.

Anyway, we checked in, bought some groceries for lunch, took a few pictures at Notre Dame de Paris, and just wandered the area. Eventually, we hung out in an internet cafe for a while trying to figure out the details of the rest of our trip. We walked around, got a crepe for dinner, and walked around the Latin Quarter. We almost went home but decided to go into a bar along the road because they had Sangria on special. We made friends with all of the hosts and finally left a little after midnight. Unfortunately, it was raining and I didn't have and umbrella so I walked a couple miles or so in the rain... not pretty.

We hopped in bed and slep the morning away on Tuesday. After getting organized, we didn't make it out to the city until around 3, but we still managed to grab some pain au chocolat, head over to the Arc de Triomphe, walk over to the Eiffel Tower to take some pics and then take the metro to where we thought the Moulin Rouge was. It's really too bad nobody in Paris seems to actually know where it is. We asked about 5 people and after piecing everything together... we realized that we still had about a mile to walk. We finally made it there but just took some pictures since tickets for shows were running up to 180 euros. Too rich for me. I think the plan is now to head back to the Latin Quarter to find a nice dinner, head home, and then catch a flight to Morocco in the morning. :)