"I will sell my 1,500 camels for you"

A mere 35 min ferry ride from the most southern spanish city Tarifa brought Abel and I to Tanger, Morocco...and what a different world it was. I had never felt like such a tourist before...and so inappropriately dressed :)! Our hotel was really great for the low price of 65 euros that we had paid...it had a really nice pool, sauna and massage area, and good restaurant with free breakfast. Lots of pictures coming up, so get ready to be entertained whilst I work my magic...


"Nooooooooooooo way! She can´t be escaped!" I exclaimed to Abel when I saw this sign. My confusion and perplexed state of mind turned to understanding when I realized, after a few moments, that Celine must be well known in Morocco because her husband (or grandfather,whichever way you look at it) is...moroccan, right? That´s the only possible explanation that I was able to come up with. Anyways, this "Salon de thé" was close to our hotel, and I really don´t have to tell you that we didn´t venture inside...but I just did, so there you go...


Carpets, teacups, pots, plates, shoes, dresses, shirts, etc etc....buy, buy, buy, sell, sell, sell! The most famous market area of Tanger is called Medina, and it´s just incredible how many tiny and big shops are all lined up together...side by side. The shops in Morocco all have this strange, stuffy, and sometimes downright "stinky" smell. Know why? Everything is done by hand, and they use lots of animal skin for the little leather dolls, shoes, and other goods. It was incredible wandering the little streets up and down, down and up...I felt like I was in another world. Seriously. Hearing people shout in arabic left and right was quite something. There are lots of signs in French and in Spanish as well, but arabic is of course widely spoken. It was great being able to speak more or less with the locals...I guess 4 languages come in handy in our little world ;) I´m sooooo modest....

This is the "no smoking" equivalent in Morocco...hehehe. We were eating in an outside restaurant when Abel spotted the pipe (they use it to smoke pot). Yes, Morocco is a strict country, but not THAT strict...things change, I guess. Lots of people were trying to sell us "chocolate" (wink wink, that´s what they call it) and yes, you ARE able to buy alcohol from some cafes (though not many...you gotta search) but they have a certain trick to it...I shall explain later. They eat a lot of couscous and chicken here....and the moroccan salad is just really great :) I did have to rush to the bathroom after our first moroccan meal (must have been that spicy hot sauce), but the food was delicious. Guess it takes some getting used to, hehehehe...
One thing that was extremely obvious was that there were NEVER any moroccan women sitting down for a coffee/tea in the cafes....everything was full of men. No joke. I felt a bit sorry for the women, seeing them bundled up from head to toe, shopping for spices and carrrying their children on their backs, or walking to the beach in full tent-sized clothing, but...I guess that they are used to this and maybe feel sorry for us...who knows? They are used to tourists over there, but lots of women still stared at my shorts and tank-top (incidentally I didn´t wear the shorts anymore after the first day...let´s just say that all eyes were on me from the moment I walked out the door to the moment I walked back to the hotel). I kinda knew about this before venturing out to Marocco, but I thought that more female tourists would be wearing shorts...not true. I think that I´ll have to ask Shane to buy me a typical female garb for when I go to Egypt in December...I think that it will be even worse for women over there. That, and I just want to feel safe and part of the crowd.
I did feel safe in Morocco, but that´s because Abel was with me. Most salesmen thought that we were either a couple or married...which makes sense, since most moroccan women probably only go out with their husbands or their girlfriends, never other men. I think that men have it MUCH easier, that´s for sure. Even when I was wearing pants, men still stare a lot and there are lots of places that are deemed only suitable for men and not women. 80% of the people that were visible there were men. What do the women do? Stay at home all day and cook? It was very interesting to see such an extremely different culture, it really opens your eyes and forces you to become more open-minded.


Here is Abel with (now) a good friend of ours. Notice the great hat he´s wearing. We went twice to his shop and bought most of our souvenirs and gifts from him...he spoke French, Arabic , Spanish and English. We started speaking Spanish with him, but he noticed my accent and from there on insisted on speaking English with us. He was quite funny too, and kept saying, "pretty girl, pretty girl, a pretty (this or that) for a pretty girl/lady" (anybody reminded of the movie Aladdin at this point? He was really nice and just had this great personality overall...we loved spending our moroccan "Dirkhams" in his shop. During our second stop, there was also another man in the shop helping our friend the bazaar salesman, and he apparently said that he would sell 1,500 camels in return for me...now those are a lot of camels. Thank you? Then there were other salesmen who thought that Abel and I were married...they wanted us to celebrate our honeymoon at their places where they would cook us a big feast. This happened twice in 2 different places.


Here you go: Apple-flavoured BEER! No, j/k....this is normal beer, but because we were sitting in a cafe on main street (I was the only woman there) and because it is technically forbidden by their religion, they try to hide the beer bottles by replacing them with juice/soda pop ones...so we weren´t drinking "Poms", as the name on the bottle suggests, but regular beer. Some stuff just doesn´t make sense though: They make their own local beers and wines, yet still hide the evidence from the public...it confused us sometimes...


We stayed 3 days and 2 nights, and on our 2nd day we decided to go to a little west coast town called Asilah. It is a heavily fortified town that was once occupied by the Portuguese, but nowadays many French and Spanish folk live there..It was a beautiful town, and well worth the trip. Close to this "portal" that leads to the Atlantic Ocean, there was a man dressed up in traditional clothing, singing and dancing away....Abel shot a video of me and the man, which turned out pretty good :) It was pretty funny, and yes, we did give the man a bit of money for having danced like a fool with yours truly...



Burriquito como tu......burriquito como tu....
I think that only Abel would understand....
Ojé, que piensas? Sacé una buena foto, no? Pero el burro me parece un poco cansado, probablemente de la gente que le esta siempre molestando con la cameras....como yo! Ja ja ja ja....





There were lots of great paintings all over Asilah...I thought that this one was pretty cool....great contrasts with the white murals. Lots of homes had tiny entrances that were just barely visible from the side streets. Yes, it looks like graffiti but it was very nice and original in many areas...
Our tour guide was nice, although a bit dirty-looking :P I really can´t complain about the tour through Asilah, except maybe that they should try to actually make themselves look a little bit more respectable than the next street bum. Hehehehe. Maybe that just added more to the moroccan charm, though. I especially loved the bus driver with 3/4 of his teeth missing and his evil shouts to the other drivers. Bonus points for frightening me.

On another side note: do NOT EVER attempt to drive in Morocco. Kids hitch-hike on the backs of trucks, falling off sometimes and possibly giving the driver behind a heart attack, the sound of honking is a steady shrill note brought on by petty things such as not driving IMMEDIATELY when the lights turns green, and pedestrians have no right of way. If you don´t move, they won´t stop. You better pray to Allah then...Abel and I were on a bus, but still had to hold our breath a few times. Oh, and we also saw a big truck completely tipped over on its side. Furthermore, the rule of thumb is: the more people crammed into a tiny car, the better. No room to even breathe? Heck, now that´s stellar! When it´s time to leave the sardine can, it´s like watching 50 clowns get out of a tiny car with polka-dots...only the clowns are moroccans and the car is a 1981 pieceofcrap....and the polka-dots are actually rust stains.

Here we are, soaking in the hot moroccan sun, with some of the richer parts of Asilah...this is where the spaniards and french people live and vacation throughout the summer...the beach was just off to the left, only a few meters away. Quite a nice spot...and lots of kids were jumping from super high cliffs into the ocean, which almost gave me a heart attack once again. "Don´t hit your head...don´t land on your stomache...don´t..." that was what my brain was doing to me.






A typical moroccan market, complete with chicken coops (is that how you say/write it?) and the whole shabang...very interesting, overall. The spices look very delicious and couscous is seen everywhere, being one of the main foods here. Also, tea leaves are sold at really cheap prices. The tea is really good here, although they do add a lot of sugar (Fanta lemon is sooo disgusting here though...wayyyy too sweet for my taste). Abel was a big fan of the tea and drank some every day...










Anybody want a magic carpet? There were lots of nice rugs and carpets strewn throughout the town...but of course I didn´t buy any, since everything was much too large and heavy. It´s incredible how everything is made from scratch here...most people sell the goods that they produced from their own two hands. I can´t even figure out how to set the alarm on some clocks sometimes...





Maybe I have this moroccan charm or something, I don´t know...but a waiter from the hotel taught me how to say "the prettiest of the pretties" in arabic, and kept asking me to say it everytime he would cross by our table. He also taught Abel some "magic" tricks with a cigarette, lol.
Overall, it was an amazing experience and I had a great time. I felt like I visited another world, and yet I wasn´t even that far away from Europe. Best 65 euros I ever spent!
I have to admit though, I was glad when our ferry arrived in Tarifa, Spain. I just felt this feeling of liberty again...I´m sure that male tourists would feel quite different, but as a woman (still wanna say girl but I´ll be 24 soon, so....) I felt a little uncomfortable at times while I was there. I do want to go back someday, but just for travel, never to live there. Women´s rights are restricted heavily, and lots of things seemed so unfair. It makes you appreciate the liberty and freedom that you have in other parts of the world.
This trip made me even more excited for Egypt...but, in the meantime, there is Greece to look forward to....in 4 days!!!
xoxoxoxo lots of love, Heidi