My entire life I’ve always dreamed of going to Morocco. A big reason as to why I’ve always wanted to go is because my grandma is from Casablanca, Morocco and she grew up there, and the other reason is because I’m in love with the architecture and food. I’ve also always wanted to go with her, but since she couldn’t make the trek out, for obvious reasons, I decided I’d go for spring break and I’ll just have to come back with her!
Ann Marie, Maddie and I met up with our three other Florence UNC friends who also came with two other friends. The eight of us boarded the big bus together and found seats to get ready for our journey to Morocco. We were on team yellow and were split between two buses. There were two tour guides on each bus and I swear a requirement for getting a tour guide job with Discover Excursions was that you had to be attractive. ALL of the tour guides were so hot, it was kind of unbelievable that not one of them was slightly bad looking. None of us knew their names so we gave each of them nicknames so that we could more easily talk about them, and their hotness. There was San Diego, Spanish Guy, British Guy and Other Random Guy (we didn’t have a way to identify him besides saying he wasn’t San Diego or Spanish Guy, etc.). I personally found San Diego the most attractive, by far, but Ann Marie and a few others disagreed, putting him last or even third in the level of hotness rank.
Anyways, getting back on track, we had to take a bus, then a ferry and then another bus to get to our destination in Morocco. We made it to our hotel, La Paloma, in Tétouan pretty late and were given a full meal of couscous, chicken and bread. I was very impressed with the hotel we stayed at. It was really cool and looked perfectly Moroccan inside. The best part was that we had a comfy king size bed in our room.
The lobby at Hotel La Paloma
We started our Saturday off in Chefchaouen, the blue city of Morocco. The drive to get there took about an hour and it was a beautiful view. We wound in and out, and up and down the hills in Morocco. We passed donkeys, small villages and gigantic windmills on our drive. Everything was so green and beautiful and I just kept thinking, “Oh my god I’m in Africa right now…”.
Unfortunately it rained as soon as we got off the bus in Chefchaouen but it didn’t make the city any less spectacular. Everything was blue. It was a blue world, just like the one described in the song “I’m Blue” by Eiffel 65. Blue his house with a blue little window and a blue corvette, just kidding there were not blue corvettes, lots of blue houses and blue windows though! Everything was either blue or white and it reminded me a lot of Santorini, Greece but cooler because of the Moroccan flare and because nearly everything was blue, the stairs, flower pots, walls, and more.
We went on a walking tour with the cutest, sweetest little Moroccan man who had one big tooth on the bottom of his mouth. He later showed just the eight of us the coolest shop, tucked away in one of the side streets. The man working in the store was beaming with joy when we walked in and welcomed us with open arms. He ushered us to the back room and offered us tea and a special viewing of all the rugs he had. He was so proud of everything and it was the most adorable thing ever. I didn’t think I even wanted a rug into he started showing them to us. There were actually a few really awesome ones and I was extremely tempted by a hot pink rug with teal details, but I opted not to get it because it was tiny.
Later we walked through the market and each of us bought a few more souvenirs. Their currency is Dirham and 10 Dirham is equal to one euro so at first the price of things sound really expensive but then once you do the conversion you realize how truly cheap it is. I nearly choked when I heard a candle was 300 but once I figured out that meant 30 euro I felt much better.
Me and all the girls got henna on our hands. I was amazed at how quickly they did it. It took the woman less than a minute to do my entire hand and it turned out awesome, she even wrote my name in Arabic.
Dinner was served at the hotel and during our meal we had an entertaining performance. There were dancers and drummers and men with trays of candles on their head. They came tearing into the room like a hurricane. The most impressive part was the little old man with the fire and candles. I still don’t understand how he was able to balance all the candles on his head with such ease.
I learned an interesting thing about eating in Morocco. You technically aren’t supposed to eat with your left hand because your left hand is said to be used to wipe yourself in the bathroom. Times are changing and now people use toilet paper (thank god) and they don’t frown upon using your left hand as much, but back in the day it was a very big no no. Same goes for shaking hands, you are never supposed to use your left hand to greet someone. It is like saying f you, but 100 times worse.
After dinner there was a party on the top floor for all the DiscoverExcursion people. We went for a little to make an appearance, but didn’t stay long. We stayed for just enough time to drool over the attractive tour guides. The whole trip we had a sneaking suspicion that one girl was dating San Diego, but we weren’t too sure because they weren’t affectionate. After placing our bets about their relationship, my friend Jordan pranced right on up to her and flat out asked her about her and San Diego. And yes, he called him that to her. I was shocked and horrified and extremely amused all at one time. At first the girl denied it but then ultimately admitted that they were together but had to keep it on the DL because of the tour company rules.
The next day we went to Asilah, a little town on the coast of Morocco. Here we did some bargaining, exploring and picture taking. It was beautiful and there were the coolest little colorful doors all over the place. After we exhausted our wallets we went to ride camels! Because there were so many of us we only got about five minutes on the camel but I luckily got to go twice. They were rather uncomfortable to sit on, but sort of felt like riding a horse. I felt bad for the camels though because they were treated so badly. I could tell they were not happy little guys.
One of the awesome walls in Asilah
After riding camels and playing on the beach we took off for the ferry to start our descent back to Seville. Morocco was an incredible place to visit and I will definitely be going back. It was eye opening and informative but also unbelievably beautiful. Hopefully next time I’ll be able to go back with my Meme! I’ve already found a view awesome resorts in Marrakesh with lavish spas and dining (wink, wink).
Me riding a camel!
The beach right next to where we were riding camels – a view of the Atlantic from Africa!
When in Florence 