A Weekend in Africa

One of the best things about life in Spain is how easy it is to travel basically anywhere. However, a weekend in Africa is nuts, even here. But thanks to CityLife Madrid, and our impulsive tendencies, we found ourselves on a bus Thursday night, road tripping to Morocco.

After spending the past weekend in London, which felt just like home, I was exciting for a complete change of scenery on this next adventure.

Going into this trip I had a very stereotypical idea of what I thought Africa would look like, assuming it would be flat and dry, since it’s all desert, right? Wrong. Our first day in Morocco was full of green, rolling hills, herds of animals, and rows of wind turbines. I don’t think I’ve seen grass this green since I left Vermont last July.

It’s impossible to describe just how beautiful the scenery of Morocco is. During our ride from Tangier to Chefchaouen we drove past mountain after mountain, passing small villages and many shepherds with their herds of sheep, cows, goats, you name it. I was (and still am) in awe.

But let’s start from the beginning.

After fourteen hours of travel from Thursday night to Friday morning, we finally arrived to our hotel in Tangier. Here we had about three hours to rest, shower and eat before we embarked on our tour of the city. During this “down” time we sampled couscous, accidentally ordered what we think was goats milk, and explored the beach across the street from our hotel.

After lunch we were off on a “panoramic bus tour” to see the sights and ride a camel (!!!). We stopped at Cap Spartel and Hercules Cave, both of which were beautiful, but for me, the camel ride in between these two views was the most interesting.

Now, I’m not really an animal person (besides goats), but I surprisingly got upset upon seeing the camels. There were nearly 100 of us on the tour (how insane is that?) and only 7 camels. To me, it seemed like the animals were drugged, and I doubt that they live in great conditions, as when we saw them they were either tied to each other or to short ropes attached to the ground. In the end, I did choose to ride a camel, but I can say for sure that I am in no rush to do other animal related tourist activities in the future, at least not without prior research.

After these stops we were off to the medina or old city to see the markets, learn about moroccan spices, and see the oldest loom in Tangier. We didn’t have a ton of time to explore, but from what I saw, these markets were amazing and I left with some saffron, moroccan oil, and perfume.

Next up was an hour to relax at the hotel before a traditional Moroccan dinner. Now, I can’t sleep on busses, so I was crashing pretty hard at this point. I considered skipping dinner, but I managed to rally and am so glad I did. Dinner consisted of a moroccan soup, a type of beef kebab, couscous as the main dish, with moroccan mint tea, and baklava for dessert. All of this was accompanied by traditional folk music for entertainment. Amazing. I was so tired (and full) afterwards that I finally slept on the bus. For our 15 minute ride home…

The next day we were up bright and early for a trip to Chefchaouen, or “The Blue City”. We couldn’t hear the tour guide as there were 100 of us and 1 of him, so we haven’t quite figured out why it’s blue, but I DO know it was beautiful.

We spent this day getting lost among the narrow streets and markets of this remarkable city. We climbed up to a view point, pet some goats (I cried of happiness), ate amazing food, and befriended some locals (after nearly angering others). I could have spent days exploring, but unfortunately we only had a half day of free time. It was here that it actually hit me that I was in Africa. I finally realized how different it was from anywhere I have ever been.

Saturday evening was relaxed for us, since our trip was winding down and we were exhausted. We had a long dinner near the hotel, packed, and got ready for our journey back to Spain.

I’ve been on tons of different trips, but this is the first to make me crave more in this way. The closest I’ve come to this feeling was after Iceland. Normally I’m ready to go home after three days, or I just need a few more days to explore. Morocco made me want to see EVERYTHING. I could have spent another full week there and then months or years making my way through the continent. My favorite thing about travel is experiencing new cultures and seeing what life is like in other places and Morocco was a great place to do that.

Now, the size of our tour didn’t exactly allow us to blend with the locals. However, it gave me a small taste of something new, and I can definitely say I’ll be back for more. If I wasn’t already addicted to travel before going to Morocco, you bet I am now.