Marrakech, Morocco, Africa

Woman walking in an alley

The last excursion we took was a rather big one. I never expected to travel to Africa while I was studying abroad, but once one of our friends mentioned it, the idea caught like wildfire. Suddenly ten of us decided we all wanted to go, and we booked our tickets on the spot! We headed to Morocco on March 29th, right after our group trip to Barcelona. We arrived and were immediately picked up at the airport by a van that took us straight to our riad that we would be staying in for the weekend. After we rolled our suitcases down endless alleys, we finally were shown to our home. We walked inside and were amazed. The riad didn't look like much on the outside but the interior had two floors and an accessible rooftop, an indoor pool, 5 bedrooms that were intricately and beautifully decorated, tons of Moroccan lamps hanging from the ceilings, and SO much more. I was blown away. We also were told that we had a personal assistant, Rashid, and a cook while we were there, who was able to make us mint tea or coffee whenever we would like. Also, breakfast would be cooked for us in the mornings. I was amazed. After we chose our bedrooms we decided to venture out onto the streets of Morocco at night and look for a place to eat. It was dark and quiet and not too many people were walking about. We found a great restaurant and I had chicken, green beans, and potatoes. When we returned to our riad some of us started to play cards and had fun learning new games and laughing together.

Town square in Marrakech with the minaret in the background

The next morning we set out to take on the streets of Morocco in the daylight and to try to bargain and barter in the marketplace. Being out in the daylight for the first time was a wake up call. Africa gave me the most profound culture shock, more than any other place I had experienced. It was something entirely different than my normal. We were immediately whisked into African life by popping into shop after shop, bargaining with the locals constantly. I have to give Hannah credit, she was by far the best at bargaining, and nearly always got exactly what she wanted, for the price she wanted. She had a knack for it. I had to work at it but eventually I came through! My most proud purchase was probably an antique Kodak film camera that I fought to have. I got the price down from 1000 dirham to 400 dirham, and I was pretty pleased with myself. The vendors that you were most likely to see around the town were selling lamps, jewelry, leather shoes and bags, scarves, candles, and bowls. We also saw vendors selling swords, knives, soaps, spices, teas, and much more. The shops seemed endless. In the middle of the town square food vendors were set up, selling fresh squeezed orange juice and other foods. There aren't really street signs or lines on the road, it's more of a free for all. Donkeys, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians all travel along the same road in one giant conglomeration. It was one of the most hectic sights I'd ever seen. There were also men who had pet monkeys and snakes that were randomly positioned around the square, eager to catch tourists into taking a picture with their animals, and then demanding money. We got caught in this snare multiple times, and I had a snake and two monkeys thrown on me without my permission. Thankfully I steered clear of the cobras...there was no way I was getting near those things. The monkeys were brutal too, Hannah tried to get a close up of one and was bruised in the process.

One of the many street vendors

The next day we had one thing on our minds: camels. But the day actually started with all of the girls somehow waking up 2 hours early by accident...whoops. We had a laugh about it and then just hung around/napped while we passed the time until breakfast. A wonderful rooftop breakfast was laid out for us, I was so thankful to our cook. There was endless bread, jam, butter, coffee, orange juice and more. So good! Afterwards, we walked around determined to find somewhere to ride camels. After going in circles a bit and having some confusion with a taxi driver, we eventually made it to a remote desert area a few miles away from the city center of Marrakech. Here we hopped out and bargained for our camel riding price. They tried to immediately up the price right when we got there, which was typical. I can't remember if we gave in or if we got the price back down again, but we ended up paying something like 90 durham for this riding session. I immediately fell in love with my camel, Jomina. As soon as everyone got a camel, we were off! We all rode in a line for about 20 minutes or so, and we were snapping pics and filming the entire time. I got some interesting video....


After camel riding we took a few detours to get some last minute shopping done, and then it was time to head back to the airport. Our time in Morocco was eye opening and exciting. I was thrust into a completely unique and new lifestyle and it was so interesting to experience. We hopped into our van, and after some delay in the departure (the driver was arguing with people on the phone about whether or not we had paid him yet) we were off to Valencia yet again.

Alley near our rihad