Trip to Morocco: Day 1

Although my trip to Morocco was only three days long, it was such a busy three days that I've decided to split up the blog entries. I don't think I could fit it all into one entry! To start, I would say it was definitely my favorite trip so far this semester, and possibly my favorite place that I have ever been. It was arranged by CIEE (my study abroad program) for all of the Business and Society students. Because there are approximately 90 of us, they split us into two groups. We were the second group to go, and there were about 40 of us on the trip. 


We left super early on Thursday morning to take a bus to Algeciras (on the southern tip of Spain). From there, we took a ferry to Africa. The Straight of Gibraltar is as narrow as 14 kilometers at one point, but the ferry still took over an hour. Luckily, I don't get sea sick because it was a surprisingly bumpy ride. There were several people in my program that were feeling quite queasy throughout the trip and were elated to get back on solid ground. 


The ferry dropped us off in Ceuta on the northern tip of Africa. Although we were in Africa, Ceuta is actually a Spanish city- there are two in northern Africa. After a short twenty minutes bus ride, we reached the frontier of Morocco. It was an easy trip across the border- we all had our passports stamped while we sat on the bus, and then we were on our way. We then continued on the two hour bus ride to our hotel in Tetouan. That was our home base for the weekend- you can its location on the map below:

Our tour guide for the city of Tetouan was a Tetouan-native who called himself Michael Douglass. He was absolutely fantastic as a tour guide- he spoke both English and Spanish and kept switching back and forth between the two. We learned a lot about Islam and Morocco, and he also took the liberty to poke fun at us Americans a bit. For example, the American embassy that he pointed out was actually a McDonald's and he showed us the German camels that lined up on the side of the road- "Americans always want to see camels when they come to Morocoo- so look to your right and you will see some German ones! I bet you didn't know there were German camels." They looked more like old Mercedes taxis to me... 

Our first stop on the tour of the city was of a traditional Moroccan art school. The students were on spring break, but we were able to see their current and finished projects in wood painting, wood carving, metal painting, metal work, and much much more. 

The patio of the school was also beautiful. Michael Douglass explained to us that Moroccans care very little about the outside of their houses- they care about the inside. It is usually decorated in extreme detail and almost all Moroccan buildings contain a patio with a garden as well.

After that, we headed to lunch. It was a very early morning, and Morocco is an hour behind Spain so we were more than ready for our traditional Moroccan meal. Fortunately, it did not disappoint. We were seated on cushions around tables with gold and blue tablecloths- there were also oriental rugs hung on all of the walls. After three months in Spain, the food was a great change of pace- we had vegetable soup, bread, water, beef shish kebabs, and couscous with vegetables and chicken. It was delicious!

We ended the meal with a sweet mint tea and cookies. Apparently Moroccans like very sweet foods, where I was expecting more spicy. After lunch we headed back our to the city for a tour of the Tetouan medina, or old city center. It is basically a labyrinth of narrow streets that go in every direction and often end in dead-ends. It is filled with merchants selling everything from live chickens, to recently killed chickens (often at the same stall), fish, fruit, vegetables, bread, modern packaged snacks and foods, to pottery, trinkets and much much more. There were bugs and files buzzing around all of the stalls and the streets were covered in a thin layer of liquid- I can only imagine what that contained. It was the worst smelling place I had ever been...at that point. Luckily, Virginia (one of the program directors) was an experienced Morocco visitor and brought scented oils for us to put on our hand to breathe in. It helped a lot. 

It was definitely a taste of the day-to-day life of an average Moroccan. Tetouan is not a tourist destination- which explains why we had 8-10 body guards surrounding out group the entire time we were in that city. As Americans, we were definitely targets. We got a lot of curious stares and the girls were getting comments from the Moroccan men as well. 

Here are some other pictures from the city:

Entrance to the medina. 

Royal Palace in Tetouan for King Mohammed VI. 

Moroccan flag. 

That last picture is of some of the many many cats in Morocco- they live on the streets and are treated as wild animals, but are still often fed like domesticated cats. We also saw storks, camels, horses, sheep, goats and donkeys along the roads and often within the city itself- it was a varied mix of wildlife and they were everywhere.

In the market, we also saw four funeral processions. It was rather interesting to see- the deceased was carried in a crude wooden box above the heads of the men walking in front of the procession. The rest of the men walking behind (there were no women in any of the funeral parties) were silent in two of the processions and were singing funeral songs in the other two. It was definitely a unique look into the Moroccan culture. 

Our next stop was a synagogue in Tetouan for one of seven Jewish people still living in the city- yes, only seven. Michael Douglass emphasized that Christians, Jews, and Muslims lived in peace together, although Islam is the state religion. Despite that fact, most of the Jewish population had left Tetouan to move to other, more modernized cities in Morocco. We were lucky enough to meet one of the seven Jewish citizens that remained.

We were also able to see quite a few mosques in the city. There are five calls-to-prayer during the day in the Islam religion. All Muslims are required to stop and pray, but they only have to go to mosques on Fridays. Women and men each have their separate entrances for the mosques, and all ages are encouraged to participate. 

The next stop was a traditional Moroccan tannery. This was legitimately the worst-smelling place I have ever stepped foot in. We saw everything from the drying process to the color-dying process. Michael Douglass bought spearmint for everyone to hold to their noses for breathing- we may not have survived without it. He, of course, didn't need it. 

At this point in the day, we were all ready to head back to the hotel for a good meal and some sleep. We didn't get dinner until 9:30 (which consisted of soup, fried cod, rice and fruit). It was the end to a great first day in Morocco. 

Vamos a La Playa

One of the greatest advantages of living in southern Spain is the weather- its been 80 and sunny here for a few weeks already. The advantage of living in Sevilla is that there are multiple beaches that are within a 90 minute, fairly cheap bus ride away. The three I have visited so far are: Matalascañas, Sanlúcar and Chipiona. Each of these beaches is on the Atlantic side, or the Costa de la Luz (Coast of Light)- they have more then 300 days of sunshine each year. Matalascañas is in the Huelva province and is the farthest north (its not shown on the map but is just south of Palos de la Frontera):

Sanlúcar and Chipiona are both on the northern edge of Cadiz province:

So in case you're ever in Southern Spain, here is my review of these playas:


Matalascañas is the closest beach to Sevilla and is just north of a National Park. It is a gorgeous, white-sand beach with a very cute boardwalk that runs along most of the beach. It wasn't too busy when I went in early April, but I'm sure its quite busy during the summer months. I would recommend coming here for a quieter, more relaxed beach experience.

Sanlúcar was my least favorite beach of the three- it was obvious that the beach is the party hot-spot at night because it was entirely trashed. There were broken bottles and garbage everywhere. Also, because the beach is on an inlet of the ocean, the water was extremely dirty. It was fine for a day of laying in the sun, but I wouldn't recommend it. However, they are known for the horses races along the beach in August, I believe, so that would be fun to see.

The third beach, Chipiona, was probably my favorite. Its a very cute, fun town that I would enjoy spending the day in. The beach was also gorgeous and extremely long. It had an active, fun family atmosphere- there was music playing and people dancing and running on the beach. The beach was also a gorgeous white-sand beach- I was extremely impressed. This is definitely my first choice to return to in the future!

 

Unfortunately, I was too relaxed at all three of these beaches to have taken any pictures myself, so all of the above pictures are stolen from Google. I will try to take pictures when I return to these beaches, but I can't make any promises. 

Futbol in Spain

One of my favorite things in Spain is the obsession with fútbol, or soccer as we Americans prefer to call it. And it is truly an obsession. Unlike in the US, universities do not have any type of Varsity competitive athletic teams. We are able to divide our attention between multiple professional teams (football, basketball, baseball, and hockey being the most popular) as well as college teams (usually football and basketball being the focus). In Spain, basketball is the second sport but it is so far below fútbol that it is hard to compare the two. Essentially, every Spaniard has two teams: the Spain national fútbol team (which is doing extremely well in the qualifying rounds for the Euro Cup 2012 and won the World Cup last summer, in case you hadn't heard) and his or her city team.

In Sevilla, there is a cross-town rivalry unlike any I have seen, and I come from the Cubs-Sox rivalry. Betis is slightly smaller and their colors are green and white. Sevilla is the larger, richer team whose colors are red and white. What I find strange is that Betis and Sevilla are in different leagues- Betis is in a lower division. In my opinion, that would be like having to choose between a AA baseball team and the Cubs...there isn't really a comparison. But that doesn't matter here- you support one team, win or lose, and you support them for life. Within my first week here, I learned that I would have to choose a side. Because my host-family supports Sevilla and I live ten minutes from the Seville stadium, that seemed like an obvious choice.

I have enjoyed going out with friends to watch the Sevilla games at various bars around the city. I played soccer through 8th grade and I always enjoy watching the World Cup, but I've never gotten that into it. It's easy to get involved in a game here though- everyone is obsessed. Watching a game with a roomful of Spaniards is intense. There is no talking during most of the game and goals are a matter of life-and-death. My only complaint is the ability to end on a tie- it's such an anti-climactic ending! I would prefer a shoot-out. 

Unlike the jersey phenomenon in the U.S., Spaniards prefer to support their teams wearing scarves and track suits. I went to the Sevilla-Zaragoza game last week, and that's all that anyone was wearing. I felt extremely out-of-place wearing my maroon-colored long-sleeve shirt- it wasn't the right color red. 

Prior to the games, all of the fans gather around outside the stadium (which is conveniently located alongside a mall with a food court. Almost all of the games are on Sundays, meaning that most restaurants are closed. However, the mall food court was open and packed with Sevilla supporters. About 30 minutes before kick-off, the fans make their way inside the stadium. 

At a sporting event in the U.S., its usually fun to enter the stadium early to buy some nachos or a hot dog and watch warm-ups. That is not the fact in Spain- the concession stands are almost non-existent and few fans buy anything within the stadium- they're too focused on the game to worry about food or drinks. 

I went to the game with my friends Danielle, Paige and Gena. We bought the cheapest tickets available, which ended up being in the visitors' section. Fortunately for us, the majority of people in the visitors' section were Sevilla fans. 

It was a great game to go to because Zaragoza is not a very good team- we definitely outplayed them! The downside is that a lot of people didn't think it was a game worth paying for- the stadium wasn't even close to being filled to capacity. Most people decided to watch the game at the bars instead! Sevilla is in the white jerseys in the pictures below:

The final score was 3-1, Sevilla. Two of Sevilla's goals were scored on penalty kicks, which is extremely rare in soccer. But our seats were perfectly located to see both of the penalty shots- GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!