New day, new country!
Trip Start
Jan 18, 2010
1
34
54
Trip End
May 16, 2010
Tetouan, Morocco
Thursday, March 25, 2010
I'm not really sure what I expected of Morocco; I went to Ghana last year, but I know that assuming that they'll be the same just because it's the same continent is absurd. I actually feel more like I'm in the Middle East than on the African continent, which makes me realize that I feel like I have traveled extensively when I really have only seen a very small fraction of the world. On the drive from Ceuta to Tetouan, I was surprised to see a ton of white buildings with turquoise and blue shutters and doors - it kind of reminded me of Greece...not that I've been there, but it's what I picture it being like.
Our first visit was at Escuela Taller de Tetuan, which translates roughly to the Workshop School of Tetouan. Our guide told us that the arts that the students are learning at the school are in danger of being lost in 15-20 years because the students, who start in this particular school at 13-15 years, either can't afford the tuition and so are only going to regular school, or working to earn money, rather than continuing their education of these cultural arts. There are several different trades that the students learn - woodworking, embroidery (of anything from tablecloths and napkins to caftans, which are the traditional wedding dresses), metallurgy, and other crafts. After the taller, we enjoyed a traditional Moroccan lunch of vegetable soup, beef skewers, cous cous, and a dessert with green tea with fresh spearmint leaves and scones. Yum!
We continued on to la Medina, which is a general term meaning "old area" of a city. The medina is typically home to the market where Moroccans can find their daily food and living items. I tried to take pictures, but our guide asked us to be discrete and not make the vendors feel like monkeys in a circus, so I didn't get as many as I would have liked. Besides the fact that we have nothing comparable in the US, the most impressionable factors were the colors and the smell - sometimes pleasant, other times not so much. The fish and chickens (dead and alive) were the worst. There were several areas of the medina: fish, meat, vegetables, sweets, clothing, toiletries, and leather goods. We only walked through the leather area after having toured the tannery, which was probably one of the most uncomfortable experiences in my life. Even more uncomfortable than using a port-a-potty, and that's saying a lot for me. The smell was rancid and there were pools of dirty liquid, I don't even know what it was, and piles of nappy fur just hanging out. Ew.
The next event on the schedule was a discussion with a professor about the Islam faith, but I had to skip that and go to a sketchy internet cafe so I could check my email to schedule an interview (this time change/limited internet access can really be a problem at times). That was an experience in and of itself though, because the people in the cafe seemed very amused that I, an American, was in there needing their internet. I, on the other hand, was slightly freaking out that Aziz one of our tour leaders, wasn't back at the cafe to pick me up after 10 minutes like he said he would be. Luckily, I tok care of my email and finally, 30 minutes later, Aziz came back. We went back to the hotel, ate dinner, and crashed. I was tired from staying up too late in Sevilla and so I slept like a rock - such a good feeling!
