¡Marruecos! (aka MOROCCO, AFRICA!!!)

So, travel has been my passion for many years now, but I've always pictured myself visiting mostly European countries. Of course, I want to go to other places, but they are just lower on my list, especially Africa. I'm not sure why; Africa has just never been somewhere I've been keen to go. So when I came to Spain, I never had the intention of going on the optional ISA excursion to Morocco. It was supposed to be an "adventure" trip-- camping in the desert, possibility of getting sick from the food/water, spending literally days in a bus-- and most people who know me would say I'm not the "adventurous" type. But as the deadline to sign up approached, I found myself questioning more and more my decision not to go. And I decided that it was an opportunity that I would always regret not taking. I asked myself, "Will you ever go to Africa any other time? It's possible, but probably not." So I went for it. And it has been one of the best decisions of my life.

We met at the bus at 4 AM on Friday morning. There was a complicated atmosphere-- we were all exhausted because of the hour, but we couldn't contain our excitement that the trip we had looked forward to for so long was finally here. We drove down to the very tip of Spain and crossed the Strait of Gibraltar at 8 AM. The ferry we took was no ordinary ferry-- it was more like a small cruise ship. We landed in Ceuta, a Spanish city located in Morocco, and drove to the Moroccan border. We were told we could not have our cameras out for any reason at the border because the officials would come abroad the bus and take it away. We had two busses, and while our bus waited on the other to finish crossing the border, we witnessed a fight as a guard attempted to search a Moroccan crossing the border and began hitting the Moroccan. He was so furious that he walked away, picked up two large rocks, and started making his way back toward the guard. We went parked right beside where they were, so needless to say, we were a little creeped out. It turned out OK, though-- a couple of other guys calmed the guy down. Then we drove. Until about 5 PM local time, 2 hours behind Spain. By the time we got to the hotel, we were all so exhausted that we called it a night.

The next day, we were taken around the old part of the city of Fes, which is called La Medina. We went to a carpet store, a chemist's store (which sold herbs and lotion and stuff), a leather store, a ceramic factory, and a scarf and dress store. It was fun to get to see how things were made and hear about different Moroccan products. One thing I also began to notice about the Moroccans was the they are so polite. They always said please and thank you with everything they said.

On Sunday, we loaded up the bus and drove all day to the small town of Erfoud where we split up into groups of 6 and got into 4x4 jeeps that drove us to our campsite in the Sahara Desert!! We had tents with mattresses set up and a big tent where we ate. The day after we got there, we got up early to watch the sunrise. Now I guess I can mark "watch the sunrise in the Sahara Desert" off my Bucket List. :) Later, we rode camels (!!!) first to a huge dune in the desert and then to a small village near our campsite. (My camel partner MacKenzie and I named our camel Dexter Sebastian Marcus Ali.) The dune was so steep. I got a little freaked out by the height, but I forced myself to climb it with everyone else because I knew I'd regret it if I didn't. It was breaktaking to stand at the top and look around and know that I was in the Sahara Desert. Then we went to the village to walk around for a little while. We stopped to get drinks at this tiny store, and I got a Coke bottle written in Arabic! A few of us also bought a crate of oranges to hand out to the little kids there. They were literally pushing and shoving and fighting over these oranges. It was heartbreaking...

That afternoon, we just had free time in the desert. The Berber people like to talk to the visitors, so they came up to the campsite (but never in) and danced, played music, played soccer, and just talked with everyone who was interested. It was a lot of fun. That night at dinner, a band came and sang and played music, and they made sure that everyone got up and danced. I'm a horrible dancer, but that will be something I remember forever... After dinner, my friends MacKenzie, Joelle, and I decided to go lie on one of the smaller dunes for a little while and just enjoy looking up at a sky that was not blocked by pollution or city lights. That, also, is a memory that I will never forget.

The last two days we spent traveling back to Sevilla. A lot of people complained about the journey and made little comments that showed that they didn't truly get anything out of the trip, but there were a few of us that came back to Spain just a little bit different than we were when we left. :)