I’m sorry that I am so late with this post, I have a lot of
catching up to do. We have all been out of Rabat for the last two weekends, but
last weekend was the most fun. The first weekend we spent in Marrakech, and it
was by far our most touristy weekend. We visited the Marrakech medina, which is
the quintessential “Moroccan” experience that everyone thinks of when they
think of Morocco. We saw snake charmers, traditional leather dealers, and
souvenir shops. We also saw many more tourists then we were used to seeing in
Rabat. I found myself being disappointed with the behavior of foreigners and
feeling alienated from them. After all this time here I have become
uncomfortable with the idea of revealing clothing and eating and drinking out
in public. We stayed in a super nice hotel in Marrakech and Isa, Sophia,
Charlotte, and I all got our nails done. It was such a nice treat after
enduring a very long bus ride and surviving the hot Marrakech sun. On Sunday,
we went and visited the Yves St. Laurent gardens, where he painted his patented
blue all over the walls of the oasis in the middle of the city.
The next weekend we went to Tetouan, Oud Lau, and Chefchaouen.
This weekend was the most fun I have had in Morocco so far. On Friday, we drove
about 5 hours in the bus to Tetouan. We stayed outside of the city at a hotel
on the Mediterranean, and the beach and pool were beautiful. After dinner we
ventured into the northern city, seeing the extreme Spanish influence that so
differs the French influence that we see in Rabat. The next day, half of us
departed early in the morning to do a site visit with our RD, Sarah. We drove
along the coastal highway to get to the quaint and beautiful Mediterranean town
of Oud Lau. We visited the weekly souq there, which was an amazing change from
the huge medina that we are used to in Rabat. As a group we found amazing local
crafts for very inexpensive. My personal favorite is the hand woven hats that I
bought for 5 US dollars. The hat is pictured in the photo below. After the souq,
we all went and put our feet in the water at a beautiful empty beach before
loading up in the bus and driving to another gorgeous hotel in Chefchaouen. The
blue city was much smaller than I imagined, but its quaintness just added to
its charm. I especially loved the traditional winter mini-jellabas, otherwise
know in the States as “drug-rugs.” The amazing weekend in the North was by far
my favorite excursion that I have had yet in this amazing country.
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