Fall Break Pt. 2

We had another early morning flight to Morocco and found ourselves acting like locals and navigating the Metro in a more efficient manner than upon arrival.  We all could not believe we were not only country hopping but continent hopping instead!  I was eager to be back in Africa and explore a country on the complete opposite end of the continent to Namibia!  We quickly found ourselves experiencing the greatest culture shock of our entire abroad experience thus far.  On our way to our hostel alone we thought we were going to hit other cars, donkey carts, people, etc at least 20 times.  Everything was fast paced like Madrid but poverty was definitely evident as well.  

We quickly found ourselves checking into our hostel, Mama Marrakech.  Owned by a Moroccan/American couple Mama opened on August 1^st of this year.  The hostel is completely homey as soon as you walk in the doors!  Mama, aka Crystal, welcomed us with open arms and sat us down for 45 minutes and gave us suggestions, mapped out the city for us, and locked away our valuables in her personal safe.  

Roof top terrace at Mama's!

Before long, we had a 2 day, 1 night camel tour booked in the Sahara and were on our way to get lost in the endless Marrakech Souks.  Before losing ourselves in the souks we treated ourselves to a traditional Moroccan meal of tagines and couscous—definitely our cheapest and one of our most delicious meals since we have been on the continent!  We quickly immersed ourselves in the fast paced, bartering maddess that is Marrakech's souks.  We haggled prices in French and English, made incredible deals, and came out weighed down with bags of goodies.  There was definitely a time or two we felt harassed and sped out down another alley way away from a shopkeeper.  However, we somehow managed NOT to get lost like everyone said we would!  

Souk Bargains

We came home, showered up, and relaxed on our beautiful terrace and talked with some of the other hostel stayers.  I soon discovered one of the guys was from Seattle and lives on Capitol Hill!  The world continues to amaze me in it's small size and endless connections.  It was fun having a bit of home in Morocco--never can get too far away:)  We called it an early night since we had a 7am departure for the Sahara the next morning.  In the morning, Mama provided us with a delicious breakfast of sweet, crunchy crepes, warm pita-like bread, eggs, and heart-warming coffee!!  We boarded our bus and began our epic 8 hour excursion to the desert.  With multiple stops, some of the most dangerous, twisty roads known to man kind, and a pit stop in the town where movies like Gladiator, Prince of Persia, and Indiana Jones 3 were filmed we finally made it to the edge of the Little Sahara at sunset.  We wrapped up in headscarfs and saddled up on our CAMELS!!!  We rode off to camp as the sun was setting and the moon was rising.  What a memorable experience.

Camels at Sunset

We then were treated to a traditional tagine dinner, Berber tribal games around a campfire, and mint tea before bed.  We couldn't help but walk out to a near by sand dune, bury our feet in the desert sand and bask in the glow of the full moon above us.  Morning came quickly and we were soon back on top of our camels.  Our lead guy had fun with the four of us and made the camels run a little--not the most comfortable but nonetheless a humorous experience.  

We LOVE the Sahara

Chamoux with camp ground in the background

We were so thrilled to be welcomed back to Mama's with a warm shower before heading back to the market square for a quick night out on the town.  The city's square comes to life at night--from snake charmers to food and fresh orange juice stalls, we could have spent all night exploring if we hadn't been so tired.  Seeing as it was our last night we wanted to make the most of it.  We sampled food from the stalls the locals were going to which was a major win.    I think I had my favorite meal that night--fresh OJ, pita stuffed with hard boiled egg, cream cheese, potatoes, and hot sauce...sounds weird but it was incredible!  We then had big, steaming glasses of mint tea and Lauren and Mags picked up a delicious baklava like pastry that was divine!!  We quickly faded and found ourselves regrettably making our way back to the hostel.  We had a big day ahead of us and before we knew it we were packing up and saying goodbye to wonderful Morocco.  

We arrived back in Madrid around 8pm and long story short we locked our bags away at the airport, met up with friends at a club, danced the night away until 4am, and made our way back to the airport for early flights back to Geneva (for Lauren and me) and Barcelona (for Mags and Steph).  I will spare you the details of how we managed to survive this epic/only would happen in Madrid while abroad experience but it was an incredibly entertaining evening.  From sipping on coffee while everyone else around us was slamming back beers, to singing Beyonce with Case, to being in a room that instantaneously filled with fog from a fog machine (I literally thought I was dying...finally caught my breath then it happened again--when is my inhaler when I need it?!)--one of the most epic nights ever!  We finally made it safely back to Geneva after what was the longest day of my life.  The weather definitely has transitioned to brisk, fall temperatures and I couldn't be happier.  I haven't had a real fall for two years now so I felt at home on so many levels after a memorable week abroad.

Tagline for the week:  3 countries, 2 continents, 5 languages, 48 hours.