Traveling Knows No Pain: Morocco

This past weekend I traveled to Morocco to visit the towns of Tangier, Chefchaouen, Tétouan, and Asilah. The trip started off with a bus to a boat to another bus to reach the town of Tangier where we were staying. After my friends and I sat down on the boat heading over to Africa the girl we sat next to (she looked American and we figured she thought the same about us as she started up a conversation with us) was one of the coolest people I have met. Camille was telling us how after a couple jobs fell through after college she went with a friend on a trip to Costa Rica and has been traveling since. She has been nomadic for three years now and has been to tons of amazing places such as Southern Asia. She talked about her blogging and free-lance writing, how she created her own job and how she has gone about the lifestyle she has. Naturally we all bonded over traveling and she was awesome to talk to! She gave us her card and if you get a moment check out her website This American Girl, it will immediately make you want to pack your suitcase and travel!

Once we got to Tangier I at least realized how much of an entirely different world I was in. Morocco is a Islamic country and weirdly enough I felt like I was in a Middle Eastern country while I was there. There were different lifestyle elements that were tricky to get used to. The
first being that women are not as equal to men in the society there, and being a tourist I can't tell you how many times our group got called "Spice Girls" "California" or "Soul Sisters". After that was the poverty in some of the areas. The biggest thing I took away was watching this little boy beg everyone around him to buy some gum. As he was going around and being incredibly persistent, I saw him go back to his parents who were a couple steps away to get more packs of gum and then continue on begging for money that would most likely go toward their next meal. Morocco was another world and even though there were some tough things to see, it was absolutely worth seeing.

What I liked about the trip was that we saw a bunch of different cities, my favorites being Chefchaouen and Asilah. Chefchaouen was located up in the mountains with its winding blue cobalt and shaded blue streets and markets. Another cultural aspect of Morocco was bargaining, whenever you bought something you had to haggle the price. Very different from other cultures but Chefchaouen had many markets to buy blankets, clothing and souvenirs. The architecture and structure of the city was gorgeous and also similar to the seaside town of Asilah. Asilah was similar to Chefchaouen with its blue walls but it was situated right on the water with a gorgeous beach. I could go back there in a second. The weekend in itself was full of adventure with exploring, quaint cities, camels and good company.

The Aftermath: So when going to different or even developing countries it is always important to be cautious of the food and water. We did not drink the water because our bodies would not be used to the minerals in it, so we stuck to bottled water. As for the food, I took a stomach protector before, during and after the time there. Unfortunately my stomach is a lot more sensitive than I thought because once Tuesday rolled around my food poisoning kicked in. There was not a worse feeling than having to go to the doctors and being that unbearably sick so far from home. I don't think I had been as homesick as I was in that moment. I would never wish that upon anyone, but for traveling it really knows no pain and I can tell you the next time I travel to somewhere similar like Morocco I will be taking more precautions. I am okay now but the whole thing will be a funny story in the next few days!

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