Katie's Adventures Abroad

FLASHBACK

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

So for anyone who doesn’t know a lot of Fes, I recommend visiting sometime in your life. I always wanted to go to Morocco, but had no idea what to expect. When we got into town, all we kept hearing about was some thing called the Medina. Turns out, “The Fes Medina” is the largest urban/commercial area without automobiles. We decided we would take the first day to just poke around and do some recon for the serious shopping we planned to do before we left. A nice stroll on a gorgeous day… doesn’t sound so bad.
Calling it a maze wouldn’t do this place justice. The streets were tangled together with twists and turns and charging donkeys that would scare any sane tourist from going in alone. But who needs a guide when you’re a group of 4 clueless Oklahoma kids.
When lunch time rolled around, everyone wanted to escape the Medina and head back to our very Western-friendly side of town. Too bad there are only 3 exits to the civilized world. Chase was getting nervous and ready to pay a Moroccan kid to lead the way out, when I said “This isn’t a place that you find a way out of, you just walk around and hope it finds you.” And just our luck, about ten minutes later – we were out!
We found the first decent place to eat that was out of reach of all the tour-guides and wishful “husband” prospects. I had a dish called Tangine for lunch. Basically they stick a live chicken into clay pot of rice and veggies. Ten minutes later,… tangine. Magic.
Still on Spain time, we all wanted a siesta… followed by dinner and then a fun local hookah bar. We all decided to go to bed early, because we had hired a tour guide to drive us out to Meknes and some Roman ruins for a day trip the next day. .

Thursday, February 28, 2008

We all woke up really early to have breakfast and be ready for our guide to Meknes.
He quickly became fond of Lisa, because of her exotic looking face. It got creepy at lunch when he asked Chase if he would share one of his “wives” with others, and patted Lisa on the belly.

Not to mention, since he sat with us, we all ended up paying for his meal when he conveniently disappeared as the check showed up. Oh well…. We all knew we’d get scammed at some point during the tour. We hit all the highlights of Meknes including the Meknes medina, the royal horse palace, and a few royal temples.
Also on this trip was a stop in a small in the middle of nowhere town, Volubilis.

It had the most well preserved Roman ruins I’ve ever seen. We could walk all over them, and no one seemed to care, it was kind of weird. When we refused some random “ruin tour guides”, one got extremely angry, calling us selfish stupid Americans. All they did was walk to each sign and read it to you! Moroccans, so creative.

After a long day with Abdessalam, it was time to go home. (yes that is his name, and if you need a business card, just ask… I have one.)

Friday, February 29, 2008
Our last day in Fez we woke up to have a full day at the Medina! This time I was ready to bargain and buy! It was awesome! I got scarves, a mirror for the Norman house, some tea glasses for mint tea that I became obsessed with, and some gifts. I ran out of durhams, but luckily Sugar Daddy chase took out WAY too much and lent it out to his wives (to later be repaid in Euro). It was so much fun bargaining and yelling and being a part of the chaos. We would walk away, or Lisa and I would team up on two merchants in one street, going back and forth for better prices. We spent our last night eating well and finding a way to pack everything into our backpacks without having to check them for the flight home.

Saturday, March 01, 2008
We all woke up at 5 am to make the flight to Marseille, France. The airport was decently far, so we arranged for our favorite guide to pick us up. After a flight, and two train rides in France, we were finally home! Home again, home again. After sharing pictures and having our last tea time together, we all went to bed.
A successful first trip!