Endless Vino and Gelato: Tag me in at "Africa"

Sarah, Laura, and I spent many hours trying to plan a fall break adventure. After going to a SnoworSand travel group presentation we fell in love with the idea of going to Morocco. This was unlike any of our other trips and we were really excited. I honestly could not think of a better way to spend my fall break. One of the best parts about my trip was the 12 other people I spent the trip with. We laughed, danced, and became a little Moroccan family for the week.

The trip started off well with a train ride to the Pisa Airport and on the train this little head pops up and asks "Are you guys going to Morocco?!? Ya? Ok My name's Stef, I'm going to film you this week. I'm with Snow or Sand." It turns out our trip was being filmed to be used in the promo video for Snow or Sand. Sounds good to me! Plus, Stef a.k.a. Hookah Mama turned out to be a good addition to our little Moroccan family. We ended up meeting with the rest of the Florence crew at the airport and got acquainted. We all bonded with the complete chaos at the airport. Most of my flights have been on this budget airline called RyanAir. Yes, you get 9 Euro flights, but you have to play their insane game. This includes booking in Italian, not adding on luggage, you only get 1 bag (under 22 pounds and no other items on you like a purse or shopping bag) or you get charged more. You also don't have assigned seats, so you must stand in a line at the terminal so that you can get a good seat. Well, our flight was majority Moroccans and Moroccans don't really follow the line concept. Once the flight attendant opened the gate a mad dash of pushing and shoving occurred. Flight attendants were yelling in Italian, Moroccans yelling back in Arabic, and the 10 little Americans just shimmied our way through and made a dash for the plane. The flight was a circus, as usual, with them trying to sell you anything you can imagine and coming on the intercom every 10 minutes announcing something ridiculous. My personal favorite is the jingle that goes off when you land, "Do do do...Congratulations!!! You're one of the many on time flights of RyanAir. RyanAir is the #1 airline for on time flights in Europe!" This went off when we landed... 10 minutes late. Anyway, the plane landed and we met our guide Mohamed a.k.a DJ MOMO.

The airport was gorgeous! Later we found it is the airport where Sex and the City 2 filmed their scenes, in addition to many parts of Morocco that we saw! Of course I watched the movie last week and got really excited when they were in the airport and shopping in the souqs. We drove through the town of Marrakesh and were dropped off in the city center. It was a beautiful chaos. Street vendors everywhere selling fresh squeezed orange juice, spices, lamps, cds, and everything Moroccan you can imagine. We headed to our Riad (basically a Moroccan Bed and Breakfast, you won't find very many hotels here, the local Riads are the way to go) through the streets and alleyway. At dusk it seemed like it was so far away, but by the last day we were roaming the streets of Marrakesh like we lived there! We arrived to our Riad and were immediately greeting with a Bonjour and welcoming arms. I was so so so excited to use my french, which is slightly better than my Italian. Sedia, the Riad owner, doesn't speak any English, and I enjoyed the broken conversations I had with her. We went from room to room admiring how beautiful our Riad was. Moroccan decorations are so full of color and have such detail, I wanted to buy everything!

The first rule of Moroccan hospitality is to serve Mint Tea. That night I had my first taste of tea and fell in love with it. Mint is one of my favorite flavors and combined with a little bit of sugar the tea is fantastic. The trick to it is the pouring method. You pour a glass, put in back in the pot, and pour again lifting the teapot high up to avoid getting mint leaves in the glass and for perfect presentation. We headed back into the city center for dinner in the souqs. DJ MOMO lead us through big white tents full of people with food being grilled and tables everywhere. Each place we passed we were asked to sit down for "the best food" and "good price". DJ MOMO lead us to a stand where we enjoyed our first Moroccan dinner. We started off with olives, bread, and some salad. Everything was so flavorful and extremely different from all the pasta and pizza I had been eating in Italy. We were then served meat and vegetable kabbobs followed by potatoes, hard boiled eggs, sausages, and fries. We thought is would never end! We all got acquainted and talked about the excited week we had ahead of us! After dinner we went to a local restaurant for some more Mint Tea. Mohamed attempted to teach us some Arabic and Berber. I officially know 3 words in Arabic: Assalamu'alekum (hello), Shukrun (thank you), and Haram Baram (cheers). But my personal favorite is "cheers" in Berber: Libito Bito Limabito Mabito. Try saying that 3 times fast.

Our first morning I woke up around 5am for the call to prayer. I knew of the call to prayer, Adhan, but I had never actually heard it in person. Five times a day all practicing Muslims repeat this summary of their statement of faith. I fell back asleep and woke up in time for my breakfast of bread, butter, honey, and tea. A nice change of pace from Italian croissants and espresso! We headed out for our tour of Marrakesh. First up was the Musee Dar Si Said, a museum of ancient art and crafts. Here we saw old woven rugs, pottery, clothing, and original decorations of the palace. Once again I was amazed by the beauty of Moroccan artwork!

From here we walked around the streets of Marrakesh, which are always a great adventure. Always be sure to watch out for the bikes and donkeys. I was almost run over multiple times. Along the way you are sure to pass a dozen street cats. They are EVERYWHERE. And so adorable, unless you're a hater *cough Stef*. Even in the desert, which is why every cat on this trip is now referred to as "desert kitty". If you want to feel popular, just take a walk through the souqs. Every vendor will call out to you and call you beauitful. Talk about a self-esteem boost. If you tone out the noise and just look around you will notice the amazing products. The spices, clothing, lamps, jewelry, and decorations are all so incredible and you just want to buy everything. Bartering is an experience you will either love or hate. Most things are priced way high with the expectation that you will barter. I always start off with confidence and suggesting a ridiculous low price of about 20 Dirhams (about 2 Euro) for everything. This either starts off with laugh or makes them angry. I figure it's a good strategy because then I decide whether I like the guy. Chances are the same thing is being sold a few stands down, so I choose what to buy based on a fair price and if I liked the vendor. If you really want a good deal take my friend Izzy. She seemed to always walk away with a deal!

Next up was the Herboristerie for some Moroccan herbs and medicine. We were given a short explanation about different Moroccan medicines and how they were used. I'm a big nerd and was fascinated by everything. I typically hate taking pills and getting shots, but I love herb medicine. It's natural and I feel like it's better for the body. Not only was there medicine, there was tons of beauty supplies from argon oil to eyeliner and lipstick. I think the group spent a couple thousand Dirhams there! The shop was great and I was sure to walk away with some mint tea, package of spices, argon oil for my hair, and some special Christmas gifts!

One thing we were promised and very excited for, was to see some snake charmers and take picture with monkeys. We sure got our money's worth! I am slightly afraid of snakes, but I figured... I'm in Morocco, why not. He put the snake around my neck and I lasted about 10 seconds before I decided I was done. We also got to hold monkeys. I'm usually a big fan of mammals, but these guys were crazy. The monkeys pulled hair, bit people's faces, and peed on Caitlin! But at least it was a good photo opp, especially for Sarah.

That afternoon we got lunch and we all experienced fresh squeezed ___ juice. Apparently you can juice just about anything. I ordered Jus de Pomme (Fresh squeezed apple juice), but the most popular was Jus de Banane which was delicious! We also enjoyed kabobs and fries. Yumm. The gorgeous Jardin Majorelle were the next stop in Marrakesh. The gardens were originally the painter Jacques Majorelle's, but after his death they were restored and now open to the public. They were filled with green everywhere and the prettiest color blue for the buildings. They were truly a sight and these pictures do not do it justice! On the way back to the city center we all decided to take a horse drawn carriage so we could take in the city view!

Our next experience was one for the books. Keep in mind we met each other less than 24 hours ago, but we truly bonded over our Hammam Bath experience. We had all heard a little about the Hammam Bath. Most Moroccans go at least one a week to get extra clean and it's a typical cultural tradition. For an American, it's quite a bit out of your comfort zone. In the words of Ryan Gosling on Jimmy Fallon describing a Turkish Bath. (http://blogs.indiewire.com/carynjames/ryangoslingfallon) " I expected to walk into a spa with palm trees being waved at me and being fed grapes." Not quite. It was more like clueless American girls being sent into a empty tile room and meeting a large Moroccan woman who only spoke Arabic. Not a bit of English or French. We stood there in our swimsuits with our little bags of soap and scrubbers from the herboristerie and followed where the lady pointed. After walking into the next room we clearly saw that our swimsuits weren't needed. We decided to go for the Moroccan experience and lost our tops and headed to the "hot room". There were buckets everywhere and most women were sitting around the buckets and scrubbing the dead skin off. We all sat around and started to do the same while we chatted and giggled. Just when we thought we figured it out, a Moroccan woman came and gave us instructions in rapid Arabic. Finally she grabbed Caitlin and started scrubbing her until her skin was red. One by one we each got flopped around like a fish on the dirty tile ground and scrubbed 5 layers of dead skin off. Since we couldn't communicate, we were just pulled and flipped and got real close to this very large, very naked woman. Although this may sounds little terrifying, I have never felt so clean. We all were a little shocked at first, but now it's just a funny experience and I would recommend it. Heck, they do this every week!

After being scrubbed clean we came back to the riad for some henna tattoos. Most of us got cool hand art, but I think the winner went to Carly and the snake on her arm! We had dinner again in the souqs. Multiple course were served once again, but my favorite was the soup!

Hookah Mama enjoying her soup.

Which leads me to our next activity. Hookah! DJ MOMO led us across town and into the basement of a building where we found a pool hall and hookah bar! I have never actually smoked hookah and was excited to try our apple and mint flavors. We had a great time and were all full of laughter. DJ MOMO and Stef had quite a show down for who could smoke the best. This is how Stef received her nickname: Hookah Mama. I tried and tried, but could barely get good smoke rings until the end. At one point I realized that I was holding my hookah like a clarinet, which was strange since I haven't played since Jr. High. I guess some things just naturally sneak up on you. This led to Sarah and my extremely impressive musical number. Needless to say, my first Hookah was a success.