Our main reason for leaving Spain during this time was because it was the only available free time for our friend and fellow lifeguard currently serving in the Peace Corp, Ryan, to show us around his year long home.
Initially we began our trip in the city of Tangier. We flew into the local airport and took a cab to the Medina to meet up with our Ryan and his friend Lee. From the start you could tell the society operated very differently from a western traditionally christian one. I realize its probably not the most politically correct way to describe the difference but for me this was my first encounter with an Islamic culture. It was also my first time in Africa and I saw the differences as a product of Islamic culture. The lack of alcohol in society was especially apparent and interesting to me. Mostly because bars and clubs were substituted by a strange practice of people watching while drinking mint tea. Most of the cafes on the street had the chairs facing towards the street to allow people to watch the world go by. It was a very slow paced attitude with emphasis on hanging out and taking in the world.
After suffering the initial set back of not meeting Ryan and Lee at the assigned meeting spot; we found the Hotel Continental, where we had discussed staying at. We hoped he would end up coming there. Luckily the Moroccan hospitality proved its again and the hotel manager allowed us use his phone to call Ryan and we were able to finally reunite with him.
The hotel was really nice and having Ryan to negotiate prices made the experience very cheap for the quality we received. Ryan's skills with the Arabic language were pretty key to our trip and we were definitely spoiled to have him with us. It was actually fun to see the look of surprise on many Moroccans' faces when Ryan starting speaking Arabic. Most really appreciated and enjoyed talking with him. Some thought his Arabic was too good and that he was CIA. I thought this was funny but I suppose it reflects a pretty serious truth. Some perceive our government's primary reason for investment in Arabic as a front for spying rather than humanitarian efforts.
We had a slow recovery morning exploring around after going out around Tangier our first night. Not too much drinking, just the traveling and surprise early morning "Call to Prayer" Id alway read about had taken its toll.
After eating our included breakfast and seeing the hotel gift shop that was more like a museum we headed to the docks for some fresh sea food.
Finishing our delicious meal with traditional mint tea, we began the search for how we would get to our next location, Chevshoven
We ended up contracting a Gran Taxi to take us to the city that near 3 hours away. I think we ended up paying less than 100 dirhams which is around 10 euro ( a great deal)
The surrounding area of Tangier was way more grassy than I ever expected Morocco to be. It looked like a greener Mexico.
At one point we even went through a forest region and I almost didn't believe we were really in Morocco at all.
Next time: Chevshoven
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