Casablanca, Morocco

2/3/09

Casablanca, Morocco

We finally arrived in Casablanca! We arrived during the night, but were not allowed to disembark until 8 a.m. when our passports had been cleared. After grabbing our passports, I headed out into the city with a few girlfriends and the voyage photographer, John. Our first stop was an ATM to acquire some Dirham. One US dollar will buy 8.66 Dirham. However, prices of things are higher; for example a cup of coffee would be about 12 Dirham. Bartering is the main system of trade in Morocco, we even had to barter taxi prices! I found I am not so great at it; however since it is so common in many of the countries we are going to, I hope I will become much better at it. It was an interesting experience, I am used to seeing set prices and then deciding whether I want to buy it or not. In Morocco, it takes quite awhile to decide on the price. The key lesson I learned here is to offer a price much lower than what you are willing to pay, because the vendors will ask for a price 3 to 4 times higher than what the object is worth. Prices are determined by bartering back and forth. The second lesson I learned is to not be afraid to walk away if I think the price is too high. Even after 15 minutes of bargaining, if the price is too high you should walk away. This is also a good strategy because the vendors do not want to lose a sale, and will often consent to your lower offer.

We wandered around the souks, which are the markets in Morocco. The streets were narrow and winding with shops on either side. The area we were in was also residential, with sections of homes interspersing the souk. In Morocco, the outsides of homes are kept under disrepair to prevent robbery. However, if you look in the doors of some homes as people are walking out, you can see beautiful courtyards or decadent living rooms. Walking with John the photographer was very interesting because he frequently visits Morocco and is familiar with the city and culture. He told us that his favorite city in the world was Marrakech, a city southeast of Casablanca. Casablanca is a very modern city, whereas Marrakech stays truer to ancient Moroccan culture. After hearing that, Heather and I decided to skip the City Orientation of Casablanca, and head down to Marrakech the next day.

Around 5 pm, I met in the Union for my first SAS planned trip. It was Dinner with Moroccan Family. It cost $20, and may be the best $20 I have ever spent! The cost of the ticket was donated to charity, and wealthy Moroccan families cooked us a dinner. In the Union, we were split up into groups; I was in a group with 4 other girls. We were picked up by a man named Jawed and his wife. They had three children, an 18 year old son, a 14 year old daughter, and a 12 year old son. Their youngest son goes to the George Washington Academy, which is an American school. He speaks fluent English, French, and Arabic. The George Washington Academy was founded by Semester at Sea alums, which is how this family found out about the dinner. Jawed is an international businessman, and does very well for himself. We were picked up in a Jaguar! They were proud of how westernized they were, he had all the new Beyonce and Rhianna CDs. However, he was extremely excited when we wanted to listen to traditional Moroccan music. I am always very excited to learn about new cultures, and they seemed to be excited to have dinner with us. It was interesting to see how different they thought we would be. A lot of information they get about American culture comes from television, especially from MTV. I was more than happy to try to break those stereotypes.

As in Spain, Moroccans eat dinner late. We ate around 9:30, which gave us plenty of time to talk and get a tour of the house before dinner. They were very wealthy, and the house was enormous. There was a couch in the living room that could easily sit 40 people. I took a bunch of photos. Earlier in the souks, I had bought a traditional Moroccan Kaftan. Morocco is one of the only countries where a kaftan is the term for a woman’s dress, as opposed to a male’s robe. It is a beautiful light blue full length gown with gold embroidery. I wore it that evening, and it prompted Oma, the wife of Jawed, to show us her kaftans. They were absolutely incredible. While mine was generic, hers were made by a dressmaker to her exact specifications. One of her dresses had silver woven into the fabric, giving it a beautiful sheen. They were all handmade, with exquisite embroidery. I loved it! She then told us about the marriage ceremonies, celebrations that will last for 3 days and require multiple costume changes for the bride. They sound like a lot of fun!

Dinner was a four-course extravaganza. The first dish was Pastilla, something I recommend to everyone. I got the recipe, and I am going to try to make it when I get home. It is a dish of shredded pigeon (or chicken) with almonds, onions, and vegetables wrapped in filo dough (used in baklava), and then baked with cinnamon and sugar on top. It was delicious, it was slightly sweet, but still hearty. The second course was traditional Moroccan spicy meatballs in a tomato sauce with rice. Again, delicious. At this point I was filling up, but I couldn’t wait for the coming courses. The third course was also a traditional Tandoori Chicken dish, with lemons and olives. A tandoor is a clay cooking device that keeps a lot of the moisture in. We also had homemade French fries, which are surprisingly eaten very often in Morocco. They were thickly cut and home fried. To drink we had Coke, which is the main drink in Casablanca. There is a Coca-Cola factory on the outskirts of town that employs many of the city’s inhabitants. Coke is everywhere. For dessert we had fresh fruit. The oranges are perfectly ripe this time of year, and were some of the sweetest I have ever had. They sprinkled cinnamon on orange slices, which I recommend all of you try! It was soooo good, I am going to be substituting that instead of ice cream after dinner when I get home. I thoroughly enjoyed dinner, and especially the conversation. There is no better way to get to know people of a different culture than to sit down and share their traditional food with them. They seemed very excited to host us, they visited America last summer and had a great time. They started in New York, went down to Florida, then to Las Vegas, and to San Diego. I told them they should visit San Francisco, and they invited all of us to come back to Morocco. I might have to take them up on their offer!

Around midnight, we realized we had better get back to the ship. We had talked nonstop from the time they picked us up until they dropped us off. It was a wonderful, wonderful experience and will likely be a trip highlight!

Gibraltar

2/1/09

Gibraltar

After sailing from Spain, we did not go directly to Morocco. We stopped over in Gibraltar to take on more fuel and supplies. I was very excited about this because I did not know we were going to stop in Gibraltar until I got on the ship. The ship did not dock, rather we anchored in the bay and a fuel ship came to load supplies. We arrived around 10 a.m., and fueling is supposed to be a 5 hour process. The seas were very rough, and although it was a mostly clear day, the wind was ripping across the ship. When we were still anchored in the port of Gibraltar at dinner time, I got worried and rumors started swirling around the ship. We were supposed to arrive in Casablanca, Morocco at 8 a.m. the next day, and we knew we had a long way to go. Unfortunately, the rumors turned out to be true. The seas had been too rough for the fuel barge to get close enough to our ship, and the fuel hose could not be inserted into our tank. They gave up in the late afternoon, and we had to bunker overnight until calmer seas in the morning. We all were terribly disappointed, because this gave us one less day in an already short stopover in Morocco. I was disappointed; I wanted to be able to call Kyle on his birthday, but we wouldn’t get to port until it had passed. Although I hear he had a good birthday anyway! 

To make up for the delay, Semester At Sea organized a number of fun activities. We watched the Superbowl live! However, because of the time difference, it didn’t end until 3 a.m. I stayed up to watch the whole thing, since there was no need to wake up early the next day! It was such an exciting ending! The Dean of Students for our ship is a HUGE Steelers fan and has been talking up the game since we departed from the Bahamas. It was a funny game, because for some strange reason we could not get an American or English broadcast of the game. We watched the game with German announcers; there were also no commercials, which tend to be a highlight of the game. Were they funny this year?

Gibraltar was a beautiful place, and it afforded me my first views of AFRICA. I was so excited!! The gap between Europe and Africa is a straight 8 miles wide, so you can easily see both continents. There is a mountain range along the northern coast of Africa, and they looked beautiful across the water. Seeing Africa so near made me even more eager to get there. The European side was also beautiful, and we anchored only about a kilometer from the famous Rock of Gibraltar. It was much much bigger than I expected, whole cities are built at the base of it. There are over 200 Barbary Macaques that live on the top of the mountain, but we were too far away to see any of them. The rock is a striking view; it rises sharply from the sea. It is a monolithic mass, meaning it is only one piece of rock; rising 426 meters (nearly 1400 feet) tall. I wish we hadn’t spent so much time there, (I wanted to get to Morocco!) but it was certainly an interesting place to spend a couple days!

Sevilla, Spain

1/31/09

Morning came too quickly after a late night, and Heather, Max, and I rose in time to try to meet friends near the Catedral. Unfortunately it is hard to meet friends in a foreign city without cell phones, so after waiting in the designated square for awhile we gave up. We did run into other SASers, and had lunch at a little place that Max recommended. Afterwards, we explored the Catedral. The Sevilla has the 3^rd biggest Cathedral in Christendom, after the St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s in Rome and London. Construction began in 1402 and continued into the 16^th century. The interior is gigantic, with the largest nave in Spain. There is an exquisitely decorated, gigantic organ surrounding a choir box in the center of the nave. The tomb of Christopher Columbus is housed in the Catedral, riding on the shoulders of four horsemen. It is probably 20 feet tall. An even more famous monument to Sevillans, and something much taller is the Giralda Tower. At nearly 100 meters tall, it affords beautiful views of the city. Max and I climbed it and spent awhile up there admiring the views. We met Heather after climbing down and stopped for a drink, where we saw many groups of SAS kids passing by. Heather left with a group of our friends who were heading back to Cadiz that night, but I stayed in Sevilla one more night.

Max and I crossed the river and headed back to his apartment for dinner with his roommates. Around 9, my friend Andrew called and said he and my 3 friends Beverly, Patricia, and Alex were on the train halfway to Sevilla. It was a spontaneous decision they made at dinner! We met them downtown for tapas around 11, and then found them a hostel. It started to rain, and we got horribly lost on the way to find a bar… but it was an excellent adventure. We found the bar eventually, and it was crowded! A few Spanish boys tried to flirt with me, which was incredibly fun. I got to practice my conversational Spanish, It actually ended up being a great conversation, and they didn’t care when I butchered conjugations of verbs and forgot words. Shortly after that conversation we left and headed to a club that Max had heard of called Aduana. We were the only Americans in the place. It was AWESOME. There was a fog machine, laser lights, and techno(ish). It was slightly eurotrash, but was way fun because we were actually in Europe. We got there at about 2:30am... and there were about 10 other people there. So we went to the bar and had a few drinks. Slowly people started to filter in, and by 3 it was getting going. By 4am there were maybe 120 people there, which packed the place. A bit before we left, which was at 5, I was in the bathroom and started talking to some Spanish girls. I told them I was going to leave soon, and they asked "Why? We just got here, its really just starting up!!" I explained to them that just about everything in the US closes at 2, and they could not comprehend it. They are just getting ready to go out then. Thank god for siestas!

Again, the morning came too soon, and I caught the 9 am train back to Cadiz. I powered through the rest of the day and explored Cadiz some more. I had left Cadiz on a weekday, and now it was a Saturday afternoon. There were people in all the squares, kids playing soccer, parents and grandparents holding babies, and all sorts of people walking along. The markets are also open on the weekend, so I strolled through the fish market. A lot of the fish in southern Spain comes from Cadiz; there were all types of fish! In the late afternoon I returned sadly to the ship, promising myself that I will soon return to España. It was a wonderful, whirlwind tour of Spain. I got way less sleep than I usually do, because I wanted to spend as many waking moments exploring the cities and culture of Spain. It was so worth it. I had a fantastic time, and I cant wait to return!

Sevilla, Spain

1-30-09

Sevilla, Spain

I awoke very early to catch the 8am train to Sevilla with a few friends. It is a two hour train ride, so we got into Sevilla around 10am. We took a taxi to downtown, and had some breakfast by the big Cathedral. Breakfast in Spain is usually light, maybe a croissant and coffee. They have delicious prociutto, ham is a staple of the Spanish diet. The coffee in Spain is also amazing, I usually don’t drink coffee but I loved it here. After breakfast, I went with my three friends to find their hostel. It took awhile, the streets in Sevilla are winding and often poorly marked. It was a fun adventure though, I love to just walk along and observe what is going on around me. I think walking around and seeing, smelling, and listening to the things around me is the best way to really get a feel for the culture. Eventually we found the hostel and put their bags down. With perfect timing, Max called! He got out of class at 1, and his campus was very near the hostel we were at. It was a quick 5 minute walk to meet him, and then he gave us a mini-tour of Sevilla. We stopped for tapas con amigos at a small outdoor café near the Cathedral. We ate tuna and quiche. A SAS tour had just finished at the Cathedral, so I found a few more friends to hang out with for a bit before they had to get back to the bus. We went to the Plaza de Espana, a beautiful building. It was built in the 1920s for an international faire. There was a moat crossed by four bridges, symbolizing United States, Chile, Portugal, and Peru having bridges with Spain. The tiling on the building was incredibly intricate. There was a large fountain in the middle, I loved the geometric patterns of the square. I loved all of the architecture in Spain. Sevilla is a very beautiful city. It is famous for its orange trees, which were fruiting and fully ripe while we were there. There are 18,000 orange trees scattered across Sevilla. The oranges are sour (we tried one), and are not eaten. They are sent to England to make marmalade. The thousands of trees line the streets, and make for great photos.

After lunch, we wandered around some more. We found Heather, who had just finished a SAS tour. It was getting to be mid-afternoon, so Max, Heather, and the three boys I was with earlier, Steve, Hussein, and Keith, walked across the river to Max’s apartment. We played a few card games and rested. Most everything closes between the hours of 4 and 6 in Sevilla, for siesta. Shops open up again in the evening when people start coming out again. So around 6, we reemerged and went shopping! My nice shoes somehow got ruined in transit from San Francisco. There is a dress code to go to discotecas (clubs). I bought two cheap pairs of shoes, both cute. Unfortunately, the pair I wore that night turned out to be terribly uncomfortable boots. The other pair, cute red heels are wonderful though!

We tried to get more tapas around 7; we couldn’t get enough of them! However, no restaurants are open until 8. We sat in a bar and had a Cruzcampo, which is pretty much the only beer in Spain. A soccer game was on, Sevilla vs. Valencia. It was a very exciting game, Sevilla scored in the last few minutes to win the game!! The energy in the bar was contagious, I may have to become a soccer fan. A few of my friends actually went to the game, they said it was wild! The crowd went wild! It led to quite a party atmosphere in Sevilla that night. They have great discotecas in Sevilla. The first night there we went to this club Buddha, which was craaaaazy. The first floor was a hookah lounge and bar, the second floor was, as I can best describe it, a floor for people who wanted to hear music but talk instead of dance, and the third floor was a hot, loud, sweaty dance floor. It was the most jam packed club I have ever been in! It was fun too, because in Spain they all dance in a circle, instead of grinding all over each other. Buddha probably had like 500 people in it. It was a lot of fun, because a lot of SASers were there too, I ran in to so many people I knew. It was a great "hey we are finally in Spain!" party. It was a great introduction to Sevilla!

Cadiz, Spain

1-29-09

Cadiz, Spain

Hola amigos! Estoy en Espana! It is our first port and I am having an amazing time. It took a long time to cross the Atlantic. We left Monday evening, and arrived 8 days later on Wednesday morning. I had a great time on the crossing, but I was definitely ready to see land again. After 8 days I had a great pair of sea legs; so great that I actually felt like I was swaying when I was standing on solid ground yesterday. All of the people who were seasick the first few days felt better by the third or fourth day. Most people are incredibly nice, we had a fun time. The atmosphere was always charged with the excitement created by 720 students about to circumnavigate the globe. I have made a ton of friends!

We arrived in Cadiz at 8am yesterday. It was still dark when we got there, Spain arbitrarily changed their time zone to be in the same zone as the rest of Western Europe, so the sun doesn’t rise until 8:30. That works for the Spanish lifestyle; most businesses don’t open until 9 am, and Spaniards don’t eat dinner until after 10pm. A group of 16 of my friends and I departed at about 9. We set off without a general plan or direction, but the town of Cadiz is only about 5 square miles. The city was built first in 1100 B.C., and since has been an integral part of Spanish defenses. There are many bastillions on the waters edge protecting the city. The city is surrounded on 3 sides by water, so it was very hard to get lost. It was difficult, however, to keep a group that large together, so around 11 we split into smaller groups. I stuck with my friends Tim, Jonathan, and Isaiah. We walked through the Cadiz gardens and stopped to have some tapas. Tapas (pronounced with short a sounds, tah-pah) are like appetizers and are served all day. The food in Spain is DELICIOUS! The biggest thing to do in Spain is tapas con amigos. Friends will get together for an hour or two and drink wine, eat tapas, laugh and talk in the cafes. I practiced my conversational Spanish with waiters all day. The first round of tapas I had were like a brisket in a tomato sauce, and were delicious. In Spain, lunch isn’t served until 3 or 4, so the tapas held us over until then. We emerged from the heart of the city and walked along the beach to a fort built on an island about 200 meters from shore. I loved the architecture. From the fort we could see the rest of Cadiz, and we noticed a large cathedral in the middle of the city. We headed off in that general direction, wandering through the old stone streets that meandered through the city. Suddenly, a large plaza opened in front of us. It was the Plaza de Catedral, with, you guessed it, the large Cathedral rising in front of us.

After seeing some other SAS students in the plaza, we paid 6€ for admission to a museum on the history and ruins of Cadiz and a trip to the top of the Catedral. The view was spectacular. To the south was the ocean, the west was the fort we had just come from, to the north was the tops of all the buildings in Cadiz, and to the east was the rest of the Catedral and more buildings. We spent maybe 30 minutes up there. I took a ton of photos. We then went to the ruins, which were really interesting because of all the different conquers of Cadiz. There were indigenous people, who were conquered by the Romans, and then the Spanish, to the Moors, and finally back to the Spanish. By this time, after all the walking, we were hungry for tapas again. We sat in the plaza right in front of the Catedral at an outdoor restaurant. The 12 of us ordered a few pictures of sangria and more tapas. Sangria is a mix of wine, sometimes a hard alcohol like gin or brandy, and a lot of fruit. It is delicious! With the pleasing sangria, I also had the best shrimp and garlic dish that I have EVER had. They were delicious, they were served very hot in boiling olive oil. I actually went back on the last day in Cadiz to eat some more.

After more exploring, which was the theme of the day, we headed back to the ship for a quick siesta. Around 9 that night, a few of us went back out. The IT guy for our ship, named Bob (or Sparky), is an excellent musician. His goal is to play with bands in every country he goes to. He set up a jam session with some local jazz artists, who turned out to be excellent musicians. Before the show, we got more tapas and sangria. They were, again, delicious. At the show, which was more of a lounge and bar, I had my fist glass of sherry. Sherry is supposed to be the best in Spain. I’ve never had sherry before! I headed back to the ship pretty early that night, because I wanted to be up early for the 8am train to Sevilla!

P.S. I actually did start this blog post in Cadiz, but I’ve gotten a lot busier than I expected. We now have a week at sea between Morocco and Namibia, so I can write out and post what I’ve got in my journals soon!