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Trip Start May 23, 2008 Previous
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  Tangier, Morocco
Saturday, August 2, 2008

mood: absolutely crazily excited

Well im sitting here in my hotel room... IN MOROCCO!!! Woooo hoooo! I am so excited to be here. But let me fill you in on the events leading up to this momentous moment.

Tuesday night I went out for dinner in Lagos with 2 really lovely canadian girls from Montreal. We went to a place called Casa Rosa, and had what is called the ´power hour´ - 10 euro for a meal and all you can drink beer or wine for one hour. time starts when you recieve your first drink and they are always on hand to give refills, as well as topping you up just as the time ends. We ended up in the bar for 2 hours. You get to choose from a few meals like lasagne, piri piri chicken, spaghetti etc, but all 3 of us opted for the burrito! It was all very reasonable for the price that we paid, and so that started off our night. We went back to the hostel to get some other people, and it ended up with about 14 of us heading out to a couple of the bars in town. The first was called red eye bar and its run by a guy from sydney. And its full of Aussies. They had big tvs playing surfing movies, and aussie memorabilia on the walls. The other bar we went to was called Inside out bar, and they are famous for their huge fishbowls made with a whole bottle of vodka and drunk using huge long straws. They were pretty potent. We also rejoyed in some late night food - and had the best crepes and hotdogs from a stand out towards the beach, before meandering back to the hostel.

My last day in lagos was spent again lying on the beach with the 2 canadian girls.

Archway at beach

I took them to my favourite beach and we lazed around in the sun and went swimming in the freezing ocean, this was my first full swim here - i had been too chicken to get the whole way in as it was freezing! but we all doggy paddled out underneath a huge natural archway in  the side of the cliff and out into another cove, then got too cold and decided to paddle back to sun ourselves and take an icecream break. Later in the avo i went to buy my bus ticket for the following morning and then dropped into the supermarket to get the essencials (translation: milk) and had some toast with tuna for tea at the hostel. followed by some vegemite. It was pretty mild up on the rooftop wednesday night, there was little wind and although we all had to wear jackets, the group of about 14 of us hung out on the terrace and talked till quite late before we had to be quiet because of the neighbours.

Something kinda scary happened when i was in Lagos, i didnt want to mention it in the last blog because i know mum would have freaked out. One of the girls that was staying in the hostel went out one night with some of her friends and later on in the evening she decided to head back to the hostel but didnt tell anyone she was leaving. Although it was only a 10 minute walk back she decided that it would be safer to take a taxi. The taxi ended up taking her out into some fields outside the town, when she realised they were going the wrong way she tried to tell the taxi driver but he told her that it was the right way, and they ended  up stopping in a field  where there were some guys there that tried to rape her.

Entry point to our secluded beach

SHe ended up fighting them off and running out onto the road where she was lucky enough to get picked up by 2 portugese guys who drove her back into town, she was covered in scratches and very very drunk, but incredibly lucky - it was like 3am and no-one had any idea where she was. So number one lesson learned in lagos... do not go home by yourself. not that i would anyway. but im sensible. That freaked us out a little though when we heard, as the first thing we would have thought to do if we didnt feel safe was get into a taxi. This area is also where that little Madeline girl went missing, which i hear tonight something about her body being found. I never felt unsafe here, but it does not suprise me the stuff that goes on after dark. We were warned not to go down to the beach at night etc. Its sad that we live in a world where you dont feel safe walking down the street, or cant sit your bag next to you on the beach without worrying that someone is going to try and steal it. Luckily in Aus I think things arent half as bad as over here, I know it still happens but here its clear that the police are so corrupt, there are laws but it doesnt mean that you have to follow them, and people live so desperately that they need to steal and beg to survive. But even after all the bad stuff that i have heard in lagos, i was still incredibly sad to leave. I couldnt believe that I had been there 6 nights. I could have stayed another 2 weeks and not got bored. I think it was helped by the great hostel, Athur the host was amazingly helpful and generous, the kitchens were great, the rooftop was excellent or socialising and admiring the sunset, and by the time i left we had such a great group of people staying there.

Looking back towards Lagos - Potato beach

The nightlife in Lagos is crazy, and the beaches beautiful. The weather was perfect, hot but at the most around 30 degrees, with a nice sea breeze to cool you off, and a cute little town with touristy shopping and cafes and restaurants. There is nothing there except the beaches, but i think thats the whole appeal of it - you really get time chance to relax and having 6 nights meant i could take my time and spread my stuff out, stock up on real food, and take the tine to veg and enjoy the fact that OMG i am in Portugal right now! How amazing. When will i ever be back here. Hopefully it wont be too long.

Thursday i caught the bus back into Spain to a place called Seville, and then Friday another bus to Tarifa, but i wont go into much detail about these places as i head back there after Morocco. Seville was incredibly hot, over 40 degrees, and i shared a taxi to the hostel with 2 other girls that i had met on the bus as there was no way we could have survived the hike with our packs on. The hostel that we stayed at there was pretty crappy, there was aircon but i dont think it worked, the rooms were old and kinda dirty, the bathrooms were pokey and the shower was so small that you would have had to open the door and get out if you accidentally dropped the soap.
After the sun went down it cooled a bit and i wandered around the city for a bit with the girls and as they were also heading to tarifa we went and booked our tickets. The next morning i finally got to go to the Australian consulate and pick up my debit card...

Me and the archway

yay i can now access cash!!! after 2 weeks of living off practically nothing. We chilled out in the hostel and later in a cafe before our bus left in the avo to take us to the most southerly point in Spain - and the wind-surfing capital of Tarifa. I was getting pretty excited by the time i got there, as it was only one more sleep and i would finally be in morocco! This town is pretty cool, its full of surf shops and reminds me alot of Torquay back home. Its wierd to see all the aussie surf labels over here. Though i cant afford to buy anything as it is so incredibly expensive.

And so today (Saturday) was the big day that i would arrive at the one place that i wanted to come to before i even decided that i wanted to do europe... MOROCCO. I met a girl in my dorm room in Tarifa who was actually on the same tour as me so we caught the 25 minute ferry across together. Our first moroccan experience was getting into a tiny taxi with no seatbelts and crazy drivers who permanantly have their hands attached to their horns.

Our hotel was right on the beach, not that we would risk going down there as they are pretty much full of men - as their religion here is muslim women are not permitted to wear revealing clothing and therefore tend to avoid the beaches. Its a basic hotel and me and Jess hung out and slept a couple of hours before we met up and had our pre-departure meeting with the new tour group. There are 19 of us altogether, 17 girls and 2 guys (not very even). We met Marnie and Tim, our tour leader and driver, and they went through the itinerary and answered all our questions.

myself

We had some free time to chat to everyone and did a get to know, then had a 3 course meal in the hotel restaurant. So far we seem to have a good group, there are alot of aussies, but also a few from the UK,  Canada and the US. After dinner we sat around for a little longer and now me and Jess are in our room watching (omg) some tv channel we found in english and im doing this blog for all of you.


Random things.

In Lagos they seem to have developed the theme of a lighthouse - even though they have the poorest excuse for a lighthouse that i have ever seen. They put little white sculptures of them on their roofs and corners of their balconies. Its actually quite pretty.

Hot dogs in Portugal come with tiny little crunchy french fries on the top.

I drank 6 litres of milk when in lagos. THat translates to 1 litre a day. Best consecutive record of the trip so far.

The south of spain has random forrests of gum trees. i suppose thats because they are so drought tollerant they survive really well here. There are also endless fields of dying sunflowers.

Seville uses lemon trees to line their roads. And one guy at the hostel brought us back some figs that he had picked off a tree near the river. They were delicious.

The hostel room in Tarifa was an all girls dorm, so they had painted it pink. All my sheets were pink and flowery. Nice touch. Made me feel like i was 7 years old again.

I found that the Portuguese people are much friendlier than the spanish.

One of the coves

so if your trying to decide between the 2, definately go to Portugal. its a stunning country and have some lovely people.

We got hastled and chased down the street by men as soon as we got off the ferry. They yell out to you and follow you and the only thing you can do is ignore them and if necessary be really mean and forceful and simply say NO. 
 
Morocco has a funny smell. A mix of spices and cooking, pollution and raw sewerage. Sometimes the smells are distinguishable, and sometimes they blend into one super-smell. yummy.




Replies to last entries comments.

Firstly, Tara i dont want to hear about your complaining of the cold! melbourne needs a decent winter so suck it up and take one for the team. If its such an issue... save up and escape like i did!!! Im glad your happy to be back at uni, and handing out travel advise haha. keep it up.


Elly - im so excited that your planning your own trip! hopefully i have been your guinnea pig and now you will have a better idea of where to go and not to go....! hahaha. my new found wealth of knowledge is at your disposal :) and jeez 2010 isnt that far away - the time is just flying. You will be over here in no time. But be warned, europe will extract every single euro out of you, probably while twisting your arm behind your back to make it all the more painful! I hate the damn exchange rate its crap. Hopefully our economy is better by then (or europe gets worse) so that things are more affordable for you.

rooftop terrace

the ammount of money that comes out of my bank account and disapears each day is phernomonal. but its also great fun.
I cant believe that you agreed to go do a talk!!!!!!!! Hahahaha you idiot what were you thinking! I couldnt imagine anything worse. let me know how it goes. Im sure you will be fine, the staff love you anyway. how can you go wrong. Meanwhile, i wouldnt think twice if i never got to step foot in there ever again.
to answer your questions:
What has been your favourite place so far-country, town, city whatever? Lagos by far! and you cant go past the Greek islands. And i also loved Munich. Is that too many? i could name so many more!
Which nation has the most good looking men out of the countries you've visited? Germany and probably Spain, the italians would be good looking if they werent so sleezy!!
What is the most appealing language you've heard? i love Portugese. It sounds so much smoother and more romantic than Spanish or Italian.
Apart from getting your bag stolen, what is the hardest/challenging thing you've had to deal with? would probably would be being by myself and not having the comforts of home, sometimes you just wish that you had someone that knows you personally to talk with. but saying that i havent really been lonely too often, cause although your travelling by yourself you are never really alone... theres always someone to chat to.
well that was fun! feel free to ask as many questions as you want :)


Donna you know that your practically my mother anyway! im sorry if i generalized but i believe you fit under the umbrella of parentals so im sorry if i didnt define you accurately enough!!! poor sammy, i hope she didnt get too hurt. i can imagine you and nan screaming and crying and dramatically running out to save her. i wish i was there! hehe.
oh and by the way who the hell is roman and why the hell are you telling me about home and away? i only care about things that are REAL LIFE DONNA. home and away isnt real. tell nan that too please. how ridiculous.
its great to hear about lisa and OMG is Georgia really 2? thats crazy! when did she even turn one?? where the hell was i!?!? hahaha.
oh my lord i miss hamish and andy so much! we were actually talking about them in lagos up on the rooftop - all the aussies around europe adore them. i could listen to them live but i would have to be up at 8am and currently thats too early for me.
love all the random info keep it comming :)
oh and please check to make sure bretty is looking after the towel rail adequately! say hello to everyone for me - oh and ps i miss your schnitzels!!!

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the view and lighthouse on our rooftop

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