Gibraltar and Morocco

Sorry for the long break in my postings. Kelsey and I did not bring our computers to Morocco because we thought they would be more of a hindrance than a convenience. We had a really good time in the 3 cities we stopped in on our trip through Morocco and we experienced a lot.

Our first stop was in Gibraltar, which is a province owned by Great Britain. As we learned from our tour guide, Ivan, there are 30,000 Gibraltarians who speak English and Spanish mostly. We made our way across the famous airport, which has a runway that goes through a main road, straight to the Rock of Gibraltar. We began to drive up it’s winding roads while Ivan told us more about his home. We stopped at St. Michael’s Cave and did a quick walk through then found ourselves outside with the popular Gibraltar monkeys. 

 This is the run way which we had to cross in order to get to the Rock of Gibraltar. The air traffic controllers have to time the planes landing with the fact that pedestrians and cars are always crossing the busy street.

 This is our tour guide Ivan. He had a great time telling us all about Gibraltar, where he was born and raised. I was excited to hear everything he had to say about his home, I just wished he would have watched the road a little better.

These are the famous monkeys of Gibraltar. Our tour guide told us that there are about 300 monkeys on the Rock and that they are fed and cared for by the Gibraltar government. They range in sizes and they al have different temperaments but they mostly just want food. Kelsey learned the hard way that an open bag of nuts is almost an invitation to these monkeys. She stepped out of the tour bus with a small handful of nuts in one hand and the large bag of nuts in the other. Her intention was to feed the small handful to the monkeys and maybe use the bag if she ran out. One hungry monkey had other plans though. He ran around our group, jumped up towards Kelsey and snatched the big bag of mixed nuts out of Kelsey's hands. He ran off and enjoyed a great snack that day. Kelsey still has a souvenir from this experience though. When the monkey grabbed one side of the zip-lock bag, Kelsey kept a grip on the other side. When the monkey ran off, the bag tore open and only left Kelsey with a corner of the bag.

 After descending the Rock of Gibraltar we traveled to the ferry that would take us across the Straits of Gibraltar and in to the city of Ceuta in Morocco. Ceuta is a Spanish controlled city in north Africa and has a lot of different cultures mixed together there. After busing through Ceuta we crossed the border into M’Diq, which was the first African city we encountered. We checked into the hotel in M’Diq and got situated in our rooms then went out to explore the Moroccan city.

Everyone who was on the walkway was looking at the 5 of us like we were aliens who had just landed in their city. Compared to the women wearing robes and covering their heads with scarves, our jeans and T-shirts must have seemed pretty odd. To blend in Kelsey and the girls decided to get Henna tattoos for only 3 Euros, or 30 Durham. Durham is the Moroccan currency that is equal to about one-tenth of a euro.

I have many more pictures from this past trip but ran out of time to upload the rest right now. We got back from Morocco on Monday night and Feria de Abril is already in full swing. I don’t think I can describe to you how extravagant Feria is, but I will try to do my best with pictures and a few details. If you really want to see more you can google Feria and you’ll see that amazing colors of the April fair. This is when the famous Spanish dresses come out and everyone heads to the fair grounds for endless eating, drinking and especially dancing. We got there at 5pm yesterday and met with some friends to go to a public tent. (There are public and private tents in the fair). We got some Rebujitos (Manzanilla mix with soda) and started dancing the Sevillana. The music and singing was great and we really got a glimpse into how special this festival is to the Spanish culture. Families would sit together and dance with each other for the whole day, while eating and clapping and cheering on their friends. We stayed and danced and ate and drank until around 1 in the morning. After sleeping in late this morning I headed to Starbucks where I am currently typing out this blog post.

The reason I have to go before finishing uploading all my pictures is because Kelsey, Chuck, Jodi and I are going to see a bullfight today. We bought the tickets last week and the atmosphere at the bull ring is amazing to say the least. I will return to this blog and finish it up as soon as I can. I'll also be doing the blog for our first night of Feria and then the bullfight from today. Hope you all enjoy. Adios!


OK. So I'm back to a place with internet now and I'll complete the Morocco trip post and then fill you in with Feria and the bull fight that we just got back from.

Our tour guide, Achmed, led us through the city of Chefchaouen with ease. He was a local who knew every corner of his city and showed us all the greatest parts of his home. He took pictures with everyone and was great at communicating exactly what he needed. One of the funniest moments of the tour was when he pulled out his iPhone to get on Facebook and find of picture of his friend. Our day with Achmed came to a close and we took our bus from Chefchaouen to Tangier. Our tour guide took us to a really nice restaurant and then some other really cool places.

 Kelsey and I with our ever present violinista, Ally.

 We made our way through the "Medina" or city center and into a natural pharmacy. They sold different  types of herbs and spices to cure all kinds of ailments.

 They also sold massages and Kelsey is not one to turn down a massage.



     After leaving the medina of Tangiers we took our tour bus to the hotel for the night. On the way to the hotel we experienced something that I don't think any of us will ever forget. As the bus slowed down to drive around a round about a group of about 4 young kids ran up along side the bus. They started to bang on the side of the bus with their hands and bottles and began to run in front of the bus. Because the driver was going fairly slow due to the traffic, the kids were able to run in front of the bus with out much fear of being hit. While this group of kids were on the side and in from of our bus, on the inside of the bus we were trying to figure out what was going on. Many of us thought they were trying to break in to the bottom of the bus where all our luggage was stored. Nobody knew what was going on and the bus driver could only lay on his horn as the kids jumped in front of his bus and pounded the side of it trying to stop him. When our vehicle slowed down enough, one small kid tried to roll underneath the bus. The tour guide told the driver not to stop and keep moving as much as he could until we got to the hotel.

It wasn't until we got out of the bus, under the supervision of local police, and checked into the hotel that our tour guides told us what was going on. We were told that instead of trying to break into the bus and steal our luggage, the kids were trying to roll under the bus and try to cross the border underneath our moving vehicle. We were astonished. We were about 20 kilometers from the Spanish border and then we would have to wait another 45 minuted at the border to get all the way through. There was no way these kids could have held on the whole time, but our guide told us otherwise. Many young kids try to leave Morocco all the time and escape to the more inviting and peaceful Spain.

After checking in to the hotel and getting settled in, we were treated to dinner and a show. We saw some traditional Moroccan dancers, gymnasts, a magician and a belly dancer. I was fortunately picked by the belly dancer to accompany her in the dancing. Some of my "friends" took pictures that I will reluctantly put on this blog.

So after that exciting night we got some sleep and prepared for our last day in Morocco. We checked out of the hotel and drove up some hills and around some curves until we reached the place where our group could ride some camels. There were only 5 adult camels and 3 young camels so only 5 people could ride at a time. Kelsey, Jodi, Britney, Ally and I waited until we could all 5 get on a camel at the same time and took a short ride around. 

Then our group drove for a few minutes to the Cave of Hercules. Our guide didn't tell us anything special about the caves but I just knew it was special because I had seen it on some postcards.

After the caves we took our bus back to the ferry and headed back to Spain.

We just had to be in the bus for 2 and a half more hours then we would be back in Sevilla, but nobody could make it that long without falling asleep.

Our Morocco trip was a lot of fun and we learned a lot about the culture of a few cities in the African kingdom. Unfortunately we only had a few days to explore and I'm sure there is a lot more to the country than we saw in our short stay. Next up is my post about coming back from Morocco and going to Feria de Abril in Sevilla. I'll start on that very shortly. Adios!