Rain, Opium and "Mosquito´s" in Africa

We finished school and decided to head to the coast and travel over to Morocco. We could not on such short notice get much more than a 2 day tour of Tangier. It is the Tiajuana of Morocco. We signed up with a ferry service to take us across and give us a tour of the Medina and put us up in a hotel.

We arrived and got in a van as our guide fended off the other want-to-be-guides. We had read about Morocco on-line and some one had said that don´t worry about feeling out of place in Morocco you will be like a clown at a funeral. They were right--the locals could identify us from blocks away and were ready to offer us thier services as a guide or for a great restuarant or rugs or mirrors or as Paul was offered opium. His opium dealer decided to hang out with us for awhile just in case we changed our mind about his offer of opium and a place to smoke it. If we did not have a guide with us we would be surrounded by offers of other guides. They call themselves mosquito´s and their top benefit is that they will fend off all the other offers. Paul was offered some camels for me but didn´t accept the offer.

We saw the snake charmers, took a camel ride, ate at a traditional restuarant and in all did the very touristy day trip. Yet, it gave us a taste of what lies beneath waiting to be discovered at a later date.

We stayed over night there in the city that pretty much is the same since the city went from being governed by an international board to being part of Morroco in 1956 --it is very rundown. It is a large drug and human smuggling center.

We had the next day to explore on our own but the rains started and did not let up so we had to cancel our plans for walking around town. So we ate out at the best restuarant in town and had a long leisurely lunch at the 5 star hotel for $40. It was the first time either of us had eaten at a five star place. It seems so contridictory to be enjoying things like this in a country where they make around $4 a day. Yet there are signs that improvements are coming-- not the best for the enviromonment as they involve mega developments all along the coast but good for the economy and hopefully the revenue from this will get to the local populace that so desperately needs it.

Wandering the Labyrith Streets of Granada

Granada the last city to fall to the catholics in 1492. The city still retains much of its distintive culture. From little tea shops where you choose from a menu of scores of teas and sit on stools around low tables to all the arabic words and of course the Alhambra. There is also a large population of new age homeless hippies who all have dogs--it´s a very strange subculture.

We finished up our studies here. We were staying with a family but moved to a different place and found ourselves with another grandma. She was incredibly sweet and very difficult to understand as the people from Grenada speak very differently. She was very concerned about us not eating enough. For lunch she would prepare all of this food and would expect us to eat all of it--it was great food just there was so much of it. She kept telling us to eat more and telling Paul that he needed to finish off the dish so he would have energy for the rest of the day after he took his one hour siesta of course!

We spent a day at the Alhambra an Arabic Palace. It really looks simple from the outside but when you enter in you are blown away by all the work in plaster, tile, wood and water adorning the floors, walls and ceilings of this incredible place. We could not get tickets to get in until the evening session so we toured it in the dark under a full moon and dim interior lighting. It was magical, I felt like I was a character in Arabian Nights in a Sultan´s palace!

We took a tour with the school on Saturday up to some of the towns in the Sierra Nevada such incredible scenery and we had a great guide. He told us so much about the mountain people and took us to a ham factory--there were 200,000 legs there hanging from the ceiling! Like a scene from a horror movie--these are the legs that you see hanging from the ceilings of most of the local cafes. They can be stored just hanging for up to 5 months in this climate.

Seville and The Bulls

Week 2 of Spanish classes we stayed with another family in Seville. Paul and I ended up in different class sessions so we were not able to spend the afternoons exploring as we did in Barcelona. It all worked out fine though as the rains have started--long torrential downpours that leave you completely soaked even if have an umbrella and rain jacket.

Staying with families has given us a really different perspective in touring. We have really gotten to see how people live as we ate breakfast and either dinner or lunch with the family each day. We have eaten lots of fried food the favorite food of Spain--along with the ham. Every family has had their own on counter deep fryer. The Spanish are very, very social as a culture. It is common for them to go to the bar/cafe 2-3 times a day. First for a morning coffee and toast drenched in olive oil and then possibly for a sandwich at around 11 am. Almost everything closes at around 3 pm for Comida the big meal of the day and most go home to eat and take a nap. At around 5pm the streets come to life again as the stores reopen and stay open often till 8 or 9. Then it is time to head out for a drink and tapas (a little appetizer) the bars and cafes are busiest around 9 pm as people fill the streets for thier evening snack. It is really a different way of life and takes some getting used to as we are not accostomed to this eating schedule.

Seville is a very picturesque city with winding streets. We got lost on the way to school a few times as the street signs are not at each corner and there are few straight roads or roads longer than a few blocks in the town center. Seville is known for all its work in tile--all the entries of the old buildings are walled in intricate tile designs. Most of the shops have painted tiles with their name and a picture relating to their business.

The cathedral of Seville was orignially a Mosque the tower and the inner garden are all that remain. You don´t realize it from the outside but when you walk in you are amazed. This is the 3rd largest cathedral in the world--when they built it they built it saying: "let us build something so great that future generations will think that we were madmen."

Across from the cathedral is the Alcazar the home of the King and Queen when they are in Seville. Our first glimpse of Islamic architecture--I fell in love with the gardens and have so many ideas for someday when I can create a garden--I think Paul is a little worried about all my plans.

On our final day there we toured the Bull Fighting Arena. While I might not be up for seeing the event the tour and history was very interesting. There is so much art involved in the event. Sevilla is one of the top bull fighting regions!