Now THIS, is a trip for the memory books. For those of you who have been following a long over the years.. this one is a doozy. It doesn’t beat out the Cambodia/Vietnam trip of 2009 but it’s second place FOR SURE!

I was going to meet a friend in Morocco to back pack through the country a bit. We had booked our first night or two in a hostel ($4/night) and would basically figure the rest of it out once we got there. I only had a short layover in the famous Casablanca with my final destination in Marrakech. I was immediately bombarded with people trying to give away free sim cards. I watched them take people’s passports to take a photo of the sim card and passport together – I’m sure so they could follow and kill them (hah idk, but nothing good comes from that!). I grabbed a taxi to take me to the riad (hostel). The taxi stopped in a very busy (it was about 11pm) square and told me I’d have to walk the rest of the way. Some kid game up and grabbed my backpack out of the trunk and started down the dark ally. This was one of those life moments, where you ignore your gut and trust in the goodness of people. This kid was, in fact, hired to carry my bag for me down the dark and creepy ally to my riad. NOT, stalk and kill me, as my fears told me in the heat of the moment.

The riad was gorgeous – like every photo of Morocco I’d seen online. Bright colors everywhere, seating areas on rugs and pillows, fresh tea being served to everyone. All the riads we stayed at were multi-levels, very open in the center all the way to the roof so you could see all the balconies. Rooftop seating areas… I immediately become overwhelmed with excitement.

We rented a guide to take us into the Sahara for a ‘tour’ he picked us up in a Toyota and we were off. We spent a few hours over the next few days driving to get between the areas. We also were traveling during the holiday, which meant that our tour driver added a day detour on our trip to go home and see his wife! (No notice, no extra charge, no permission, just ‘we’re going to my home for a day’) Ooh – ok! His cousin killed a goat (all families were required to kill a goat or a sheep depending on what they could afford). His family killed a goat, we watched it, I ate the heart. It was everything you’d want that situation to be! In the cities, the streets were lined with carcases. It actually seemed somewhat wasteful, but there’s a lot I’m probably not understanding in all of it.

When we got to our ‘hostel’ in the desert it was beyond beautiful and we mostly had the place to ourselves. There was a beautiful pool, COLD drinks, and we stayed there the night before taking the camels into the Sahara to spend a night there as well. It was an hour or two camel ride into the desert where there was a small village we slept in. I slept outside because I was afraid of spiders being in the tents. There were rugs laid out everywhere. The stars were the brightest and the closest I’ve ever seen stars before – it was almost creepy! In the middle of the night I woke up to RAIN. Huge droplets of rain fell on us for a few minute and then cleared up. In the morning we washed up in the outdoor sinks and climbed up a dune to watch the sunrise. Such an incredible experience.

We spent a day or two in Fez which was an amazing area for shopping. I spent an hour or two in a shop drinking tea and bargaining for a new rug for the house. After the transaction was completed the owner hugged me and told me I was a ‘real bedouin woman’ hah The riad owner said I got a fantastic deal for a white woman, paid almost the same he would have from the same shop. I’ll take that as a success! I spent $1,400 on three rugs plus shipping to the US.

Chefchaouen was by far my favorite place. The colors of blue painted everywhere was magical to me. The bright colors of the spices in the market, the open air, it all looked so clean and perfect.

We went on a hike… somewhere… I can’t remember where it was at. I fought with the taxi driver over price in French to get us there and back, then fought with the guides that we didn’t need to pay someone to guide us up and back on the mountain. Long story short – we almost slept on the trail on the mountain it got so dark so fast on the way back! But we made it back and our taxi driver was still there waiting for us! (Never pay the full price upfront)

There was hot tea everywhere. Everytime we checked in – tea. Stopped in somewhere to shop – hot tea. Looked hot and tired – hot tea. It was black tea with tons of sugar and mint leaves. How on earth it was so hot out and hot tea ‘cooled your body down’ I will never understand but it almost did!

Tagine was the main and only dish there really. Served in a rounded triangle shaped pot it was cous cous with root vegetables and meat. Mildly spiced. It’s what we ate all day every day. It was good but it did get a little bland. Warm coca-colas out of the glass everywhere we went as well.

Every city, every person, everywhere we went, everyone was so welcome and so nice. I felt save, I felt at ease traveling! The only place where it was a bit dicy was in Tanger. Ironically it was the northern most tip and the most European but somehow the least friendly to women. We were asked to be accompanied by men. They yelled ‘jezebel’ at us as we walked around. Not the most fun.

I absolutely adored everything about Morocco – highly recommend. Stay in riads, not hotels. Explore, go out into the desert, drink tea, eat tagine!

https://www.photobecky.com/morocco — Full list of photos can be seen here!!!