Morocco & Germany

May 18
Today I have started my last big adventure during my year abroad. I am waiting at the Frankfurt Hahn airport. The hidden price to pay for cheap ryanair tickets is long waits at the airport and flights at inconvenient hours. I am going to wait in the airport over night as my flight to Fez, Morocco leaves tomorrow. Luckily, Mum brought me lots of books to read when she came to visit me!

May 19
I am starting to get quite bored. I have walked around a lot, read a magazine and novel and have slept intermittently. Dad would like the viewing platform that this airport has. It is pretty much on the runway. Anna, however, would not like their water selection. It is all fizzy water, no normal water! I am not a fan either.

I have had some amazing first experiences in Morocco. At the airport I met three guys in the line up to get our passports checked and stamped. We decided to take a taxi to the medina together and now we are staying at the same hotel. They study computer science together in England. Dave is from England, Harvey is from China and Christian is from the Phillipenes. They are all really nice and I am very happy that I met them! We went for a walk around the medina and the experience was literally indescribable. Totally different from anything I have ever seen and so much more interesting and unique than I could have ever imagined. The atmosphere, smells, people and sounds are all combined into an intangible experience. We went out for supper and ate couscous and drank mint tea. Very Moroccan! Then we took a petite taxi to the city center to a shisha bar. Morocco has two taxi systems; Petite taxis are little cars (usually fiats) that hold 4 people (although 5 could fit) and grand taxis are old, Mercedes with "character" (probably stolen at some point) which are meant to hold 5 people but 6 people are allowed to be squished in. The shisha bar was another Moroccan experience. We were the only foreigners there. So all in all, a great start to my time in Morocco. The guys and I will stay together tomorrow as well and then the day after that they are going to head off somewhere else. I will probably stay in this hotel seeing as it is a good location and only costs about $10 a night.

May 20
Today has been another amazing day in Africa. I love the sound of that! Africa. I woke up quite early, I guess I am still used to Latvia time. Last night was quite noisy and it was hard to fall asleep. During the night we were awoken by the call to prayer which is played through various speakers in the medina. The call to prayer happens five times a day and it is unlike anything I have ever heard. Today we went to another city 60km from Fez, called Meknes. It was the capital of Morocco from 1672 to 1727. We took a grande taxi from Fez and if any of your have ever driven in Dad's jetta, my drive was very similar! The taxi driver asked one of the boys if they wanted to roll their window down. When he said yes, the taxi driver handed him the window knob! The whole car shared one knob to roll down the windows. The drive from Fez to Meknes cost 120 dirhams in total ($16, so $4 each). I thought that was great! We walked around Meknes and saw a castle. An extremely friendly police guard came over and had a chat with us. Then we decided to go to Volubilis, an archaeological site that features preserved Roman ruins. The Romans evacuated most of Morocco at the end of the 3rd century AD but, unlike some other Roman cities, Volubilis was not abandoned. However, it appears to have been destroyed by an earthquake in the late fourth century AD. It really reminded be of being in Rome! Then we went to Moulay Idriss, a town and important religious site. For many centuries it has been a place of pilgrimage, due to its tomb of the city's founder, Moulay Idriss el Akhbar, a decedent of the Prophet Muhammad. Once we were dropped off by the taxi we were approached by a guide. There are many men in Morocco who work as "tour guides". They approach tourists and then you choose whether to ignore them or walk with them and at the end you pay whatever you think is reasonable. This time we took him up on his offer and it was definitely worth it. He showed us the famous minaret of the Idriss Medersa, took us to the best viewpoints of the city, told us information and history and took us to a bakery where we bough freshly baked bread that had been baked in an old oven heated by fire. Then it was time to go to Meknes and further to Fez. We had supper and went out for a few drinks (something that definitely not typically Moroccan).

May 21
Dave, Christian and Harvey left today to continue their travels through Morocco so I am on my own again. We woke up late and had breakfast/lunch together. My trip definitely wouldn't have been nearly as fun without their company! After they left, I went to use the internet to let everybody know that I am alive and well :) The weather today is actually perfect. My absolute favorite weather. It is somewhere between +25 and +30 with a light, cool breeze. As I write, I am sitting on the roof of my hotel (that sounds dangerous, but it isn't at all, almost all roofs in Morocco are flat and used as a terrace). I am going to spend the rest of the day relaxing and tomorrow I am going to explore more of the medina.

May 22
Another beautiful day in Morocco. It is going to be really difficult to go back to my normal life again. I spent the day in the medina. I have noticed quite a difference between talking around with Christian, Dave and Harvey and walking around by myself. Moroccan men are much more assertive when I am walking by myself. They should out comments, but it is harmless... I just ignore them and keep on walking. It is no worse than it was in Spain, really. The comments escalated when I took off my sunglasses due to my blue eyes, so I put my sunglasses back on and kept them on! I saw the famous tanneries of Fez today. It was incredible. I found a guide and he told me all about the leather making process. I was given a sprig of mint leaves due to the pungent smell. The leather-making techniques have remained pretty much unchanged since the Middle Ages. Men walk the narrow paths between huge vats, water wheels creak as the leather is rinsed, and buildings facing the tannery are covered with pelts hanging to dry. After walking around for a few hours I was parched, so I returned to the hotel and drank 1.5 liters of water as if it had been merely one glass. Then I went for another walk, bought some jewelery and had a delicious salad for supper. I went out for one last glass of Moroccan mint tea and then it was time to go to sleep.

May 23
Today is my last day in Morocco. I honestly hope to return to Africa some day in the not-so-faraway future. I have always wanted to travel here and now that I have had a tiny taste of it, I want more! I spent the morning shopping. I very seldomly buy souvenirs but I really like the style (and price) of Moroccan jewelery. Up until this point, I ignored the shop keepers who tried to lure me into their shops but this morning I was ready and willing. I am usually not one to bargaining, but in Morocco it is assumed that bargaining is going to happen. Their attitude about selling things is unique. Most of the time when I asked how much something cost, the shop keeper would respond in asking "well, how much do you want to pay?" And so, I bought a pendent and earrings for 70 dirhams and my pen and at another place I bought a scarf for one third of their initial price (I started to walk away and then a boy ran after me saying that I could have it for 50 dirhams because I was beautiful and it was his first sale of the day and I would bring him good luck!) Despite the hassling that tourists experience, Moroccan people are very friendly and warm people. They genuinely care about their products and customers. When I walked by a shop where I had bought something, the shopkeeper would smile and wave and say "Hello! I remember you!" Today I also saw Bou Inania madersa:a breathtaking 14th-century religious college. It is supposedly the best example of Islamic architecture a non-Muslim can see in Fez. The last thing I have to note about Morocco is the amount of donkeys/mules and how much I love them! They are everywhere, carrying all sorts of loads. I feel like the majority of my photos have a donkey or mule in them. They walk in the medina along with the rest of the crowd and they walk on the roads along with the rest of the traffic. It is awesome! And so, after five unforgettable days in Morocco, I am off to see Monica in Germany :)

May 24-27
I had a great time visiting Monica. It didn't feel like we had been apart for over a year. We walked, talked and laughed a lot! She arrived in Mainz last week, so we discovered some things in the city together. The first evening I was in Mainz there was a soccer game and almost everybody was dressed up in red to support their local team. There was lots of drinking, yelling, singing and garbage, but the strangest part was that Monica and I couldn't figure out if they won or lost! Apparently they won though. It was really hot in Germany too. It felt just as hot as Morocco! In Morocco the heat is dry and there is a breeze but in Germany it was really humid, which added to the heat. Monica and I went to a barbecue with the people that she works with.I never pictured myself being at a barbecue with physicists from Canada, Germany and Russia. It certainly was interesting. Walking in the medina with donkeys one day and eating sausages and drinking beer with physicists in Germany the next day! HaHa. The next day, Monica had a day off of work and we spent the day in the center being tourists and shopping. We prepared a delicious supper together and then went for an adventurous walk. Our visit was short, but sweet. It was so much fun to catch up with one another and make many new memories as well.

And so my year abroad is coming to a close. As I am typing this, I am "working" my last shift at Riga Hostel (what a difficult job it has been... just kidding!) I only have a few days left to enjoy Latvia and I am going to make the most of it!

See you all soon :)