12 Flights 7 Weeks: Fez

Little did I know Azrou was my last happy days in Morocco. The evidence of this is the fact that my 6 days in Fez were documented in barely 100 photos.... so that means this post is all talk and a few pictures.

When I caught the bus to Fez I obviously had a spare seat next to me. This guy sits right down and starts a conversation. It went something like this…

Him: Hi my names –whatever-. I’m 26. How old are you?

Me: 24.

Him: Are you married?

Me: no.

Him: Can I have your phone number so I can get to know you?

Me: no

Him: why not? We could get married.

Me: I have a boyfriend.

Him: Is he in Fez?

Me: no.

Him: So you’re traveling alone.

Me: At the moment, obviously.

Him: That’s brave. Can I have your number to talk about that?

Me: no.

I put my headphones on about then because I wasn’t in the mood. Thank god he got off about a half hour into the trip. It wasn’t the first time a random guy had asked for my number. I’d given out a few fake ones. Any how the trip doubled in time because we stopped a few times at fruit stands and bathroom stops and halfway through the trip I was sure I was getting car sick because I was feeling like shit.

The closer I got to Fez the more I was becoming convinced that I was running a temperature. When I got to Fez I felt like total shit. I had booked a riad the night before and I had picked it because I knew I was going to get utterly lost and it looked easy. So off I hiked sweating and shivering. I got lost. Some dude took me to the riad…. They were all like um we didn’t get your reservation… they showed me to a room anyway. I just wanted to curl up and sleep. I checked my email. And I was totally at the wrong place it hade been the other riad I was looking at. So I was all embarrassed and looking sick and I was like so sorry for the trouble I actually booked in somewhere else. I should be able to find it. One of the guys working there used to work at the place I had booked into so he nicely walked me over.

I got there and I was feeling like death. I filled out the papers and stuff and they brought me tea and were chatting with me and I did my best to be nice. But finally I was like please I just want to sleep. So they took me to my room…. On the top floor. The bright side was that I had the room to myself for the first night.

I promptly curled up in the blankets and shivered a bit before texting my mum. She told me to shower. So I dragged myself from bed and showered. Then I skyped my mum for a bit. She told me to stop drinking tap water… well I hadn’t had a problem the whole time. But it made sense. So after hanging up I went downstairs to ask where I could get water. One of the guys that worked there ran out and got it for me, he didn’t even charge me extra for going to get it. Which was actually really nice because I was feeling like shit. Then I had to climb all the way back to the top floor. It was a really nice riad…

I just wasn’t in the mood to anything but sleep. I woke up that night with my first bout of vomiting. It sucked. I got almost no sleep because I hardly left the bathroom. So I was relatively on time for breakfast.

I had tea and orange juice and toast and yogurt. It 5 minutes to walk up to my room and that seemed to be the best incubation time before vomiting up breakfast. That second day in Fez was horrible and I don’t remember much after breakfast. I had a really high temperature and I slept and messaged friends on facebook and was sick in the bathroom.

I do remember my roommates coming in at one point while I was sort of sleeping but mostly just fevered. Although I wasn’t in the mood for chatting so I just kept sleepingish. I saw them at breakfast the next morning and apologized for being so antisocial. They understood, because I still looked like death. But I had breakfast. And repeated yesterdays routine. So I slept and was sick all day and still had a fever. It sucked. The most I saw of Fez was the view from the roof of the riad.

That’s a super famous attraction over there, it’s the Roman Tombs. I only saw them from afar because you had to take a taxi there or walk through a sketchy part of town. I was too sick to consider the trip anyway.

Then it was my last day in my riad and I was supposed to meet up with my couchsurfing host. My fever had broken over night and I was feeling half as sick as I was the day before. So I was like yeah I can pull it together and do this! I packed up my stuff, pulled it together, and headed over to the bus station to wait for my host.

I waited two hours. Without cell service! Let me give you a tiny rant on cell service in Morocco. Fez is a pretty big city. 0 cell reception. I had 0 reception in Marrakesh as well. oddly enough I had grand reception in Merzouga and in the desert! Like what the hell! And then a smidgen in Azrou, which was perfect because I needed it when I got off the bus. So I was peeved and sick in the bus station. I’d asked to borrow this guys phone at a sandwich shop. He was really nice and let me use it twice.

Finally my host and his friend show up. We had to go pick up another girl who was couch surfing with him and had been in the city. She needed to grab her stuff and go to the airport so we went. I sat in the car feeling very sick! Turns out she had lost her laptop or it was stolen from the place she was staying (which was my host’s friend’s place and where I’d be staying). So it was a long drama filled night and I was tired and sick and was like just drop me off at a hostel please. I want to sleep. My host was like no I don’t want a bad review just stay the night and we’ll see the city tomorrow.

It was like 2am by the time I spelt that night. I really didn’t want to stay because the bathroom was disgusting and dirty and I was sick and still vomiting. I had my own room… but the door was broken so I couldn’t open it from the inside. So I had to quell my vomiting and general sickness all night till it was morning and I was like can someone help me! and one guy opens the door and he’s like sorry we should have told you the door is broken. I’m like thanks for the heads up. Like what the fuck!?

Then I was like fuck this take me to city centre I want a riad to waste my last 2 days in Fez. So I did just that after giving him a piece of my mind. And to date that is my worst couchsurfing experience. But I got to another riad and thank god they had room! And a laundry service! Because I was in desperate need of clean clothes!

Since it was around 11am when I got there so I had to wait for them to finish cleaning the dorms and I was talking to a guy who was also waiting for a bed. He was really nice and super well travelled so we hit it off in the chatting department. He offered to walk around the city with me after we dumped our stuff in the dorm. But I was like I’ll head out later, I really want to nap and give into my sickness a little longer.

After a four hour nap I felt much better. I decided I could venture away from a bathroom safely so I went out into the city! It was my fourth day in Fez and my first day seeing the sites!

Now word of advice about streets and navigating the sites in Morocco… in the old Medinas street signs are like chupacabras… they’re mythical things that some people have claimed to have seen. Because surely they must exists because riad’s give you a street address but I never saw one posted! And the map I got from my riad aka the only sort of maps you get are these ghetto photo copied ones with half of everything missing. I was like okay I’m going to see the tanneries. And the university because they look easy to get too…

Nope. Nope. And Nope!

The only reason I found the tanneries was because I found a large group of Asian tourists going in the general direction I wanted to go… so I followed along. Turned out to be a great move because I made it. When I asked how to get in this old guy was like here it’s crowded going up the front way. I followed him up the back stairs. The best and maybe only place to see the pits is on the balcony of a leather store. I wasn’t hassled to buy anything but I had heard that was a problem. It was worth the exertion to get there!

The white pits are full of pigeon poop… apparently it’s a good dying agent.

It reeked though! I thought I was going to vomit on the floor of the store. So I found a bench and sat down to breath deeply through my mouth. Once I was feeling up to standing I took a few more pictures and decided it was time to back to my riad because I was feeling shitty again… literally haha.

I would like to believe that I had developed a stellar sense of direction in Morocco so finding my way back to the riad that first day was so damn easy! I grabbed water and some ramen on my way. I had a nap then when my new buddy came in that evening we chatted then we had dinner on the roof. I had my ramen and he had oatmeal and lectured me on how I should eat better if I wanted to feel better. I understood that but I knew the possibility of not keeping it down was very good. He just laughed. We talked a lot he was telling me about his travels and his sort of girlfriend who lives in Vietnam. And it just seemed like he needed someone to talk too. So I listened.

Then it was off to bed and up earlyish. We had a new dormmate, a girl on her own for two days before she met her friends in Paris. She was starting to feel sick, it sounded just like what I was just getting over. We talked for a while before she went off to do something or other and I was like okay I need to find that university! It’s the oldest in Morocco and I had thought I’d planned my route the day before to walk right past it so I was bummed that I had missed it.

When I got close and asked a guy (in French thank you!) where it was he smiles and points at the doors behind me. and then he told me that they’re only opened a few hours a day and ad a female I couldn’t go in and that I’d be lucky to get a glimpse inside as it was. I thanked him and took a few more pictures of the doors before walking on. Seriously the best attraction in Fez and I couldn’t go in!

I walked on. I took tons of pictures…

And got spectacularly lost! I was starting to feel sick as fuck again and I just wanted to get to my hostel. And this one guy was following me trying to get me to let him show me around and he was doing a weird follow me from behind, walk at my side then disappear and then appear ahead of me. It was freaking me out. So I stopped to ask some police officers for directions… in French. English was not as common as in Marrakesh or Merzouga. But I can proudly say my French got me through!

It was an accident that I stumbled upon the gate that lead out of the medina to my riad. My half hour outing turned into a 2 hour getting lost and stalked clown operation. So a nap and bathroom break were called for when I got back to my riad.

My last day in Fez was really fucking hot. I checked out on time and stored my luggage I was considering a walk about the medina when I found a guy from Connecticut and we were chatting and I was like I’ve been craving a milkshake since I got sick. And I’m finally feeling well enough to get one but I don’t know where to get one. And he’s like there’s a McDonald’s not to far. Let’s take a taxi I’ll pay because now I really want one! So off we went on a McDonald’s quest!

McDonald’s is crazy efficient there. they have people with tablets taking your order and printing your receipt so when you get to the counter all you do is pay and get your food. It was nice.

See how cool I am! How American! I kept it down for a whole 4 hours! I was totally on the road to recovery!

That evening it was off to the airport! And I’d be meeting with my friend Kelly the next morning at London Stansted airport! But first I had the funniest airport experience ever!

So you get dropped off by taxi right in front of the entrance. There were 5 of us in the cab so it legitimately cost $0.75 to get to the airport. I go inside and you have to fill out a departure card with your visa number and all that. You get the visa number stamped with your entrance stamp. Then I went to security and I still had half of my two liter bottle of water so I took a few more drink then went to go chuck it and the security guard is like that are you doing? I was all scared and told him I was throwing it away. He’s like well you can take it with you! So it went through the scanner with everything else. I didn’t take out my liquids or electronics and only had to take off my boots because they have steel toes. And then I was like I hope I can find my gate… how could I miss it? There were 2 flights out that night about 2 hours apart and there were only 6 gates!

A German girl comes over to me at one point and it like do you know what gate the flight to London leaves from. And I wasn’t trying to be snarky but I was like there are 6 gates and we can see them all. We can hardly miss the flight. It was a true statement. They didn’t even post that we were boarding from gate 3 but as soon as the person was behind the desk there it was evident that gate 3 was my gate!

And it was off to London! And the promise of better water and food and my bff!!

Cheers,

12 Flights 7 Weeks: Azrou

At an altitude of 1250 meters sits a cute little town in the Mid Atlas Mountains. It’s called Azrou and I almost gave it a pass because there aren’t any hostels or cheap accommodation. At the last minute I heard from a host on Couchsurfing. So I stressed on how to get there and ended up getting there at 1 in the morning but Zak came and picked me up from the bus stop.

I had a moment there after the bus pulled away and I was waiting on my own in the square across from the mosque when this guy in a van creeps along the curb and starts talking to me and I ignore him. He pulls away and then comes back creeps past turns around and creeps really slow then parks off to the side. I was looking around and evaluating my options for beating the shit out of him or running because I was convinced shit was going south. Then I see someone crossing the road toward me. It was Zak! He was all smiles and was like hey, sorry I hope you weren’t waiting long. I didn’t mention the creep that I was actually ready for a fight with.

We went back to his flat. I had my own room which was really nice. I was tired but he and his roommate were still up watching tv so I stayed up and had tea with them. I was a hardcore tea addict while in Morocco. We chatted a bit and they were both impressed that I was a solo female traveling in Morocco.

Anyhow we went to bed not long after that. When we woke up the next day we went for breakfast at one of Zak’s favourite places before we headed toward the souk. It’s a once a week thing so we headed over there and it was full of people…

and animals…

and veggies on the ground…

and it was very, very muddy. But it was interesting. 

I really enjoyed walking around Azrou with Zak because I asked tons of questions and he answered them all. Like I wanted to know about how school worked there. Turns out they have a weird schedule, like some days they go for a normal day 8-3. Other days they have just morning classes other days just afternoon classes and some times evening classes where kids won’t get home till 8 or 9 at night. And some days they don’t have school at all, and not for holidays or anything. That was crazy interesting.

We also talked about marriage age and that shit. Because he was curious how I was finding Morocco and the way men treated me because of my blue hair. I told him about Nait asking what was wrong with me. Zak told that that mind set was really typical of men who were from traditional families. He also wasn’t surprised that Nait lived in Mrrakech because he said Marrakech is an old school city where there are a lot more traditional families. I asked about what it was like in Azrou and Zak explained that it was less of a shocker for women to wait till they were older. But apparently arranged marriages are still a thing… well when I say arranged I mean the families strongly suggest marriage. I found it all really fascinating!

After bumming around Azrou Zak was like hey do you want to go on a hike tomorrow? I was like fuck yeah! I want to see monkeys and the cedar forests! After all the forests were the only reason I picked Azrou over Meknes.

Plans were made! And we grabbed a taxi to Ain Leuh. Guess who else was going to Ain Leuh… these chickens!

Zak had a friend who owns a hostel there so we stayed there. We also met with one of his friends who works in Casablanca. The three of us were going to make the hike. That night though we cooked! I learned how to make a tajine! I didn’t do much work I peeled a few potatoes and shelled some peas. But I was paying attention.

We prepared it and set it to cook for an hourish.

Look at how good that looks! Just seeing it makes me want to eat… it was so good. And the owner of the hostel cooked a tajine as well. His was a beef one with cauliflower and other veggies, it was bangin. After dinner Zak and his friend played the Guembri. It’s probably the funniest looking instrument I’ve ever seen. It’s the love child of a guitar and a drum… least that’s the easiest way to describe it. It’s a rectangle covered in camel hide with strings and it sounds so freaking cool!

After the jam session and cleaning up dinner it was bedtime. After all we needed an early start for out hike!

That's the view from the hostel

And a cute kitty that watched us eat breakfast

I don’t quite know what I was expecting but the hike was above and beyond what I was expecting. We hiked 20 kilometers through the cedar forests in the mid atlas mountains! The altitude killed me the first few hours of the hike. But again I was thankful for my time at the gym because I kept up. We only stopped 3 times for smoke breaks.

We started just walking up the road, there was a spring so we filled out water bottles. In case I didn’t mention I’d been drinking tap waster the whole time. It started in Marrakech with Nait and his family… since I had been in the country for a week and I was still going strong I was like fuck it, I’ll drink water everywhere. Then we walked on. Apparently Zak makes this hike often and there’s a part he likes to hitch hike through because it sucks… we had no such luck hitching. So we just walked…

We walked through a dump as a short cut.

Got to the top! And it started raining!

But we had to walk on!

It was seriously breathtaking up there. 

We were headed toward those trees

And we got closer

And closer

Then BAM!

We made it into the cedar forest!

Like holy shit! And I saw an APE!! LIKE A FOR REAL WILD ONE!!!!

I legitimately freaked out. The guys just sort of rolled their eyes at me as I was freaking out all like I’ve only ever seen monkeys and apes in the zoo! We end up seeing quite a few. We even saw some wild dogs trying to pick a fight with them.

And the terrain was crazy weird at some point it was weirdly rock where you weren’t walking on the ground or the rocks but an odd limbo. I was doing my best not to trip, I didn’t trip once! go me!

But fuck did my boots get muddy. We had stop to clean our shoes a few times because I swear I had a few extra kilos of  weight from the mud.

Then we on our way down the mountain. The end was in sight… sort of. The town we were going to is at the base of that plateau.

It was too muddy to take a short cut so we kept to the trail. 

We ended up finding this fruit…

I have no clue what the name is but we ate them and damn were they good!

Then we hiked on till we got into town! 

I only had one mishap… trying to cross this river

I slipped and almost tipped right in but I caught myself and really only got my had wet. I was sure that I was going to crack my head open on a rock but I didn’t! lucky for me!

We went to one of Zak’s friend’s places and had a small tasty meal.

It was perfect after the hike. Then we chilled and had tea before starting the trek home.

Now the town we ended up in is super tiny and what’s called a dead end town to taxi’s are tough. 

We started on the right and hiked through the middle to the left... and I was talking to my mum when I took this screen cap

So it was more of a friend of a friend was going our way. We hopped in then got out at a bigger town, the driver was going to have a drink with a friend so he let us out there. then we spent ages waiting for another taxi heading to Azrou. We grabbed a coffee and still had time to kill before we found a taxi. And I’ll be honest it was a scary ride for the first part. There were four people in the front seat, two in the passenger seat and two in the driver seat! Not to mention 5 of us in the back seat! It was fucking crazy but we made it back safe and sound to Azrou.

I turned in early that night because I wanted to message my friends and my mum. You know let them know I hiked all day and that it was crazy and amazing and much fun! The next day I would be off to Fez! And from there I would figure out my last 6 days in Morrocco because my host in Chefchaouen cancelled on me because of a family emergency… so I figured I’d save that for another trip.

When I got up the next morning Zak wasn’t feeling well. He’d been throwing up all morning. So I decided to head to the bus in the early afternoon. He was nice enough to walk me there and help me get the right ticket. It cost me about $4 on the local bus to get to Fez. And oh man were my last 6 days in Morocco a mess! But a fun mess I suppose.

Cheers,