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,