A Mind blowing Adventure

>>Caution lots of ridiculous details ahead <<
Wow, what a journey.  Let me start by saying that this was probably the most important trip I've ever taken. Culture shock was achieved (finally).  And I learned that you can't always believe what you hear or read.  The trip to Morocco was long and arduous but it was definitely worth it (vale la pena)!  We started our journey on a Wednesday night (10 pm Alicante time) with our first flight into Barcelona. We arrived in Barcelona with a landing that had me crossing myself and praying a Hail Mary, Josh you wouldn't have been impressed!  Then we ran on to the train because the last on eleft about 8 min after we landed.  We ran on and sat down, struggling to read the sign in Catalan (for those of you who don't know, Catalan is a dialect of Spanish that is a mix of Spanish & French- an appropriate stepping stone for our journey to Morocco).  We rode the train for about 30 minutes when I finally asked Marial where exactly our stop was (Marial & Diane had been in Barcelona one time before).  She showed us the name of the stop & we watched the electronic screen diligently as the names flashed by.  After about an hour I thought, this doesn't feel right, so we looked up the next stop (Mara- something) on the train map & were horrifed to see that we had completely passed the downtown area and the line was about to end in Girona.  Slightly panicked, a nice man explained to us (after looking at us sympathetically with a little shake of his head) how we could get back into the city via the night bus.  We got off in a suburb-y area around 1 am (?) and found the bus stop (after asking the only other awake human beings in the city). The whole town was closed.  We saw the bus was coming in 20 min and thought, we're saved!  About 25 min later the N3 bus passed as we jumped up and down in a vain attempt to stop it.  Marial then thought, "Wait, in Spain there is a button for everything!" (It sounds ridiculous, but yup not kidding).  We examined the bus stop & she discovered the button.  It was the size & color of a bolt, I don't know what would've happened if we hadn't found it!  We got on the bus, specifically asking the driver, Plaza de Cataluyna?  He nodded yes, about 1 hour, JOLIN!  We we got off the bus after about 20 min we found the building for the hostel, a very fancy building, this can't be it, could it?  Jackpot, the Internet sometimes rocks, I had found it earlier that day & was careful to read the reviews (after what happened to me in Rome last summer I've been a bit sketched out by hostels .  The girls were very happy to see the elegant cozy atmosphere.  Furthermore, the hostel manager sat with us and showed us the interesting points of Barcelona plus a great churros places for breakfast.  We went to bed around 3 (?) am and woke up around 8 to prepare for our long journey ahead.  We walked about 15 minutes down La Rambla (every main city in Spain has one), to find Marial's money exchange place.  The street ended & we asked a local where the place was; turns out there are 2 Ramblas in Barcelona, jolin!  So Marial went off to find her money & we set off for breakfast.  I stopped at Starbuck's for a chai tea (yum- 1st in a month & a half).  Then we went to the churros place for Gwen.  I bought a black scarf to use as a panuelo (more about that later) & we reunited at the Estacion Norte bus stop to buy tickets to Girona.  That ride was another 75 minutes.  Then we finally flew from Girona to Fes (Fez)!  We arrived around 4 (?)- time change- & after customs & money exchange it was time to find our way to the train station to buy tickets to Tanger (tangier in english).  We asked for directions to the bus stop & the man we found spoke Italian, how useful!  So that was on me... Every taxi driver tried to get us in their car, but we opted for the cheap 3 1/2 Dirham ride into the city.  It was very interesting to see the outskirts of the city, Gween took lots of pics so I will put them up later.  We spoke only in Spanish the entire time, which confused everyone (we're a motley crew so no one quite believed we're Spanish).  While we were on the bus we figured, oh we'll just read the signs to see where to get off in the center of the city!  Well...all of the signs were in Arabic!  After a bit of a panic attack, as we got closer to the city we saw French signs, so Diane & I deciphered them and thanked our lucky stars.  Finally we got to a stop where a bunch of people got off, so we thought, hey why not? and hopped off.  We had put our headscarves on (before the trip everyone told us to cover our hair, especially Gwen & I - the blondies), but regardless everyone stared and a few even said, 'Welcome to Morocco'- in many different languages. (The average Moroccan that we ran into spoke French, Arabic, English & Spanish- wow!)  As we bought our tickets in the train station, the woman selling them to us asked, "Why are you wearing the headscarf?" We basically answered that we thought it was the correct thing to do, right?  She persisted, "Well are you Muslim?" We answered no, and she didn't say one way or the other, but as we left I initiated the discussion, well should we take them off?  My main priority in another country & culture, especially one as different as Morocco, is to try to assimilate (although I did NOT have clothes that covered my body- I blame Florida- my friends were amused, don't worry Gram I bought some) and not to offend anyone.  We took a good look around and saw some women and foreign/touristy looking women not wearing them, so we made the decision to take them off.  (In the end I do believe that was a wise decision, we looked ridiculous & out of place).  That was when we realized we didn't have many plans for Fes & seeing how it was already 7 (?) we couldn't exactly head to the historic Medina.  We decided to have dinner (I had a hilarious 'omelette' with french fries in it...not kidding) and just 'hang out' maybe get a glass of wine (ha!).  Instead we discovered that there is no alcohol in Morocco, the nightlife starts around 12 (not that we would go out there) and really there was nothing for us foreigners to do.  We sat in a cafe and drank te mente au lait - fantastic! and used their wifi to facebook our families that we were still alive.  Around 1130 when we couldn't procrastinate any longer we headed back to the train station.  We discovered that there was a lack of benches inside & most people were outside laying on the grass, so we thought, what the heck, and lied down for a little siesta (at least Gwen & I slept- common theme to this story, us passing out wherever...).  Around 1 it got cold so we moved inside & slept on the ground in there.  Finally it was time to board the train & it was pretty nice, we got seats 2 & 2 and slept for the first 2 hours of the journey.  Around 4 (?) this official looking guy came running down the aisle smacking the seats shouting something in Arabic that seemed like 'last stop' and I thought to myself, 'ok Morocco, this is how we inform passengers?' So I woke up Gwen & we got ready to make the switch.  Diane & Marial had been sitting with some gypsies that seemed to have their whole lives with them in bags.  They helped them carry their stuff as Gwen & I sleepily were figuring out what was going on.  We followed them as they ran across to this other train that seemed to be done boarding & ready to go.  It was packed to the MAX & we literally couldn't cram the stuff or ourselves on.  As the train was starting to move we managed to get a foothold on the steps & scrambled over people & bags into the car, only to find there was no where to sit.  After pacing the aisle 6 times with everyone else looking for seats we put our bags on the floor & sat on them in the middle of the aisle.  We all tried to sleep (I actually didn't have much trouble- thank you Roy genes) and every once in awhile someone passing through the aisle would wake us up.  We spent about 3-4 hours like this until finally 3 guys got up to get off, so we rode in seats for the final hour.  We were so happy to get off the train in Tanger around 8 (?) am.  We bought a map & ignored the taxi drivers & walked into the city (about 20 min).  We had a few hotels in mind that Marial had researched.  We ended up finding this little 'bed & breakfast' Dar Omar Khayam that looked like a totally legit old palace (just because of the style of the facade outside).  We went inside & even better the manager spoke Spanish! The room had four beds & a hot shower & only cost 300 Dirhams (30 euros) total - that's 7 euros a night each, unheard of!  We all took hot showers & head off to the Medina, which was really cool.  It was a labyrinth of shops, cafes, restaurants, & in the heart was a mercado central that had good looking bread, dried fruits, nuts, and disgusting meats- literally I saw the corpse of a pig slit down the middle all body parts still intact & I almost got sick.  We had lots of men following us around trying to either give us tours or bring us to their shops or restaurants.  We politely but forcefully declined them all and wandered through the streets until we got hungry & stopped at this quaint little french place.  I had an omelette for 15 dirham which is 1.5 euros (crazy cheap).  Gwen had the best quiche of her life she says. After that we were feeling the fatigue, so we found a large, beautiful park and chilled for awhile watching this guy's sheep eat a bench & he tried to talk to us to get us to go to his father's restaurant (hope they weren't eating sheep that day).  We walked up through the less touristy part of the city & found a legit coffee place, but it turns out that the BEST thing in Morocco is mint tea! Gwen ordered it and it really tasted like a mint mojito minus the alcohol.  I fell in love with it and I'm very sad to be separated at the moment. (The next day I had 3 or 4 teas...)  We walked down this long road to the beach and saw beautiful houses up on the hill & were amazed at the mountain cliffs that broke off right at the water's edge.  We walked along the coast & I felt like I was at the Battery in Charleston, except there were lots of men fishing down on the rocks with super long fishing poles.  We passed the port & saw where the ferry to Algeciras, Spain is.  We went back to the hotel to rest before an early dinner.  We sought out an authentic place, no more french fries!, and were satisfied to find a place that had tajine, a local meat dish (what type of meat I have no idea) and pizza for Diane (she's a vegetarian-which in Morocco & Spain usually means that they give you fish instead, lol).  We went to bed around 9:30 and slept soundly until 8 am the next morning.  I got to choose the day's activity because it was my only full day (the other girls stayed until Monday), so I really wanted to go the the Caves of Hercules --L'grotte de Hercules--so we had a morning cup of tea & planned our approach.  We had figured out that the only way to get there was by taxi, but most taxi drivers only speak French & Arabic, so Diane & I practiced a conversation, then found a driver and did our best to explain what we wanted & ask how much it cost.  On the drive there we passed the palace of the king, complete with heavily armed guards. I tried to clarify our return, but the driver misunderstood and stopped to turn around.  I frantically flipped through my French dictionary to look for the word, later= apres, and he laughed and said Oh, ok!  I was very nice.  We were excited to see the signs for L'grotte and the views were gorgeous.  As we left we asked to stay for 4 hours, but when he saw my watch (that I haven't changed  he thought we didn't know what time it was, so he found Gwen as we were walking out to the mountain cliff and motioned to her watch.  It was very cute and we reassured him we knew what time it was.  We took lots of pictures then asked someone where the actual caves were...silly us we turned the corner and there was a huge sign!  We payed to go down and the first thing we saw were people selling things, of course Morocco, but then we saw the waves crashing on the rocks through a small circle of light, it was beautiful! Then, we walked down to the beach and I went in the water, just up to my knees.  We walked around an abandoned hotel and made friends with an old Moroccan guy who was collecting shells on the beach.  We walked back up for the world's longest lunch, complete with tea.  My sandwich had french fries in it and some kind of mystery meat..very interesting.  We didn't have time for Diane to ride the camels because our taxi driver was waiting patiently for us.  We got back and did some shopping for a few hours, then walked around until we got hungry.  We found a crepe place and then we had dessert after dinner at a cute bakery.  The next day we went to the bus stop & I got a taxi to the airport, my friends went to Asila by bus.  I met up with my mom in Madrid & we drove to Cuenca to stay in the most beautiful Parador in the world, situated on the top of a mountain.  That area (Castilla la Mancha) actually has season, so I got to experience Fall, which was lovely.  The next day we walked around Cuenca, spent an hour in the Cathedral learned about the mixture of Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque, and Rococo styles.  After walking around the city until the afternoon we drove back to Alicante.  The next day, Tuesday, was a holiday for the Comunidad Autonoma de Valencia, so we drove to Valencia to visit Ainhoa and saw a cool parade celebrating the day the Christian king took back the city from the Moors, Ray has lots of pictures on his camera.  The next day I took them all over Alicante after my 8-12 am classes.  What a long week of traveling, hopefully that explains for this ridiculously long blog post!!