"Getting of the plane in Africa, police bribery on the taxi ride to the train station, trying not to get hustled in the medina, beaches, trains flooded and down, no english... or spanish, getting lost, midnight taxi rides out into the Moroccan countryside, bribing to get... back to Tangier, nonexistent hostels, stressed and scared, feelings of freedom and liberty, Jordan and I, we made it and we had an adventure we'll never forget!" This quote is by my friend Noah Sandoval who accompanied me on our journey into the heart of Morocco. Morocco was an experience that we will never forget for the rest of our lives. Together we embarked on our journey, "los dos hombres," first running for the train in Alcala de Henares, then not knowing which terminal to choose for our flight (luckily we picked the right one), getting on the plane, and finally, arriving in the country of Morocco on the continent of Africa. It was very hard to process everything that was happening in which where we were exactly...AFRICA. What an incredible and liberating feeling that was flowing through our bodies. We had no idea what was ahead of us.
It all began arriving in Tangier and taking a taxi ride to the train station where we were later scheduled to take a train down to Meknes to stay in our hostel. Well, our (we are with 3 other American girls at this time) taxi cab driver (not a word of English) managed to get pulled over by the cops (us still in the car) and then hands the cop a 100 note (moroccan) to get out of a ticket...What a great start to our adventure. As the trip would unfold we realized that we would be put through a series of tests (barba tests) that would test our composure under various stressful situations like:
being in the middle of the Kashba in Tangier and trying to haggle (as hearts pounding) with some kid that took us through a tour of his hometown
finding our way 5 hours across the country of Morocco due to broken down trains, being on a bus (only 2 Americans) with 50 other Moroccan locals
taking a midnight taxi ride through the Moroccan countryside while raining and very dark being in a car with 2 men we know nothing about or the exact location of our hostel
navigating a medina in the imperial city of Fes that has over 49,000 streets without a map and meanwhile dealing with hagglers and the possibility of someone following us but then finally making it out and back to train station
train not running again and having to deal with Moroccan guy in bus station (made us pay him) to help us find a bus back up to Tangier
realizing one of our hostels might not exist and calling Mom in the US to help us in this stressful situation
arriving in Tangier in the middle of the night, raining, no place to stay the night, men coming up asking if we want to smoke hash, give money, or stay in their hotel: scary
Yes, we were put in various situations that definitely could have been unsafe and scary, but we stayed together and managed to get through it. Together Noah and I shared an experience of a lifetime just navigating and making the trip our own in Morocco. The sights, smells, music, people, the culture, the languages all blended together into a very clear culture shock. We realized how excited we were when someone spoke Spanish and we understood what they were saying because there was such a strong language barrier. We did conduct one of the most fun conversations I have ever had with our Moroccan friend Asir and his mom and sister. We did not understand each other very well at all, but we made progress and had a blast conversing while he tried explaining this to us in Arabic and French. We did manage to have a great day in the town of Asilah where we visited its Medina, tasted the mint tea, tried pastries and Moroccan food, and touched the Atlantic. Los Dos Hombres in Africa. I would return to Morocco if I ever get the chance again once I have learned more of the French and Arabic languages for it is truely something special to make human connections not only in other countries but while speaking another language. Morocco was a beautiful place and I know that people will never fully understand what Noah and I experienced in that place for I know that is an experience for us that we will share forever...
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