Morocco

Eggs anyone?

So after Portugal, still during my Christmas vacation, I went to Morocco. Man did I love it!

Morocco is the country for me, their food is unbelievably cheap, they eat with their hands, everyone is friendly and all of their taxis are the same model as my old car! I sincerely had a wonderful time and can not wait to go back. 

To be completely honest I had little knowledge of Morocco before going, I knew it would be different but I didn't even know what their currency was (dirhams by the way). Basically the only thing people ever told me about Morocco was to watch out, traveling there as a Woman. Sure I had a few creepy guy encounters like a guy on the bus trying to give me good drug contacts in Spain and wanting to marry me, but really nothing unexpected. To be fair I was traveling with Sam so being alone I am sure would have been different. 

First stop was Tangier, the city itself was a bit overwhelming, but the experience was amazing all thanks to our couchsurfers. Brahim, Achraf and Karim were awesome. They are translation students in Tangier, which means not only to they Speak French and Arabic like most Moroccans but their English was perfect! They were like our own private translators/ tour guides. And they taught us so much about Morocco, so they were our own private teachers too, not to mention friends! They took all around like to the old medina (the old town), which was by far the coolest part of the city. Many of the pictures from Tangier were taken in the old medina, that is where things were sold outside, it was basically a huge market. It was so interesting to see I just wanted to take pictures of everything. 

After Tangier we went to Mertil and went to another outdoor market. Then we were off to beautiful Chehchaouen (not pictured here, post to follow... hopefully).

A few tid-bits about Morocco. Friday you eat couscous. In the Christian world Sunday is the Sabbath, it is your day off. Well in the Muslim world Friday is a religious day... so they have time to make couscous. If you want to cross the street just close your eyes and walk, anywhere. the cars will stop. Breakfast is fresh flat bread with olive oil. Tea is drunk often and poured from high above the glass to create foam. As much as I loved Morocco, being there really reinforced my gratitude to be an American. Freedom has a different definition. As an American I can travel wherever I want, I can say whatever I want and I can be whatever I want.

Thanks again to our new friends and I hope enjoy the pictures, because I sure enjoyed taking them.

My Favorite! We went to Hafa, which means edge. There we sat and had tea at beautifully tiled tables at the edge of Morocco, where across the water you could see Spain. It was splendid.

The stylish Achraf 

Rock n' Roll Sam

And Brahim and Karim chillin'

Hey kids pick up some chicken on your way home

Beauty standards vary greatly around the world. In fact our couchsurfers were telling us that in the Sahara the fatter a woman is the more attractive she is. In fact there is a punishment there includes forcing a woman to eat all day to beautify her. I don't really understand the punishment, seems like a win win to me, you eat and are considered beautiful for it. Now after large meals instead of saying I feel fat I will say I feel like a beautiful Saharan Woman. 

Ever tried parallel parking a Donkey?

Now, the Market in Mertil

Comfort meats Style

Mmm snails, above are the shells, below is the snail when pulled out of the shell

It is my old car! So this is the car I had in high school and it is a taxi in Morocco. There are two types of taxis in Morocco, the kind that look like Janet (my old car) which can drive you to other cities as well or a smaller taxi that only stays within the city. Taxis are very widely used in Morocco and that is because they are affordable. Affordable? How you ask? Well simple (in the taxis like the one you see pictured) you sit 6 passengers before the taxi goes anywhere. Yes six, two in the front seat and four in the back. If you don't happen to be a group of six friends, you will be sitting very close to a stranger. The other taxis, that still are normal cars, will not take more than 3 people... Doesn't make sense to me, but oh well. 

Cheers to you

Michael a Slovakian traveler with such great stories. He was going to take a boat to Canada, but found out he gets sea sick, now he has been hanging around Morocco and may go back to Europe via donkey, who knows. 

In public squares kids may go and pay for a ride in an electric vehicle they think they are driving, but is actually remote controlled. 

My favorite fruit stand. 

The best sheep hang out on the block, all the coolest sheep go there. 

Portugal

I am back in Europe and finally getting around to posting on my blog again. What better place to start than with Portugal? I love Portugal (so much so that I am seriously considering moving there for the summer). In the words of a native I met there "Portuguese people know how to live." Portugal is such a friendly place, the people are friendly, the prices are friendly and the weather is friendly. Communication is easy because their English is great, which can partially be attributed to the fact that none of American cinema there is dubbed (like it is in Spain and Italy for example). They also understand Spanish of course, so I tried to practice any chance I got. Anyone there might strike up a conversation with you like the person sitting next to you at the cool secret restaurant run in someone's home, open whenever the green door is ajar, or with the man selling you coffee and nata, or with the Brazilian guy speaking Italian on the train. To add Portugal has delicious food especially their pastries and all of its building are covered in beautiful tile. 

I do love Porto in particular, it is full of art and open-minded people from all over the world. Above is a picture of me in Gaia, the favorite city of people from Porto, because it is the only city in the world you can see Porto (just like in the photo!). And below is a peak into the abundant world of street are there. 

wings don't work so well when they are made of concrete. 

To add there are also many alternative places like the place the two picture this text is sandwiched between were taken. 

So during my winter vacation I traveled with Sam (who I worked with on the Tole Mour (see older posts if you don't know what I am writing about)) and we got to visit Antonio who is studying abroad in Lisbon (An old roommate from when I lived in Italy (you can also see older posts on that subject too)

 Antonio

Sam

So this was my second holiday season out of the country and I was so lucky to be with people close to me: Sam, Antonio and Ana. Our Christmas was a Christmas of poor people but so much fun and unforgettable. To start off Antonio doesn't really have a kitchen, but he does have what is pictured above (an "oven" on the left and two hotplates on the right that served as our stove). Now you might be wondering why is there a candle in a an old sardine can on the right. Well that is because the house cannot support this complex kitchen. We know this because the night before, when we arrived, Antonio made Sam and I a pasta.  Just having both burners of the "stove" on, in combination with the lights being on, blew a fuse and the power went out. So we switched off throughout the day between the "oven" and the "stove" but eventually we needed to use both at the same time. So we turned off all the lights and other devises in the house as a precaution and cooked in the candlelight (and the light of the oven that would turn off an on every 20 seconds or so). But we did manage to make calamari pasta, a stuffed chicken, baba ganoush, a killer cheese-spinach-artichoke dip, and we had the Portuguese bolo do rei for dessert all accompanied by Vinho Verde. 

Now while we were sitting around waiting for the dinner to cook as if it was being cooked in an easy-bake oven, I asked Antonio where the Christmas tree was. He handed me a bare grape stem/vine thing, turned it upside down and said "ecco" ('here'). So I stuck it in a wine cork, used some spaghetti as support and made some decorations with wire. So "ecco" our Christmas tree. 

Our dinner! (Antonion, Sam, the christmas tree, ana and me!)

 Lisbon street art

 this dog was just taking care of business all over the streets

 

 The freaking coolest! The face was chiseled out. 

Obrigado for the directions lady in the background

Market of thieves  

 Grazie Antonio, off to Lagos.

 So Lagos was so beautiful and we had such a great time even though we were only there one day, well actually then we missed the bus so it was two days. But we had a great time with a private tour of the beaches by our couchsurfer, and met people from all over. I need to return in the summer because there will be figs growing all over the place. 

See you soon Portugal