So before I start: for those of you who haven’t seen this advert yet, watch it now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU. Or youtube Parisian Love. It was played in the States during the Super Bowl. Ry showed me it when he visited and I have to say I totally related to it…via the Google search engine, the advert depicts a beautiful Parisian love story across the miles- so here’s to long distance relationships!
Carnival….
Anyway, updates from Andalucia! February- the month of no work! (well, very little anyway) starts with Carnival in Cadiz. This is an annual, traditional, week long festival in Andalucia that causes many towns and cities to call another holiday and give us hard working people (ahem*) a week off! Kate, Erica and Christina made costumes and headed to the crazy party land of Cadiz for a few days dressed as the three musketeers, whilst Ryan and I headed to Sevilla for my 21st and then Africa! Yes- Ryan actually visited 3 continents within 7 days! We’d been talking about it for a while and we were both itching to go to Morocco! So we did! Very spontaneously we embarked on another aventura!
A taster of life in Valverde….
Ryan managed to spend a few days in my wee pueblo of Valverde too! I enjoyed taking him to a couple of my private classes to give him a taster of my work in the town. The kids loved him and asked him some rather random questions: ranging from ‘How old are you?’ (To which he replied 52!) to ‘What’s your favourite fungus?’ 'What's your favourite foot?' (Ana meant to say 'food'..nearly!) Oh and of course ‘Do you like Hannah Montana’ is always in the top 3! Well, Ryan being his witty self managed to keep them entertained which made my job a lot easier. I let him take over and just shouted a few things in Spanish if they started misbehaving. He was wonderfully patient with them, and quite a catch with one group of 10 year old girls! Lorena even demanded that he gave her his email address; of course we gave her the wrong extension, so someone in the world with the address rcwiik@hotmail.com is going to be getting some love letters in their inbox soon!
This photo is in the local bar El Tablajero. Homer... I mean Ryan is amused that in such a small town in the heart of Andalucia, they sell DUFF beer! - He told me it was pretty bad, but he kept the bottle as a memory!
Unfortunately, as it was nearly carnival, all my Spanish friends were out of town and so Ryan only got to meet Miguel, although I think meeting all of them would have been rather overwhelming! Nevertheless, I think he enjoyed our pueblo and I was happy I got to show him my home in Spain.
Discover Sevilla…. Booooo!
On the 10th February I received confirmation after 1 months wait that our trip to Morocco with DISCOVERSEVILLA would go ahead without fail. So I received permission to miss a day of school, cancelled classes, paid for overnight accommodation and took off to Sevilla. However, when we arrived at the office, our good friend (*ahem) MANU declared ‘Sorry guys, actually trip is cancelled.’ In a way we knew it was going to happen, I didn’t trust this guy and we knew from the day we booked it a month ago that it wasn’t secured. The reason: The King of Morocco was showing up with his entourage in Tetouan (one of the cities on our tour) and so the city would shut down for the King's people and leave the tourists without accomodation! In Morocco there are many pictures of the King; see below: We were quick to forgive his majesty for ruining our plans to visit Tetouan!!!!
So, without giving us time to think, he’s then trying to sell us another trip to Morocco, which keeps changing details, dates, prices etc. Alarm bells were seriously ringing. Ryan and I both sensed something was not quite right and both received the same message loud and clear: ‘WALK AWAY’. With a full refund we did and decided it was best just to celebrate my 21st and not to let this mishap spoil it. So we did….we really did. So here’s how I celebrated the night of my 21st….. typically.
The night of my 21st…..
We decided to hit the bars- typically. We hit up one tapas bar and the waiter served us 8 FREE drinks! 6 of which were shots of taquilla… yes I know, recipe for disaster! Ironically this only happened because he’d forgotten to charge us for part of the meal, so we admitted this and he said it was on the house, to which I replied ‘Un regalo así que es mi cumpleaños’ (A present, seeing as it’s my birthday!) …oops… bad move/or good depending how you view it! He was a fun guy and insisted on us having ‘Tres! Tres!’ (yes, three shots within the span of 2 minutes!) We didn’t refuse- typically! We tried to get in to a bar after that, but the bouncer declared we couldn’t enter because of Ryan’s shoes!! In other words “you guys are too drunk to enter my bar…try next door.’ Hehe. Ryan and I just laughed, as did another guy who was stood outside. Ryan’s shoes are green sneakers. Very fashionable and quite smart by the way…so it was clearly an excuse but I found it hilarious. So overall, my birthday night was a typical 21st drunken mess! Fortunately Ryan was there, far more sober than me, ready to carry me home in my very tiddled state. Phew. The end.
Solchasers….. yaaay!!!!
The next morning, although feeling a little delicate, Ryan and I visited a travel agency and booked a trip to Morocco in a professional, secure and trustworthy fashion, i.e papers were signed, ID was taken, tickets were printed and a full (non-changing) itinerary was received. Before we knew it, we were on the next bus to Algeciras, where we stayed overnight and took the ferry the next morning, arriving in the beautiful blue world of Chefchaouen that afternoon.
We got a stamp for entering Morocco! Being an EU citizen, stamps are quite rare for me so I was rather excited!
Chefchaouen….
A quick overview: Chefchaouen, often referred to as the ‘safest city in Morocco’, is nestled in the Rif Mountains. The name literally means ‘look at the horns’ (referring to the pointed mountains in which it is situated.) It’s hard to describe the experience in a blog, but some words come to mind: breathtaking, exhilarating, unique and …… blue! The town is famous for its blue doors and houses; infact, the whole town is painted a Mediterranean blue! We stayed a couple of days which was the perfect amount of time to explore the town, try out the cuisine, our bargaining skills and meet people. This trip was the biggest culture shock trip i've ever experienced and what an incredible experience it was! It was one of those trips that you return from having learnt something. My eyes were opened in Morocco, to a beautiful but different world where women stayed indoors and the men walked the streets wearing full length robes with pointed hoods; think Jawas and you have the Chaouen men! It was my first time in a Muslim country too, so the 'call' to prayer 5 times a day was surreal but fascinating. I really did feel like singing Aladdin's 'A whole new World' whilst I was there; 'I can show you the world, shining, shimmering, splendid....I can open your eyes, take you wonder by wonder.....on a magic carpet ride, a whole new world, a hundred thousand things to see, I'm like a shooting star, I've come so far, I can't go back to where I used to be'
Here are some photos from our trip..... 
The first day a local approached us and told us that he wanted to show us a beautiful shop- bad idea… we arrived to find a very hard salesman waiting. We stood our ground despite the intimidation and persuasiveness of the owner. It was our first encounter with a Moroccan salesman and threw us into the deep end causing us to struggle away gasping for air- it was an intense experience! I think Ryan and I needed it to prepare ourselves for the rest of the week, and from that point forward we knew how to deal with the dealers- ignore them, act dumb or just firmly say ‘NO’, which I wasn’t very good at, but I definitely improved by the end of the trip! I found it fascinating experiencing a hard sale; if not a little uncomforting. Listening to his sale tactics changing from ‘Just look….’ To ‘just touch…’ to ‘how much would you pay?’ To which I replied ‘I’m sorry Sir, but I’m not buying a carpet today.’ Which developed into ‘Just tell me a price for curiosity…just curiosity’.. to ‘Just a little higher Miss, just a little’ and when he got the hint that we really weren’t interested, he tried the ‘We are in a crisis, please… any offer…!’ We walked away with him following us and shouting after us. Crazy! However, the guy that had led us to this shop did help us find an excellent restaurant with delicious traditional Moroccan food! Ryan and I died and went to heaven that evening- the couscous was amazing and the meal cost us half what it would in Spain! He also tried to sell us Marjuana, which is cheap as chips and one of the main sources of income!
Mr Opinionative and some prophesies….
It was at this meal one evening that we met another local whom we nicknamed ‘Mr Opinionative’. He heard us speaking English and decided to come over and practice his linguistic skills on us. It was interesting at first, hearing his opinions on politics, culture, people and the meaning of life! However after an hour Ryan and I were slowly losing interest and actually finding it rather frustrating having to listen to his very biased and ill-informed knowledge of America and world politics and how Arabs rule the world, having invented nearly every form of medicine. He even went to the extent of claiming that Apollo could not have happened without one particular Arab. We humored him, well I nodded my head and pretended to agree with most things just to keep on the right side of him, but Ryan was quickly getting heated from the unfair and stereotypical comments being made about his country! Oh and apparently Americans hang too many flags- in all the movies and in every house- check this picture out below….
And the AMERICANS have too many flags! Oh, and let me share this prophesy with you: England is going to become a ‘dry’ land eventually, i.e we are going to use up all its resources and starve the land causing every Brit and his dog to migrate to Africa. Yes, this was shared in seriousness with us.
The first day a local approached us and told us that he wanted to show us a beautiful shop- bad idea… we arrived to find a very hard salesman waiting. We stood our ground despite the intimidation and persuasiveness of the owner. It was our first encounter with a Moroccan salesman and threw us into the deep end causing us to struggle away gasping for air- it was an intense experience! I think Ryan and I needed it to prepare ourselves for the rest of the week, and from that point forward we knew how to deal with the dealers- ignore them, act dumb or just firmly say ‘NO’, which I wasn’t very good at, but I definitely improved by the end of the trip! I found it fascinating experiencing a hard sale; if not a little uncomforting. Listening to his sale tactics changing from ‘Just look….’ To ‘just touch…’ to ‘how much would you pay?’ To which I replied ‘I’m sorry Sir, but I’m not buying a carpet today.’ Which developed into ‘Just tell me a price for curiosity…just curiosity’.. to ‘Just a little higher Miss, just a little’ and when he got the hint that we really weren’t interested, he tried the ‘We are in a crisis, please… any offer…!’ We walked away with him following us and shouting after us. Crazy! However, the guy that had led us to this shop did help us find an excellent restaurant with delicious traditional Moroccan food! Ryan and I died and went to heaven that evening- the couscous was amazing and the meal cost us half what it would in Spain! He also tried to sell us Marjuana, which is cheap as chips and one of the main sources of income!Mr Opinionative and some prophesies….
It was at this meal one evening that we met another local whom we nicknamed ‘Mr Opinionative’. He heard us speaking English and decided to come over and practice his linguistic skills on us. It was interesting at first, hearing his opinions on politics, culture, people and the meaning of life! However after an hour Ryan and I were slowly losing interest and actually finding it rather frustrating having to listen to his very biased and ill-informed knowledge of America and world politics and how Arabs rule the world, having invented nearly every form of medicine. He even went to the extent of claiming that Apollo could not have happened without one particular Arab. We humored him, well I nodded my head and pretended to agree with most things just to keep on the right side of him, but Ryan was quickly getting heated from the unfair and stereotypical comments being made about his country! Oh and apparently Americans hang too many flags- in all the movies and in every house- check this picture out below….
And the AMERICANS have too many flags! Oh, and let me share this prophesy with you: England is going to become a ‘dry’ land eventually, i.e we are going to use up all its resources and starve the land causing every Brit and his dog to migrate to Africa. Yes, this was shared in seriousness with us.
Redwan
Redwan was the receptionist in our hotel and one of the nicest guys Ryan and I have ever met. He was practically fluent in at least 5 languages but was very humble about it. It was through Redwan that we learnt so much about the history and geography of Morocco. I asked for a map of the town when we arrived. Apparently they don't exist- but he pulled out a huge scroll, unravelled it to reveal a plan of the town and began directing us to local markets and touristic points! It was fascinating to see a map of Morocco, which I'd never really studied before. Both Ryan and I had assumed that Morocco was just desert- how we were wrong! A huge part of Morocco is of course desert but the north is just as green and lush as Scotland! Even more mind boggling is the fact that they have ski resorts too!!! I also didn't know that the King in Morocco had total power over the country. We also learnt some Arabic from Redwan, unfortunately all I remember is 'Shukran' which I think means thank you? Thanks to Redwan we were able to better understand the culture of Morocco and therefore see the land and its people differently.
Donkey or German?
The final day we went shopping in the Medina, or bargain hunting if you will! Before embarking on our mission to bargain the day away, we had a secret meeting. In this meeting we agreed that if we were serious about buying object A, the word ‘German’ would be dropped into the conversation to express and confirm this. Secondly, if we were feeling pressured, unsure or generally uncomfortable with the situation, the word ‘DONKEY’ would communicate this. I.e , ‘get me out of here.’ Our issue was that many of the Moroccans spoke good English and Spanish, thus leaving Ryan and myself unable to communicate without them understanding us. Heading off to the Medina, we came across a beautiful museum-style shop, hidden in the corner of the main square. A very interesting, older man was there and gave us quite the history lesson! Ryan and I were mesmerized by his collection of treasures, some centuries old! We couldn’t afford very much, and the objects were too valuable to bargain for. In the end, I declared a painting was most definitely GERMAN and so purchased a painting of a blue door with roses that opens to reveal the painting itself of the town. Un recuerdo if you will.
Donkey or German?
The final day we went shopping in the Medina, or bargain hunting if you will! Before embarking on our mission to bargain the day away, we had a secret meeting. In this meeting we agreed that if we were serious about buying object A, the word ‘German’ would be dropped into the conversation to express and confirm this. Secondly, if we were feeling pressured, unsure or generally uncomfortable with the situation, the word ‘DONKEY’ would communicate this. I.e , ‘get me out of here.’ Our issue was that many of the Moroccans spoke good English and Spanish, thus leaving Ryan and myself unable to communicate without them understanding us. Heading off to the Medina, we came across a beautiful museum-style shop, hidden in the corner of the main square. A very interesting, older man was there and gave us quite the history lesson! Ryan and I were mesmerized by his collection of treasures, some centuries old! We couldn’t afford very much, and the objects were too valuable to bargain for. In the end, I declared a painting was most definitely GERMAN and so purchased a painting of a blue door with roses that opens to reveal the painting itself of the town. Un recuerdo if you will.
Ryan experiences the frustrations of Andalucian transport….
Heading back to Spain was quite the disaster! We got to the port 2 hours ahead of schedule and were greeted by a guy who declared that our boat was not sailing due to bad weather nearer Spain. Now, taking into consideration I could see the coast of Spain from the port and the weather conditions looked identical to Morocco; a little rain, a little choppy on the ocean, but not so bad that they would have to cancel an entire crossing, I became quickly frustrated and expressed this to the company in my most polite but ‘I am NOT happy about this situation and you WILL resolve it NOW’ Spanish. Within 20 minutes they had us put on another boat, with another company without supplementary charge. The boat was a lot bigger and so we were warned it could take longer to cross. Of course we didn’t mind at the time; we just wanted to get back to Spain! Not such a disaster yet right… well we boarded at 3pm. The boat left at the very delayed time of 6pm and we arrived two hours later but lost an hour due to the time difference, consequently missing the final bus back to Sevilla by 15 minutes meaning we also lost our money for the hotel in Sevilla. La vida es asi! (That’s life!) Ryan finally got to experience the Andalucian transport and now knows that all my moaning in the past wasn’t me exaggerating, but genuinely, Andalucia is backward!
On arrival in Sevilla, I managed to cram a day of sightseeing with Ryan and dragged him around all the secrets of Sevilla. I even took him for churros on the river- yum. That evening we met up with Kate and Cristina for tapas and which progressed into a night of flamenco! I was happy Ry got to experience the passionate dance.
Well that's the end of part 1 of Carnival week. My next blog will tell you about the second half when we (i.e the ladies) went to Gran Canaria!
Besos y abrazos a todos!
Cor xXx
Cor xXx
No comments:
Post a Comment