Chefchaouen

The weekend of the 24th Mairym, Vallen, Andrew, Cara and me went to Chefchaouen. Its a cutsy touristy nook in the north. This town is lodged in a mountain and has a lot of Spanish influence. Here, Moroccans of course speak darja, Arabic, Spanish and French. The town is known for its white and blues of buildings, stores and doors which makes the town adorable. We relaxed at Pension Castellana which was a nice open-roofed hotel despite the bitter cold at times. We did major souk shopping throughout the medina and explored the town. We had tea at a painter's shop where we bought original pieces painted with the characteristic chaouen blue and also we had tea at a carpet store where Andrew suddenly needed 4 carpets in his life and Cara and I bought these beautiful cactus silk spreads, which will be perfect sheets for the summer. Another thing of note is that everyone tries to sell you hash. But the town has good pastries and fruit salad. In Spain, there was some sort of holiday because we saw a lot of Spanish tourists. While shopping, I watched an old (i'm talking white hair) couple negotiate to buy a shisha (hooka) and then get ripped off...haha. It was cute they really wanted a shisha. I wanna be old and cute like that. It was a cute, relaxing, European-ny weekend despite me getting the poops after. i'm sure you wanted to know that...

Volubilis

On February 17th, Andrew, Cara and I went to Meknes and Volubilis. Meknes is a modern city like Fez only less conservative. Volubilis was a huge Roman city which is now an ancient ruin. More of it is still buried underground but they're continuing to excavate more of the city. We walked around the city and medina. Unfortunately the really great museum was closed for renovations which we found out from a guard who was deeply offended when I asked him if the museum was open. weird and funny. We went to McDonalds twice this weekend which is gross gross I know but being abroad, it just makes me so happy. And let me tell you, McDo is the place to be on a Friday or Saturday night...people everywhere. The next day we went to Volubilis, stopped at Moulay Idriss and walked 2 miles from there. It was a beautiful day through the lush valleys so it was a good hike. We toured the Roman ruin, saw an old olive press, mosaic tiled floors, the House of Orpheus (what a flouncy name) and a government party taking place in a huge Berber tent. Apparently, an Israeli official and American official were in attendance and it seemed pretty important because there was a huge motorcade that entered the ruin with a Moroccan band playing fanfare. Volubilis was such a marvel to see and really rocky. I ponder how did ancient little Roman people walk around in itty roman sandals and not trip on the millions of rocks, edges and uneven surfaces. Something to ponder...