End of Morocco

My blog feels a bit neglected as I've been home for a while now and I never wrote a final post for Morocco. The last few days were some of the best! I think just the fact that everyone knew each other really well by then made them so good! After Chefchauen we went to Asilah, a beach town, for two nights. Here we went to 'paradise beach' and had a really nice day..... aside from the mode of transport we used to get there and back. Having been told it would be 'fun' to get a horse and carridge (hardly a carridge more of a plank with nothing to hold on to) we jumped on board. Although I've found animal rides in the past pretty cruel (and scary), I thought it was just me being a vegetarian and having concern over animals, however with this one all members of my group found it very cruel and a pretty uncomfortable journey! It did make for a funny story afterwards though.... We had a final night dinner in Morocco as a group and the next morning we made our way over to Spain, by ferry. Then we got ready for a night out, a much needed one having not been able to get any alcohol for the majority of the trip! We went on a night out in Gibraltar (England abroad) and had a good dance and a laugh, before getting slightly lost and finally finding our way back to the bus, where we were expected to sleep for the night! Slightly uncomfortable but I think the consumed alcohol stopped most people caring. The next day we had lunch and mooched around Gibraltar, before heading home. Was very sad saying goodbye to everyone :( ..... coming on my own actually turned out to be an invaluable experience as I think I probably formed closer friendships with people than I would have done going with friends, it is definitely something I would do again. Character building one might say! Don't get me wrong the first few days were very hard and if you'd asked me then if I was enjoying going by myself I would definitely have said no but after a few days I pretty much stopped feeling like I'd gone by myself, as although it sounds cliche the group felt like 'one big family'. Having a reunion with most people from the trip on the 1st of September so hoping that means I will stay in contact with some of them! Goodbye for now........ will blog again when I have plans of what I'm doing next summer! Hoping for a slightly longer trip next summer, to celebrate finishing university and put off getting a graduate job! I would really like to go back to South East Asia and explore further, going to countries like Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia etc or I may go somewhere completely different.. South America could even be on the cards!

Here are some of my favourite photos from Morocco:

Fez and Chefchaouen

The next day in fez we had a tour around, which took us to one of the tannerys (where they produce lots of leather products) and a 'pharmacy' where there was lots of spices and herbal remedys. Then off we went to chefchaouen, a lovely blue and white town which is definitely one of my favourite places we've been. Yesterday we went shopping and I bought a few bits and pieces. Then today we went to 'paradise' where we had to scramble over lots of rocks leading us to clear water pools. Was pretty hard trekking over the rocks in the heat but it was worth it when we reached the pools. Tomorrow we head to a beach town for 2 nights. Not long left of the trip now!

More of Morocco

After a nice relaxing day by the pool we cooked dinner.. more cous cous and vegetable stew, which we're all pretty bored of by now! Its fun cooking together though and is saving us money. The next day we got back on the bus and headed to the sahara desert! Stopping off for a pizza on the way which we all enjoyed. We got to ride on the top of the bus while riding through the sahara. We chilled at a hotel and cooked for a while and then waited for the camels... At about 11.30pm the camels arrived to take us right in to the heart of the desert. I lost my flip flops along the way.. Although it was definitely an experience I'm not sure I'll be getting on a camel again any time soon, was pretty terrified I was going to get thrown off the whole time! After about half an hour on the camels we got off and settled down for a night of sleeping in the sand dunes, complete with rain and wind which we didn't quite expect in the desert. The next morning we went on to the 'jurassic hotel' a hotel with a pool and a dinosaur out the front. We cooked vegetable stew again. Then last night we camped in monkey forest. Watching a monkey drink orange juice in the morning was a highlight. We were all pretty pleased it was our 6th and last night of cooking vegetable stew. Today we drove to fez where we had a slightly uncultural visit to macdonalds! We're off out now to walk around the medina! :)

Morocco so far...

Sorry haven't had much internet so haven't been blogging like I did in Asia. I'll do a quick summary of my trip so far, but just on wifi on my phone so won't be too long! We started off the trip with one night in marrakech, where we slept on thin matresses on a roof top! My group seemed nice but at that point I was struggling with the heat and hayfever, so wasn't having too much fun! Then we went on to a beach town called essoueuria (excuse me if the spelling is incorrect) for two nights. Here I started to get to know people a lot more and started having more fun. We stayed in a big apartment. It was very windy here! I liked the town though, it seemed very chilled. We attempted kayaking the morning before we left, but it was a bit too windy! Then we went back to marrakech for one night, this time it wasn't quite as hot so I enjoyed it more. I met up with my housemate jess who is volunteering there, was very nice to see a familiar face. Next we went to the cascades - waterfalls! We camped here but at this point I think I was starting to get a bit more used to 'roughing it' so I didn't mind and slept quite well. The waterfalls were beautiful, some people jumped off them but I was a bit of a chicken! Last night we wild camped, as in no tent just us and our sleeping bags! This was in the mountains and we cooked dinner on stoves and then sat around the campfire. We got woken up by a rather loud heard of goats.... Today we drove to a hotel with a swimming pool and I've managed to get a rather comfy looking mattress, not quite a proper bed but its an improvement on sleeping in the wild. Although I didn't actually sleep too badly last night! Looking forward to spending the day by the pool tomorrow. Feeling much happier now I've got to know my group!

Morocco tomorrow!!

Rosie is no longer able to come to Morocco ....... so I'm off by myself! Although it is a group trip so won't be completely by myself. Wish me luck! Should be interesting to say the least. Not sure how much I will be able to blog while away but I will try my best to seek out some internet and write a couple of blog entries at least.

Textiles Project

Doing my Textiles project for uni on Asia - making me want to go back!!