just in africa for a weekend. nbd.

oh hey there. my travels continue...to the blue-walled land of MOROCCO. yes, Morocco. I still can't really believe I went to Africa, which not only adds another country to my list, but a whole other continent. good job study abroad, i am becoming more cultured by the minute. side note: as i write this blog i'm listening to Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) by Shakira, which, coincidentally, we heard quite a few times walking the streets of ChefChaouen. about chefchaouen- this was actually one of the most beautiful cities I have seen, certainly in the past 2 months. granted, you can't really compare simple blue walled houses with the grandiose image of La Giralda in sevilla, but there was something majestic about the simplicity of this city. so often since being here in spain i've really come to look at the US differently. believe me, i have so much pride for my country and my cities (because i do consider boston my home as well as new york). being such a young country, the US just can't boast its architecture the way other countries can. yes, we have skyscrapers and i'm the first to marvel at the NYC skyline every time i enter manhattan, but the architecture i see on my travels took hundreds of years to complete. you can't really compete with that. in morocco, there were walls built into mountains surrounding running streams and incredible formations that created something extremely breathtaking. and as i mentioned before, the blue walls bordered narrow residential streets to protect them from the hot moroccan sun. take a look:

of course, the pictures just don't do it justice but it helps. After a delicious lunch in ChefChaouen, we walked around for 3 hours bartering with local vendors for moroccan jewelry, wall tapestries, and ceramics. twice in these 3 hours i was told in very broken spanglish that i looked moroccan, and that i must be mistaken, because my efforts to assure them that i was in fact american did absolutely nothing to convince them. i think i need to start a list of all of countries i've heard when guessing my ethnicity...

back at the hotel that night, we walked along the beach searching for the largest seashell and got to see a "supermoon." apparently the full moon was closer to the earth than it has been in the last 18 years. and it was massive, and gorgeous, above the ocean. this to be followed by delicious moroccan cous-cous- coudn't have been a better day. unfortunately, it was then that we were informed that we had to evacuate the country 10 hours earlier the next day due to a nation-wide protest. no big deal, just need to make sure we live through the weekend, right? still, the next morning was worth it: got more amazing views from a beach with true blue water and, oh yeah, rode a camel! 3 minutes of fun!

the rest of the day was spent traveling, which always sucks, especially when the vacation is ending. however, i had a moment of bliss when i stepped off the bus back in sevilla and realized that i'm still on vacation as long as i'm in spain! with the promised sunshine ahead, i can't wait to see what the next two months will bring, both here in sevilla and during my travels to Italy, France, Prague, and Portugal!



viva la vida.