African Experience: On Land and from Afar

First and foremost, you must be thinking what on earth is this crazy girl talking about now and what does the title mean. This past weekend I went to Morocco, Africa, and had one of the most memorable cultural experiences of my life. However, before I start with that story, I went to Gibraltar a few weeks ago and have yet to blog about it (much to my mother's chagrin!)

Gibraltar is a tiny little British Colony at the southern most tip of Spain expanding only 6.5 Km. It is basically a small town based around a big rock, and from the top of the "rock" you can see Africa, well only 30% of the time. I am SO pleased to say that luck had finally found its way to me and I happened to be there on a perfect day. Normally it takes about 4 hours to get there from Sevilla, but not if you sneak onto a bus provided by our program, so that is exactly what I did with one of my friends here (and one of my best friends from home -- Abby Cain's best friend from UW)...hope you followed all of that!

This is the colony from afar. I tried taking a picture of it when I was on a ferry from Spain to Africa, but I was too busy concentrating on not losing my breakfast...ANYWAYS it is beautiful! (had to steal this one from internet)

So after a short nap we got to Gibralter and had to WALK through customs. Here is a picture of Gibraltar before entering. How strict are they? Turns out not very. I was literally in the process of pulling out my passport out of my bag when they just waved me through at the first sight of seeing the navy US passport -- reassuring right? Whatever!

Walked through and across the one and only public airport runway. It is closed 7 times a day -- 4 flights in and 3 out. Otherwise, it is a public road that can be both driven and walked on. We had a quick info session about the colony and its source of income: ALL tourism since it is so small they can't produce anything for themselves. Their language? Spanish, English, and a weird combo of the two that you can only understand if you are a native.

Once we were on our own we started walking around the town a little bit. We decided to take a tour that took us to several locations up and around the rock and we were even promised that we would see monkeys -- apparently they are in abundance on the rock! First stop: gorgeous scenic view of Africa! (see below) With the haze of the ocean, that is the best view you will ever get. To witness it firsthand, pretty darn incredible I must say!

Above and below are pictures of the harbor!

Tori and I with Africa in the background.

Next up we saw some caves. These were REALLY cool. They used to be hideouts from WWII and then they were used as shelter and most recently they do weddings and performances there now.

MONKEY BUSINESS!

I went to take a pic of this little guy and he spread his legs and just looked away like..."HERE WE GO AGAIN!" Very inappropriate. Now these monkeys are EVERYWHERE. They tried getting into our van. Take raccoons times 100...they would just jump on people if they were eating anything but we were all warned. But SO cute.

Lovers.

Baby monkey -- so adorable!

Tori and I on top of the rock ... kind of felt like paradise up there!!!

Another set of war caves ... had to give my try at a cannon!

Guard tower to a castle that is now destroyed

One last shot on top of the rock. All these pics were courtesy of my iphone since I did not have a camera at the time, pretty great quality ehh? This should be a marketing campaign for both Gibraltar and iphone4. Needless to say had a great time with Tori, but onto the real thing now, experiencing Morocco AFRICA!

(If you need a short break, now would be the time to do it. As my Grandma mentioned, I tend to write novels, but this next part will be mostly scenic as Morocco was one of the most colorful places I have ever seen!)

Morocco was a cultural experience that I will NEVER forget and that I never would have gotten without going through my program -- CIEE. We left Sevilla for a 2hr bus ride that took us to the infamous ferry. Normally I do not experience sea sickness, but the 45min ferry ride from Spain to Africa I was concentrating on not losing my insides. We passed Gibralter which was neat to see afar, but only saw it for the 10sec my eyes were open. Made it out alive somehow and desperately needed fresh air before loading onto the next bus. BAD IDEA. Was swarmed by like 10 ladies all trying to sell me the same necklace at the same price -- poor selling strategy in my opinion! Anyways, Morocco was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, albeit one of the most smelly as well. I will let the pictures demonstrate just how culturally enriching the country was, but unfortunately they will not do the smells justice ( lucky for you!) After getting home the first night we could not shower fast enough to get the smell of dead fish off of us.

The last thing I want to point out was safety. Although going there may have been slightly dangerous given the situation at hand in Egypt, I went through my program with about 45 kids. We also had security guards with us, equipped with hand guns and all. The men there are extremely verbal and harass, especially to women, especially to American women who are wearing far less clothes than the Moroccan women. It is so sad to see how the women are still being treated in this day and age -- it is something we learn about in school, but to witness it first hand is a whole new experience in itself. We had guides with guns attached to their belts behind and beside us for the first night, and just behind us for the following two days. Necessary? Completely. They had to usher a few people away. The group before us even had a guy offer a camel for two girls. Funny -- somewhat, but the fact that it is serious and that is how women are treated, that is just plain awful. Also, while our group commenced to hear about some history, we had a series of 4 funeral processes go by us. They were singing a song and carrying the casket above their heads as they walked. They are very plain, wooden caskets, and a green sheath covers it if there is a female inside. ONLY males participate in the marching and the women are expected to stay at home and grieve, and go to the burial site weeks after the fact. I can't help to think how terrible it would be to not be able to witness the burial of my husband, but that is just one of many cultural differences I can't wrap my finger around. Enough morbidity, onto the good stuff!

First shot after we went through customs

Nina and I posing in an art school in Morocco

They were doing Arabic tattoos (my mom asked if it was real...are you kidding me?) The lady said she would do our names "Annie and Greg" seems simple enough right? Well "Andy and Gray" is what we got according to our friend who reads Arabic (which you read left to right) but hey, this is why I didn't get a permanent one!

Money exchange! 1Euro=11 Dirhams. Therefore I was RICH! Sort of.. And everything you buy there you haggle for ... But I have always had a problem with this. Yes I understand they set a high price to be bartered down, but I only have it in me to barter so much because these people have so little compared to me. Friends would counter that and say but this is what they do for a living, but at the end of the day I go home to a bed with a full stomach and I can't say I know they do the same...

View from our balcony at the hotel!! After checking in, we were off to Tetuan for our first "market experience."

These markets were never ending, and I am going to start with the good pictures and ease you into the not so nice looking things!

A lot of the markets looked like this. These are nuts and beans and candies! Very cool looking, but swarms of flies were all over. They would also leave out dead animals, biscuits, desserts, and everything was fly infested.

Fabric to make the authentic dresses for females. Most women were covered head to foot, many wore head scarves, and some even had their mouths covered. Temperate was about 80 degrees, and they were the same thing year round!

How the dresses look after the fact!

Chicken coop... when alive... Caution for next few pictures ahead!

This guy basically got his insides chopped out in front of my eyes! Nina and I were bringing up the rear and a guy took a knife and chopped a chicken in half... naturally we screamed! The natives thoroughly enjoyed our naiveness to the situation I am just sure, but after our heart rate dropped it was pretty funny. We walked a little further down and they just had rows of these guys hanging...Bon apetit! AND we ate chicken that night!!!! Well, I had a bite or two, then remembered the smells from earlier, and that was enough for me

Christine and I with our scented flowers. We were given these before going into a natural tannery...where we saw the insides of cows and the before math of leather. It was one of the most rancid smells I have EVER smelled, and every store with leather after that I was haunted. Cow guts were in those pools and we had to walk between them (I stll have nightmares from the waste water treatment plant from third grade and those pools...these pools put them to shame!) This is one of the only natural tanneries left, and although completely disgusting, it was an experience I would never want to take back!

The infamous tannery..

Onto something more pleasant...countryside! After the market which seemed never ending, we went back to the hotel for a meal, showers, and early bedtime since we were up at 6am for a full day!

The next day we were super busy and started with a tour of the Coca Cola Factory in Tetuahan. We had to put on these crazy space suit things but we could not take pictures in the factory as everything is confidential. We saw the production lines of plastic bottles, glass bottles, and cans, and it honestly was really cool just to see how much went into the production line. We saw a coke bottle get filled with orange juice that coke produces too and a huge scene happened to make sure that the bottle did not go into packaging -- good to know they are so careful about their products!

rocking the space suits!

NExt up -- quick stop at the beach. This is me and my "bro" Paul Miller

my current computer background ... we ate lunch over looking this view!

After lunch we went to the Caves of Hercules. This here is looking out from inside the cave...look familiar? Maybe like the outline of Africa? Very cool to see

Next few pics are fairly self explanatory ... WE RODE CAMELS IN AFRICA! Now of course Nina chooses the ONE camel that needs to have two riders and guess who lucky #2 got to be? Yup -- I was chosen by her to listen to her scream like we were on Tower of Terror -- it was honestly hiloarius. I actually thought I was peeing my pants a little I was laughing so hard; turns out it was the camel behind us ( Relax I knew it wasn't really me!) We thought we were funny..until two boys had to do it at the end ... priceless

Only took a few pictures of the last day seeing as we were pretty wiped out but we went to Chefchaun which is the city of blue. Literally every door and building was painted blue and repainted 4X a year. This city was the most beautiful in my eyes. At the end of the tour (see last pic) we went into a natural soaps shop where I bought great natural perfumes and soaps! A little on the pricey side I learned the hard way (had to scalp some money from friends.. actually from Paul who I had literally just got out of debt with .. good thing he loves me ) but all was good! Ending this seriously long blog on a few beautiful pics and a note of thanks for sticking with me :)

Peace, Amor, Espana
Ana

Switzer{Wonder}land

Last weekend I decided to take a very long and highly anticipated trip to Switzerland to see one of my friends from home, Shelby Sitorious. This trip was my other trip, well strike that, only trip that I had planned to do partially alone. I left Thursday night to take an overnight 6hr bus ride to Madrid, got into the bus station at about 5am and got to the airport, through security and to my gate rather smoothly. Even had a bit of luck..found a bench to sleep on sans arms rests so I got a few hours sleep in, plane was on time, and off to Switzerland I went!! I landed and had written out directions on how to get to the train station, which one to take and so on, and things were going good. That is, until I had to call Shelby. My phone is a "Spanish" phone (if you can call it that ... I prefer POS) and could not get ahold of her for the life of me. There are country codes over here that you have to dial, and I tried everyone in the book. Once I got to Laussane, my first stop and where Shelby lives, I was asking anyone within a 2km radius of the train station what number to dial, and I was told several (ALL LIES!) I passed an Internet cafe and decided that was the only way I could ever reach her. Thankfully after money conversions were taken care of, we were able to touch base and had no problems thereafter. I finally found her and we were going to look up where my hostel was when we looked up and could see it! By far the most beautiful hostel I have had..

After getting settled, we walked to the Pepperdine house (where she goes to school) and I met a bunch of her friends and we went to a park to drink a bottle of wine. Just look at where we got to hang out.

t

There was just a beautiful haze over the mountains, it was a perfect temperature, and I could not have been more happy to be in Switzerland (or Sweden as I kept referring to it..NO idea why). We went out to a club called Le Darling and had a fabulous night. Was slightly stalked a little bit by a man named Rodriguez who wore a shark tooth, but was with some guys and a lot of people and it was just kind of a joke so no harm done. Decided to turn in so we could get up to take on the Alps!

Shelby and I holding our really cool $100 Franks...

Me and Shelb outside Laussane train station


The next morning we went to Zermatt with every intention to hike in the Alps. Although I had initially wanted to ski (shocking .. I know) the snow was just not in good condition at all so Shelby her friend and I decided to wear capris, sweatshirts, and tennis shoes and do some hiking trails. After a 2.5 hr train ride alongside of Lake Geneva and through the mountains we made it to our first stop. (as you all know I can NEVER get enough of the mountains pictures...)

From here we had about another hour and the scenery just got more and more beautiful. We finally arrived to Zermatt and I am going to let the pictures below do the talking for me. It was everything you picture a Swiss town to be and more. Lovely scenery, buildings, people, etc.

This is what we saw getting off the train!

This is how all the taxis looked. Only 3 tried to hit me.. I am getting better about not walking in the middle of European roads...work in progress

The famous Matterhorn..tallest peak in Switz

Entrance to a hotel...so cool!

Walking through the city...I am sure looking for chocolate!

My favorite picture of the city (well, while in the city still...read on!)

So like I said before, we had every intention to hike. After putzing around the city for a while we asked around and tried to figure out how to find the hiking trails. We were told to take a cable car up to a side of the mountain ... the lady failed to leave out the fact it was underground BUT we found it eventually. We had to eventually, it was only a town of 3,700 (but they get about 2million tourists a year!) We paid 15 franks (I am just giving you side notes to let you know how incredibly expensive it is there... a frank is about equal to a dollar) and we get out to see a long dark tunnel...and we followed people dressed only to ski. Well, things were not looking up. We got to the end of the tunnel to discover a ski run..and that's it. We asked where the hiking trails were and someone said "You're on it." Okay then.... a lady kindly pointed out to us that there was a restaurant nearby, figuring that is what we wanted since we were not dressed for anything else. We went up to the restaurant (only cuz the girls wanted to, I was all for stealing these old school sleds we saw) but had some good chocolate so it was worth it. We were literally surrounded by mountains and it was just the perfect spot. We asked the manager about hiking trails and he proceeded to show us just where they were... This is what he showed us.

Alrighty then. That is when I lost the interest of my friends and I knew hiking was the furthest thing from their minds. Especially when the manager solidified their decision by saying we were in no way dressed to hike and to rethink taking cable car back down. Well, not one to turn down a challenge/adventure, I was more adamant than ever to take on the Alps, skis or not. Shelby insisted I take her phone down with me and we had a meeting spot for 90 minutes later.

The hiking trails were part mud, part dirt, part snow, but all completely worth it! I will let the pictures describe my adventure down... Enjoy

Here goes nothing...heading to the unknown!

So everybody does these pics and I felt the need...incase it was my last chance to

Literally looked like I was dropping off the side of the earth...

First leg of the journey=complete. No snow..so far so good. That is until I came to the end of the path and literally ended up on a ski run. No biggy, just sloshing along in my tennis shoes sinking into my knees while I got weird looks from people on skis. Good thing I loved every moment of it (And good thing I do not embarrass easily! I just smiled and waved at people) Luckily my path I needed was right around the corner.

Hello Matterhorn..again

This was what the next leg of the hike looked like.

The path took me right through a cute little swiss town! Notice mtns, flag..nice picture capture I like to think! Things were going great and temperature outside was perfect. Also, wasn't even that wet (yet!)

Came to a fork in the road and saw this sign. I asked a lady what way she had come from. One road pointed slightly uphill and the other downwards; she told me she came from the downwards part, so naturally I wanted the challenge and went up!

I was raging to my iPod "high" on life (get it?) and traversing across the mountain for about 45 minutes. Here is looking down on city of Zermatt from above. Meanwhile, I had not gone downwards for some time now, so I was just slightly hesitating on my decision to take the high route. I could turn around and back track, NAHH I would wait another 10min and see where I would end up. I went through this motion about 3X, I would stop and think, then just keep walking. I decided after another 30min of this to turn around while it was still light out and I ran into (then strangers..now friends) Ziggy and Edith, professional Zermatt hikers. Said a little prayer to God for that one, and hiked down the rest of the mountain with these two. They were middle aged hikers and very knowledgable on Swizterland, Zermatt, and everything. It was so great talking to some locals (not to mention I knew I would get to the bottom safely..I was on the right track for the record!) and once we were to the bottom got a "sip." It was a little rocky on the way down but we managed. This is the end of the hiking trail..

Yup another ski trail! This is where I got wet but did not mind at all. I am so glad I did that hike for all of the above reasons! (Edith in front and then random skiers)

After that 2.5 hr hike I was hungry, so had to have some traditional Swiss food ..Rosti. It was basically like a delicious hashbrown dish with ham ... but SOOO good! Door County girls..they serve this at a local restaurant. We MUST TRY (Kays..they have cheese ones too!)

After a fabulous day in Zermatt we took bus ride home with Pepperdine students and had a blast!


The next day I went with some of Shelby's friends on a walk around Lake Geneva for a few hours. It was absolutely beautiful!! It was breathtaking to just walk on the lake, see the mountains, watch a rigada, aka the perfect Sunday afternoon. After that we just kind of relaxed for the afternoon and toured Lausanne at night.

It was great seeing Shelby and I had so much fun meeting her friends and Sunday night is where we parted ways and I was on my own to tour Geneva the following day. I woke up and took the train back into Geneva where was my first (of many) times I defied the law. The train conductor came up to me as I had to pay 30 franks for getting to Geneva, he asked my destination, I mistakenly said airport where he left for 30sec and I realized too late I was at my stop. Needless to say I had to get off, and I could not pay, so I just kept walking and about 30sec after getting off the train I literally ran into a cop. Bad sign? I thought so. Walked about 50 meters and literally (accidentily) walked into the police station. I needed to get outa there! Walked around for a bit (completely lost trying to find tourist office) and realized I had gone completely wrong way and had to go back through train station. No problem..got through it and on other side there were policemen on horses. You could say I was a bit paranoid (which I had no reason to be, it is not like I snuck off the train. Okay well I did BUT I TRIED TO PAY!) Found tourist office and made a plan for myself for the day. Would do "Old Town" Geneva on one part of the lake for the morning and head the other way later.

Geneva from one side

Clock made of 6500 flowers...and has the largest second hand in the world

Another shot..do not mind the tourist map

Geyser shooting water 7500M into the air!

The Promenade (very similar to one in NY)

The Reformation Wall. I was just walking down the promenade enjoying the view.. did not realize this wall was here!

Me in downtown

More

The lake :)

After enjoying the morning in Old Town I ventured to the Red Cross Museum since Henry Dunot, French man, had started the Red Cross. It was SO interesting. Learned all about it back from WW1 and to its uses today. I will not bore you will all the details, but will show you the few pics I did take.

The entrance to the Museum

Book written by Henry Dunot

Amputation kit in WW1!!! Yikes

Next up walked to United Nations... and had a slightly stupid American moment. I saw the gorgeous building and wanted to see what it looked like inside..who wouldn't? So I walk in..minding my own business. Turns out.. you aren't supposed to do that! I was getting yelled at in a few different languages..none of which were english. I turned around to see people in business suites with badges going through security...the whole nine yards. WOOPS definitely was not supposed to go through that gate. You live..you learn.

UN

Random oversixed 3-legged chair. Have NO clue what that represents

After that I was calling it a day. Time to get back on the bus (both ways I did not pay for..again defying the law..I tried but there was no place to put the money!) Got on the train and got into airport. Went through security, passport check, and through the line to get onto my plane, ALL OF WHICH MY PASSPORT/TICKET WERE NEVER CHECKED. I was getting away scotch free -- and I did nothing wrong! Sat towards front of plane since I knew I only had a 30min layover in Barcelona, plane took off on time..and things were going great. And as you all know my story never quite ends on a good note... this is where everything went downhill.

Got off the plane and ran to check the computer for when my flight was out (praying that like all my other luck, the plane would be delayed.) Did not see it on the computer, so ran to nearest INFO desk where I had to ask what terminal we were in. 1. My flight was in T2. Clock check-- T-25 min until take off, T-15min until gate closes. $%^&$ GOTTA RUN! I sprinted to the bus I was told to take where I begged the man to please hurry, but don't worry, after he had his smoke we were good to go. Got to the other terminal with 7min to get through security. Thank the lord no line, but of course I had water in my bag that set me off (got away with it in Switz. airport...apparently can only defy the law in one country__Noted!) Anyways, grabbed my stuff and sprinted to check what gate I was at. (I seriously was putting all Amazing Race competitors to shame..sweat was pouring..thanks for those genes dad!) This is where you have to trust me that I am not exaggerating even in the slightest. I saw the lady at the gate, I yelled (mind you,,all in Spanish) that I was on the Sevilla flight and to please wait. Well, the lady looked at me, and proceeded to shut the door so that I could not get onto the airplane. I pleaded with her, told her my plane was late (white lie..) and that I needed to get on that flight as it was last flight out that night and I had early class. I pulled the "alone, American girl" card.. AS IF that worked! Lady looked at me and told me she was not working anymore and there was nothing she could do. I cursed the language barrier and asked her where the office was. Do you have any idea how awful it is to look out the window, see the hallway thing still attached to the plane, knowing I could LITERALLY BE IN MY SEAT BY NOW, but there is nothing I could do? Fighting tears only worked so long -- had my first break down in Europe. Talked to the man in the Vueling ticket booth who made me pay 85 euro to switch flights (my 4th flight change at this point .. extremely upsetting) and told me I had no choice but to pay that or more with another flight since it was so last minute. I was to depart BCN at 7am and that I should get comfy in the airport for the night. Well I did just that...as comfy as you can get on an airport floor and trust me, I have slept in my fair share of European airports, BCN is the worst. Well, that situation was the worst. Not to mention I woke up in the middle of the night (or morning?) with food poisoning. TRUCE -- I had had enough and just wanted to be home...and too many hours later I made it home.

As I have been reminded by so many, "Hey at least it is a good story!" Yeah, okay looking back it sounds so surreal that I lived that alone... but I did. And what does not kill you only makes you stronger, right? Well I was thinking that, when I saw this sign at the airport.

YEah..I can refute that statement.

And so the story goes... my bad luck continues to follow me. How am I 100% positive? Because the forecast for Sevilla was supposed to be warm, but when I got off of my bus finally getting home, it was down pouring. I know the life I am leading over here is close to fabulous, but man oh man, one trip without a travel mishap would not be so bad! I made it, I was completely enamored by Switzerland, and once again, I thank my lucky stars for this wonderful live I have been given. I am fairly convinced my roommate Lauren is starting to get slightly nervous that she booked a flight to London with me -- seeing as she has had to relive every single one of my travel nightmares everytime I am skyping with someone. She has been warned -- she can still switch her flight.

Hope you made it to the end. Next up -- Africa on Thursday :)

Peace, Amor, Espana, y un poco chocolate de Suiza :)
Ana