Morocco in the Morning, Spain in the Afternoon

February 8th,

I got up at 7:00am to go on the hike with Alan.  I was the only student to get up.  We walked through Chefchaouen while was the city was just waking up.  In the daylight was city was beautiful with its blue doors.  We climbed to the top of the mountain and I had a fantastic view overlooking the city.

We walked back down and met with everyone at the hostel.  We packed everything up and were out the door a little after 8:00am.  We walked to the main road where we met the driver who then started the 3 hour drive back up the coast toward Ceuta, one of two Spanish cities on the African continent.  

About 30 minutes out, we saw camels and stopped to ride them.  We rode in a small circle, but it was still fun.  Back on the bus we drove to Ceuta.  We had some difficulty getting Raquel, the girl who'd forgotten her passport in Granada, past the security check point.  The actual security check heading back into Spain and European Union was a joke as they only checked my bags but not my coat.  I could have had all sorts of illegal substances and gotten them through.  Taking a taxi to the port, I was shocked by the juxtaposition that was the sudden change from Morocco to Spain.  

As if completely opposite from Thursday, the rest of the travel time went about as easily as it could have gone.  We took an extremely nice, fast boat back to Algeciras.  I spent the hour ride relaxing and drinking a soda.  We arrived in Algeciras around 3:00pm.  Rather than wait until 6:00 for my 5 hour bus ride back to Granada,  I decided to forfeit the 20 euros I'd spent on the return ticket home and take up the invitation to go with the girls on their private bus back to Granada.  Not only did I arrive home 3 or 4 hours earlier but it was basically door to door service as they dropped me off at Puerta Real.

Back home, I was reminded how lucky I am.  Not only to be so fortunate materialistically but also to live with such great people.  I joked with Heiko and Antonio before eating dinner and taking a shower.  Before bed, I skyped my family and uploaded photos.

In the end, my spontaneous weekend trip to Morocco was an incredible experience in which I shared my own culture, learned about a different one and saw the human side of an area of the world that had previously been confined to texts, films, and the image painted by media.