December 14 thru December 27
Route traveled Detroit-Chicago-London-Malaga Spain-Mellila Spain-Fes Morocco Marrakech Morocco Tan Tan Morocco Laayoune Morocco Dahkmar morocco Laayuone morocco rabat morocco All of the places I list are places that I have slept in
Of course not the ones from my airplane journey tho
Status
Mental= feeling good
physical=feeling strong
mood=grateful inspired
1000 welcomes many welcomes welcome to Morocco is what i hear from everyone that i meet here. Ive made it down to the middle of Morocco and so far the journey has been great.
I am in a city far off the tourist trail and the Moroccans have been nothing but hospitable towards me. This is now but i have come along way in the past week or so; lets go back to the start. The days and dates are not important and I will attempt to tell everything in its proper order
Here we go. My final day in the US; my brother in law Jason dropped me off at the airport and I was off . I flew from detroit to chicago and then to London. From London I got a flight to Malaga Spain. Everything went smoothly and I arrived in Spain the next day after i left America. I had managed while in central and and south america to get around before on very little sixth grade spanish; so i was ready to bust it out again. In Malaga i figured out at the airport how to get the bus to the city center and i also found my first hostal of the trip. I had arrived around 5pm and I was determined to figure out how to get the boat to Morocco. I ventured out to find the port; and after about two miles of walking i found it. I said Necesito la barca para morocco; to a bunch of people ; and eventually located the closed ticket office. I snuck upstairs to an office and by chance found some people that told me the boat leaves at 2pm the next day. With my goal accomplished I walked back to the hostal and relaxed for the night. In the morning i got up and walked to the boat. I bought a ticket and I was off to Africa on a huge cruise
ship type boat named The Juan J. Sister. After an 8 hour trip i had made it to Mellila Spain; which is on the tip of Morocco but still considrered Spain. Found a nice hotel and went to bed early ready to cross the border the next day. In the morning I walked to the bus stop that would get me the bus to the border. When i got to the border immediately a man came up to me and asked me to fill out some paper for the immigration and he also said i had to see the doctor take a picture and check for the flu. Confused I went along with it and walked on with my paper that i payed 30 cent euros for. There were hundreds of cars backed up at the border; but I was able to walk up to the front. I found the doctor who took my pic and stamped my paper saying i didnt have the flu i guess. Got my passport stamped after waiting in line for a half hour and I was officially in africa. 30 seconds in; a man comes up to me yapping something; and I ask him where the bus is or train to Fes. He shows me the tiny station but after drinking tea which is called Moroccan whiskey he helps me change money and then finds me the bus which goes to Nador. He of course asks me for money ; and i give him a little cuz he was very helpfulI hopped on the bus and rode for about an hour to Nador, from there i quickly found a bus that would take me to Fes. A bunch of hours later i had made it to Fes, and i found a nice cheap hotel in the new city It was a nice city and i walked around for a bit checking it out. I met a shopowner named Abdul and he invited me to a bar with him where the locals go. together we smoked sheeshah which is Hookah and we drank beer and ate some good food. We talked about Fes and about Moroccan people. It was a good night and a good welcome to Morocco. The next day was quite crazy, cuz in the morning i ventured out on my own to walk to the Medina which is the old city. As i was walking i man named Amin ran up to me and asked if i wanted to take a guided tour with him and a canadien and a few others. I agreed figuring it would be interesting and i could meet some other travellers. We went to mcdonalds and met Max from Canada; and we drove to his hotel which was a five star Riad and it was amazing.Max and i had breakfast and then he told me how he makes tons of money buying and then selling carpets back home; and then i feel a scam coming on from this situation. But i go along with everything. Max tells a so called worker to take me to the old city so we can look at carpets and the city sights. So we go in car and i am whisked away to an onslaught of craziness that is medina fes. I see carpet stores oils. skins. fabrics all in a maze of tight streets that are so confusing. After getting tugged around from place to place i found the highlight of Fes, which were the kaleidescope of colors called the Tanneries. I had seen nothing like them it was where they take the animal skins and dye them to make products to sell. It was an amazing sight. After wandering around the medina without spending a dime i tried to leave but couldnt find the exit to the maze. It felt like the game Zelda at the part where u have to walk each direction of the screen in the exact order to get through to the next part. Finally i had to ask a kid to lead me out. After the insanity of the medina I walked the three miles back to my hotel and rested my boggled head. The next day i got the train to Marrakech, a place i have always wanted to visit. It took qbout eight hours, and i was there . I found a hotel in the main square and the circus began. This main square is by far the most activity i have ever seen in a square. there were hundreds of performers doing all kinds of wild stuff there was so much food places and the markets were fantastic to walk around. the sights the smells the atmosphere was intoxicating. First thing i did was eat some snails which looked disgusting but were suprisingly good and then i ate at one of the stalls cous cous with lamb, which was really good. I walked around the markets in awe and went to watch the shows. they all wanted so much money just to look but i met one of the performers and hung out with some local girls and we enjoyed the show. Later at the hotel I met Ted from Scotland. He deserves to be explained quite a bit so i will do my best. He looks like a snake with the most sinnister look in his eyes. He is a bisexual scot that does flamenco dancing who smuggled MDMA and hash in his butthole over from spain he eats his boogers and he eats his own cum for nutrition. I figured he could be entertaining to hang out with for a while. he asks me if i wanna go to the hammam, which is a moroccan bathhouse. i figure why not? we get there and this place is a huge sauna with three rooms. one very hot room one medium hot room and one not so hot room. I sit in the hot room and bathe the experience was unique there are also men giving massages but i decline. Ted is in there sloshing around with buckets of water; i LEAVE RELAXED AND CLEAN AND WE GET BACK TO THE HOTEL; tED AND I SMOKE SOME HASH AND WANDER AROUND THE MARKETS FOR A BIT; HE TALKS ALL KINDS OF CRAZINESS AND HE THINKS ALL OF THE MOROCCAN MEN WANT TO HAVE SEX WITH HIM; tHE ENTERTAINMENT VALUE IS PRICELESS AND I CANT STOP LAUGHING; THE NEXT DAY TED AND I HAVE BREAKFAST AND GO TO THE MARKETS AFTER SMOKING SOME NICE HASH; HE WANTS me to act like his american jeweller cuz he bought a bracelet the day before and got ripped off. we somehow manage to get his money back and he buys me A hat for my efforts. the whole time Ted is asking me to do MDMA with him bit i keep telling him no. he is also 51 years old. anyway all day we wander around the markets and enjoy the atmosphere. I buy a jalapa and a baby hookah to smoke on my travels. Ted and i talk of many things and he gets me to open up and talk about how i became who i am and other things of life. he also tells me that he once asked his daughter if she ever had anal sex. this guy sure is a riot to talk with. anyway we go back to the hotel smoke hash i put on my jalapa and my purple hat and enter myself into the circus of the square. Ted gets a scorpion henna tatoo on his face and while he is getting it i sit down and another lady grabs my arm and gives me a forced scorpion tatoo that i cant escape from. it looks alright but i didnt want it i felt abused but anyway in the square everyone is laughing at me cuz the way i am dressed. wander around the markets eat some good food and relax in the hammam. Ted decides to go on the bus with me the next day to a place called Sidi efni so we go and buy a ticket to Agadir where we will switch buses : So the next day Ted and I jump on the bus and leave Marrakech. Half way I get to thinking that I might want to part ways with Ted and head further south. So when we get to agadir I tell him that I am heading off on my own: he tries to persuade me but I would not listen, so as I leave on another bus which goes to Tan Tan Ted gives me ten valiums: two really strong sleeping pills they call jellies in Scotland: some hash which I discard, four pills that you take after mdma to make yourself feel better and a bunch of Amber, which may be the best smelling substance in the world.
Off I go on my way south towards Dahkla which was my goal. about a bunch of hours later I arrive in Tan Tan and it is midnight so I grab a bus stop jail like cell of a hotel room:
In the morning I awake in a place where no one speaks English even a bit but I somehow manage to arrange a collectivo taxi ride to tarfaya which is a fifties style land rover and we cram eleven people in it::: it is uncomfortable to say the least but the temp was mild so all in all not bad. I eat some nasty lookin fish at a rest stop that all the locals eat; but it tastes really good: I arrive in tarfaya ,midday and wait for another taxi to Laayuoune; while I wait I smoke some hash and deink tea with some locals hanging out and I find another collectivo to head on; on this ride I meet Fadwa who speaks good English and is an 18 year Moroccan girl who lives in laayuone. I also meet a old man who calls himself sergeant mohammed and he he so damn funny, and we have a great ride to laayuone.
When we arrive Fadwa grabs my bag and helps me find a taxi to get a hotel, and I give her some amber which she loved. The next morning I head out in an attempt to go even further to the last town before the border which is Dahkla. I get a taxi to the taxi place and arrange to take a Mercedes benz sedan to dahkla. I meet a soldier who speaks English named Nagi and we talk most of the ride. Now this ride was even more cramped than the land rover cuz there were a total of 7 people in a 5 person car.
Along the way nagi and I talk of how I am going to get from dahkla to the border of Mauritania: at a gas station I run into two guys heading right for the border and nagi asks them if I can go with them; they agree I say I will have to pay them 200 dirhams::: but he never did ask me for it in the end. So I am off with mohammed who is 25 and the other guy who speaks good English but I cant remember how to say his name. I will call him Gussarat for this story. We talk most of the ride and im a little nervous that this isn't the safest thing to do; but on we go; gussarat and I talk most of the ride and ask them if they wanna hear some music; first I put on ali farka toure and then they ask for the beach boys and I play that and then they ask for Bob Marley which I gladly played all the way. At a rest stop we gussarat had a butcher chop up some meat and cooked it over some coals. We feasted and headed off.
At this point I was examining how gussarat and mohammed were interacting with each other to make sure everything was safe and I was constantly watching for signs of any danger; along the road my thoughts of trouble went away when we stopped to help a broken down car: gussarat said that it was his family although he had never met them; we tied a rope to the back of our car to theirs and towed them an hour down the road to a town called Dahkmar. The kindness of these guys without hesitation was such a inspiring act. At around midnight they took me to a hotel and they slept in the car.
At 6 am I got a knock on my door telling me its time to wake up, I find gussarat and mohammed and we head south towards the border: a little bit in we blow a tire to shreds and get out to realize we have no tool to get off the bolts; no angry gussarat hails down the next car and two cars stop to help; with pure kindness the guys help us change the tire and we are ready to go. Proven karma from the day before without a doubt.
So anyway my lonely planet guide book from 2007 said that I could get a visa at the border of Mauritania; however after asking a couple of people they said that the law had changed recently due to troubles with al queda. So I get all the way to the border along with other foreigners who also don’t have visas and all I kept hearing was you have to go all the way back to the capital city of Rabat and get a visa there. I am shocked and figure I will at least try and pay money for a bribe. So I go through the border and get stamped out of morocco and walk the desolate empty 3km no mans land wasteland land between the borders. I could have gotten a taxi but there is nothing like walking in a place that no country has declared. There are no roads and there are broken down cars scattered all over.
I finally get to the border and of course I get turned back even though I tried to give them 100 hundred US dollars but I think they didn’t even have the authority to authorize the visas. So I am escorted back to the no mans land to walk back to morocco as expected. Hey I had to atleast try. As I walked back I told all the other foreigners that there was no hope and they were shocked as well. So hear I am all the way at the border and no possible way to cross but to go to the very north of the country where I had just came from. This wouldn’t be a problem but I am trying to meet my friend eric in Bamako, Mali on January 2 and this is gonna make it so very hard to get there on time.
When I get back to the Moroccan border I get stamped back in to the country and as agreed Gussarat is there waiting for me cuz he was going back up north as well. He only came down to help his cousin mohammed take his car to Mauritania. Now my goal is to get up to Rabat as fast as possible, get a visa and get back as fast as I possibly can. Gussarat arranges for us to take an orange Mercedes benz all the way back to laayuone which is really far. So I lucked out and was on my way. Again we had 7 people in a 5 person car but this one was way worse cuz I was in between two guys that didn’t stop talking the whole ride. They were talking so load and in both my ears and of course It was all in Arabic. I had to blast my music to full blast not to lose my mind but I was really starting to lose it. Plus my ass was in pain and all my muscles from travelling in such crammed conditions the last few days.
Hours and endless hours later we arrive in beautiful laayuone and I am so happy to be away from these people. I say goodbye to gussarat who has helped me so much and didn’t even ask me for the initial money we had agreed on. I get a hotel and the next morning arrange for a bus to take me directly to Rabat. It leaves at 330pm and it is a really nice bus but expensive. We ride until 12pm the next day passing back through familiar territory that I had just come through; go back through Marrakech, and also go through Casablanca which I hadn’t seen on my way down south. Arrive in Rabat after a long ride but I slept a ton on the bus: Immediately got a taxi to the Mauritanian embassy only to find out that they don’t open again until Monday. I honestly had no idea what the day of the week was and I found a guy who told me it was Thursday, and I started counting the days and realized that it wasn’t possible so I figured It must be Saturday and I would have to stay in rabat for at least two days. Dejected I got a taxi to the medina old city and found a cheap hotel with the pinkest walls you will ever seen, much more so than the don cesar. I begin to try and relax and tell myself that I cannot change things right now and will have to make the best of it till Monday. Go get some beers and take a couple of valiums and walk around the awesome medina and find a mosque where a bunch of people were chanting so I join in and really get relaxed. I go to a barber shop and get a straight razor shave and eat some food from the street stalls. Get to sleep round 9 and don’t wake until 1030 the next day to the loud speakers of prayers streaming through the skies of the medina. Feeling good I do my workout which consists of
=stretching for 15 minutes
= 3 sets of 100 crunches and bicycle like abdominal motions
=juggling
=210 pushups
=300 jumping jacks
So far I have tried to do this workout as much as possible in my hotel room
I have found that a sound body and mind really helps while travelling
After that I take a shower and am fully refreshed with a beautiful day awaiting me in Rabat. I got get some tjene with chicken but first I got two oranges which I try to eat everyday cuz they are amazing here in morocco and peel so easily which is a big plus for me. I walk a few miles to the Mohammed mausoleum where two of the old presidents are held I believe and it is an impressive marble building and I see the coffins walk out to the Kasbah which is of blue and white colors and overlooks the ocean. It was a very nice place to walk around. I then head out to the beach where there are surfers and soccer players, and the water in the ocean is as brown as can be. Walk through a really unique cemetery and get back to the medina, eat some soup and a sandwich on the street and go to the internet café where I am writing this right now. Tomorrow I hope I can get my visa and if I do there is a bus that leaves at 5am that goes directly back to Dahkla; where I can then make another attempt at crossing the border to Mauritania. ENSHALLAH as the Moroccans say which means god willing. I have to hightail it all the way from rabat into Mauritania and then across that country into Mali and get to the border by jan 2. I do not think this will be possible so I will have to arrange to meet eric on a later day maybe in mopti or maybe even later on jan 6 in timbuctu.
I made my fantasy football finals and today I have the chance to win a bunch of money
Here is my finals lineup
Drew brees
Brandon marshall
Andre Johnson
Anquan boldin
Thomas jones
Jaamal charles
Todd heap
Baltimore D
Ryan longwell
Wish me luck: it is Sunday night here but the games are just starting back home
Goodnight from Rabat I hope the next time im writing I am somewhere in Mali… enshallah
The Juan J. Sister express
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Rabat, Morocco
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Comments

2025-02-11
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jimmy and emily
2010-01-09
Josh, we loved reading your story and are so amazed. Hope you are being safe! One quick question from Jimmy...what is amber?