Morocco: Day 5

We ended up back down in the village in the morning so people could do any last bits of shopping and have lunch before we left. By then I was totally done with all the heckling and just wanted to go over to the cafe to grab the wifi and I've just realised how lost that made our generation sound!

The majority of the afternoon was then spent on the coach praying to God that we wouldn't drive off the side of the mountain or end up in some huge crash in the middle of Marrakech, therefore not many pictures were taken.

I found myself being very reflective. I learnt to cope in a completely different, unprivilaged culture, tried foods I would never think of trying back home and I spoke to people which I'd never really spoken to before. Take the girls in my room for example (1st picture). They're in a completely different friendship group to me at school and I guess I'd always kind of judged them some way or another, but really they're the nicest girls and we got along somewhat better than some of the people I hang around with usually. Admitidly it was hard trying to force down food that I didn't particularly want to eat and trying to aim my wee down a hole in the floor, but I did learn loads and I'd love to go and visit more countries like Morocco. Maybe with a bit more sunbathing next time though!

Georgia.xo

Morocco: Day 4

Tuesday was the last proper day of the trip so I set about trying to make the most of it; as much as I'd been telling myself that I was missing everyone, hated the food and everything else, I really had been having a good time.

To start off the day we went on another trek down the mountain to go and visit a waterfall. Not going to lie, I did think I was going to fall off the mountain and die at some points, but the waterfall was so beautiful I guess it was worth it. Some of the group decided to turn back and chill at the hotel afterwards but the rest of us carried on into the village, have some lunch, and do a spot of shopping, before trekking back up the mountain.

We had lunch at the boys' house again but unlike before, we sat in the garden. It was so cute and relaxed with the blossom trees over our heads and that much needed shade. I wasn't too keen on the food this time but there were side dishes of pasta and lentils so I stuck to those. I'd never tried lentils before but I mixed them with the pasta and they actually weren't that bad. I've always thought they looked a bit bland and a bit like animal food but Morocco proved me wrong once again!

We finished off with a few shops where I got the most gorgeous cactus silk scarf for mum and some Argan Oil at the Argan Oil Cooperative. The place was impressive and it must be one of the only factories without machinery. The woman were sitting on the floor just cracking their nuts on some rocks not really giving a damn.

The highlight of the day though was when the boys performed to us. Or it might've just been the highlight of the whole week! It must've been about 11pm, we were all sitting there after dinner, just wanting to pack and go to bed. We all thought they'd just be sitting along the edge for a few minutes so what actually happened was completely unexpected. I don't know how to describe it exactly because it was one of those "you had to be there!" moments but long story shot, they started having their own mental party in the middle of the room. One guy was banging the drum so hard I thought he was going to end up slapping one of the others in the balls and the whole time we were just sat there like "what the actual f*** is going on?"

Georgia.xo

Morocco: Day 3

Monday was tough but put it into perspective how privillaged we really are. In the morning we packed up our stuff and left the hotel in two groups. One group (mine) went further up the mountain one side of the valley to get involved in some community work. The other half went up the other side and visited the local village school.

I don't think any of us were expecting to work while we were on holiday. For two hours we had to help build a water irrigation system by forming a chain and passing along bags of rock and other mountain like material to where the next part was being built. It was harder work than it sounds and by the end of it my back was killing me, but as we were told many times, it was for a good cause and something extra to put on our CVs.

Both groups then came together at lunch time at our tour guide's house. Each of the tour guides were either cousins or brothers to each other so the atmosphere was so much more comfortable than any of the resturants we'd been to. The food there was the best we had all week too. Bread was still put on the table, but instead of coucous we had rice instead, as well as sweetcorn, peas and carrot - almost like a vegetarian paella.

Afterwards we swapt activities and off we went trecking up the other side of the mountain to the school. It was a surreal experience. There were no laptops or electronic whiteboards or, from what we could see, no writing books either. However, we'd brought them all mini whiteboards, whiteboard pens, pencils and rulers and I've never seen someone so happy about a pencil. Ever. The kids were so adorable though. They all got involved and one kid even let me teach him how to draw and write in English. He probably didn't have a clue what he was writing but the fact that he actually copied what I'd done without anyone forcing him was the cutest thing I've ever seen.

The next big thing was the mule ride up to the next hotel which we were meant to go to the night before. I was aboslutley shitting myself the whole way up to the hotel, but, like everything else that day, it was an experience which I will never forget.

And now I know why people go on volunteering holidays so much.

Georgia.xo

Morocco: Day 2

I took so many photos on Sunday it was so hard to decide which ones to include in this post! We started off the second day by taking a tour around Marrakech, which is a lot less hectic in the day time than it is in the evening. I couldn't quite understand what the tour guide was saying but he showed us the mosque and where it had been taken off it's previous foundations to be placed on the new ones, an old palace where a man had parties every night to chose his four wives, another site which held the first religious festival but had great views over the city, and then into the souks where we visited a herbalist and the wonderful world of heckling.

After lunch we headed towards the mountains where we had planned to stay for the next 3 nights. Midway, we stopped off at a dam/lake which, from what I could understand, was the main source of water for the villages at the bottom of the mountains, and if it was a dam it was so much prettier than the ones we get here in England. It was hot though, so I took a few photos and couldn't really appreciate it much. We also stopped off at a museum opposite Richard Branson's Kasbah Tamadot hotel, but by then I had a banging headache so I couldn't appreciate that much either.

Nothing is planned in Morocco though. Everyone is so laid back and spontaneous that we ended up missing the mules which we were supposed to take us up to the next hotel. Because of this we ended up at the Hotel Etoil Du Toubkal at the centre of the Imlil village. Personally I though it was the nicest out of the three hotels - there was WiFi, the beds were comfy, the toilet flushed, we had a balcony and overall the atmosphere was so much nicer. Unfortunately though, I ended the day by throwing all of my dinner back up all over my white converse and my jeans.. #classy.

Georgia.xo

Morocco: Day 1

On Saturday morning an army of blood orange hoodies took over Gatwick airport and hijacked the British Airways flight to Marrakech. Okay it didn't quite go like that but I did go to Morocco in a matching hoodie to 42 other people - talk about making an entrance.

Before we'd gone, I'd read some reviews on the first hotel which weren't exactly positive to say the least - "worst possible hotel EVER!!!" and "deeply unimpressed" to name just a few. Either I have unbelievably low standards or the "never judge a book by it's cover" saying really is true, but personally I didn't think it was that bad. Apart from the fact that it was next to the main road, the rooms weren't that big and you get woken up by the call to prayer at 5am; the bed was reasonably comfy, the toilet worked, and there was WiFi. What more do you want? Then once we'd got our rooms and met our tour guides for the trip we set of into the city unprepared for what came next.

I'm not sure how to describe Marrakech. It's a mixture of culture and complete madness. There aren't any rules like in England - the cars drive around wherever and whenever they feel like it, people come up to you without any dignity whatsoever and these people are everywhere. The "short walk" from the hotel to the restaurant was literally a game of dodgems and an attempt not to get raped. And then we reached our restaurant, where we were greeted with the food which we were going to be stuck with for the rest of the week: bread, couscous, chicken and vegetables.

Georgia.xo