More Morocco

Similarly to Bryan, I labored over an Arabic keyboard yesterday (when the "a" and "q" keys are switched, touch typing doesn´t really work so well) and then the computer wouldn´t let me access the blog site. So I´ll rehash what I typed out there and then maybe talk a little about Seville.

My Morocco experience was really interesting. As Bryan mentioned, the first thing we did after our arrival was lunch in a local restaurant. Two guides then took us on a walking tour of the Kasbah and Medina. The tour itself wasn´t anything special, but the place was incredible. The doors and windows and side streets of the Kasbah and the Medina are like something from a storybook. The view from the north side of the Kasbah was amazing--blue ocean, blue sky and Spain just on the other side. The tour ended in a rug store and my roommate Emily and I ducked out, deciding to explore Tanger on our own. We wandered around a bit, found an internet cafe (the cheapest yet...a dollar per hour!) and heard the Muslim call to prayer while we were checking our email. Then we shopped in the Medina. It´s a bit strange when nothing has price markings--but it´s also nice because if you´re a couple of cents short, it doesn't matter. It was my first experience with bargaining and I got a "35" euro scarf for 8 euro, although I probably could have gotten it for cheaper if I really tried. Emily bought spices and those were dirt cheap, especially since we used the local currency (dirhams). We ended our afternoon by a walk on the beach and then a wild ride back to the hotel in the small turquoise taxis that infest the streets of Tanger.
As a brief cultural note, our Spanish guide Josu had said that the women in our group could dress however they wanted and I found that Islam is more of a religious than political presence in Morrocco. However, I was glad to be wearing a long skirt and I would have liked to have longer sleeves. Emily and I had a few moments where we were very conscious of our position as women. We never felt unsafe, but Tanger is not a place I would want to walk around alone and definitely not after dark. The other, more positive part of our experience was speaking French (as both Emily and I have studied French and are conversationally fluent). Talking to people in French was the free ticket to a big smile. It really helped us blend in, and some people even asked if we were French. After feeling like the stereotypical dumb American in Spain where I don´t speak the language, that was a gratifying experience.

I guess this is already a long entry, but I simply cannot log off without saying a few words about Seville, which was squeezed between Madrid and Morocco. We had nowhere near enough time in Seville. It's the perfect place to just get lost in side streets and back alleys and then find yourself next to a beautiful church or small cafe. For our night in Seville, the entire group attended an inspiring flamenco show. We also had Saturday morning to explore and I did some shopping and visited the huge cathedral (third largest in Europe) in the center of town. On Saturday night we were in the seaside town of Puerto de Santa Maria, where we played in acoustically excellent hall for an enthusiastic audience. Right now we´re driving up the Costa del Sol towards Torremolinos, which will be our stop for the night before we go on to Granada tomorrow. The fun never ends!