Bright and early at the Alhambra
After the hype of finals, my Italian friend Giorgio came to visit Granada on my week break before the new semester started. I was so glad to have him here and show someone else my city. I felt like after that week spent as a Granada tour guide I fell so much more in love with this city that I now call home. From the 14th century Alhambra palace to the caves of Sacramonte to the free tapas and the Albayzín, my heart is connected to Spain. This city, my piso, my room, everything I have here now seems like my life, it is my life. My life is here and I can't imagine leaving it in July right now.
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| California babies |
Giorgio left on a sad rainy morning and my best friend Katie and her friend Lucia came the following week from there study location of Viterbo, Italy. My heart couldn't have been happier to see my best friend after saying goodbye to Gió. I was so excited to show her and another great Cali baby, Lucia, my home sweet home and the heart of southern Spain (I just made that up haha. I don't know if people call it the heart of Spain, but to me it is.) We packed so many activities into their 3 day visit including teterías (Moroccan tea houses), lots of shopping in the Albayzín (Moroccan part of town), a graffiti tour through my neighborhood, a visit to the Alhambra, a morning at the Arabic baths, a sunny day at the Mirador de San Nicolas, tea market shopping, a (not planned) hippy jam session in the upper Albayzín equipped with flamenco guitars, cajóns, bucket bass guitars and accordions, dance sessions in da club, a picnic in my favorite park, great conversation and loving on each other. It was again another opportunity for me to see how blessed I am living here, how truly colorful Granada, Spain is and how lovely the people are in my life.
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| Reunited and it feels so good |
I sent them back to Italy only to see Katie two days later in Fes, Morocco. I met Katie in the airport where we proceeded to take a taxi to meet our other best friend Kathryn when we realized English, Spanish, and Italian were completely useless. The 3 of us had not been together for almost a year and thought, "what better place for a reunion than Kathryn's study abroad choice, Morocco?" Katie and I couldn't believe we had set our feet on African soil, the first time for both of us on that continent. Since I am studying the Arab world in my classes right now I was extremely excited to experience it first hand. Being our first time in an Arab country I was a little nervous about....pretty much everything, but was so glad to have Kathryn there to help us through it all.
An overjoyous group hug was the first thing we did before proceeding to be extremely loud, giddy and American :) We had a fabulous dinner, vegetarian cous cous and vegetable tajine at a great price! WOO! The Dirham is so much better than the Euro on my budget :) We met Kathryn's amazing Portland friends also studying there and filled our evening with Moroccan tea, sweets and fabulous conversation.
Street food in Fes
Katie and I checked in to a little hostel in the old medina and decided that it would do for the night. We then realized that our window was permanently open making the 5AM call to prayer extremely startling. I couldn't fall back asleep and Katie had discovered that our sheets smelled like the last guest's body odor. There was a little left over snack in our bed as well :) BUT the price was just right :) Let's just say that Moroccan health standards are a tad different from that of the U.S.
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| happy hearts <3 |
The following day we started off our morning with some delicious street food (now I know, not such a good idea) and a visit to their favorite cafe, Cafe Clock. We had amazing fruit juices and smoothies (also not a good idea), and then hit the markets hard. We shopped until we dropped having Kathryn to use her Darija (Arabic dialect spoken in Morocco) skills to bargain for us. Argan oil, henna, and a few pieces of jewelry later we took off to a nearby city called Moulay Yacoub.
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| The local hammam |
We spent a night at this neighboring spa town. Moulay Yacoub is a tiny village with an amazing hammam (a type of Arabic steam bath segregated by gender) scene. We decided to find the loc dog hammam and we were pointed in the direction of this blue building. We entered totally ill equipped when a lady working there yelled something at us and motioned over to us to take the buckets from her and leave our towels with her. After we realized we were the only ones not naked, we stripped and entered only to find the complete contrast of what you see on the streets. This hammam was not only a steam room, but it had a sulfur pool in the middle that the room was centered around. There had to be over one hundred naked women in there of every different shape, size, and age completely comfortable with each other and themselves. It had to be one of the most surprising, amazing, and beautiful sights I have really seen in my life. The camaraderie and openness displayed in the hammam is one you would never know existed when you see the same women completely covered on the streets. Women spend hours in hammams scrubbing each other, soaping each other, and laying in the steam. We were definitely THE ONLY non-Arab women in there and we weren't the only ones who knew it! We tried to follow what everyone else was doing, when a sweet girl came over to help us. After a while a big mamma waved us over and tried to explain to us in Darija that we were using the dirty water. After realizing that we had been pouring the water from the center pool (containing everyones dead skin and hair) they helped us get the clean water from the spicket. We were trying to communicate with her and her daughter, but did a lot of smiling and body language. After scrubbing each other with special scrubbers our new friend decided we were all going swimming in the center pool. She took us by the hand (not taking no for an answer) and as we made our way to the steps, stepping over naked bodies, getting splashed and curious stares, we entered the scalding hot sulfur pool. We were the only ones in it with this mom and daughter until she called her friends to get in with us. We waded to the center all holding hands in a circle when they proceeded to sing an Arabic song. Before we knew it, this mamma had the entire hammam singing this song with her as we were all circling, holding hands in the center of this pool (let us not forget this water is scalding, we are in a steam room, and we are all naked). Everyone was smiling and laughing at us trying to sing along in Arabic. When the song finished everyone broke out in this tribal call that we tried to immitate. We had the entire hammam laughing, not sure if it was with us or at us, but nevertheless it was by far one of the coolest experiences I have had in my life. I could not believe that these women just took us into their private space and treated us like their closest friends. They were so generous, loving, welcoming and without even speaking the same language! It goes to show you that love can be shown through so much more than words.
Ruins in Fes
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| Shnookums |
After getting that amazing taste of the female culture in Morocco I had a new outlook on the lives they lead. It made me so happy to know that they can at least be open and free when it is only women. We went back to Fes and went for a hike to some ruins with Kathryn's Moroccan "sister." After, we went to their house and had the traditional Moroccan tea. The rest of our days were filled with shopping, meeting unexpected new friends, eating way too much delicious food (that I totally paid for with my gnarly stomach issues when I got home), and just enjoying being together. I even got to chat with some Moroccan youth on what they think about the woman's role, politics, and a little bit about their lives.
Being in Morocco made me feel more than blessed to be a woman born in the good 'ol U.S. of A. I have studied women's rights in Arab countries and am in a class right now called La Realidad Social de una Mujer Árabe (The social relaity of an Arab woman), but learning and experiencing it are two different things. Kathryn definitely chose a difficult country to study abroad in, but I know she will come out of this experience with so much knowledge and appreciation for the life we have. I was only there 6 days and felt like I learned more than I have in my class in the past semester. Morocco being one of the more liberal Arab countries in relation to women's rights was still a wake up call to me. It's exhausting getting cat called by EVERY man on the street, being proposed to multiple times in one day, and having to constantly restrain yourself from doing anything that could draw attention to you...yes, that means spontanious dancing when you hear drums in the street too.
Fes suq (open air market place)
It was very obvious to me after my trip that no matter how hard I want to try and understand this culture, I just can't. There is much to be said about the country, religion, and manner in which one is raised. Socialization plays a larger role in our lives than I think we know.
Our trip ended with a "nos vemos pronto" (we will see each other soon) and lots and lots of love. My heart was so full being with my girls and having amazing experiences together. I feel like when I am with those 2 I never fail to have an adventure I will remember forever. I learned so much on this trip and was so content to have the girls I consider my family all together again.
More pictures :)
Giorgio in España
Court of Myrtles at the Alhambra
Beach day at Salobreña
Katie and Lucia in Granada
Besties
Hippy jam session in the Albayzín
Friends are easier made when dancing is involved
For the love of music
Adrienne, Katie, me, and Lucia
Carmen de los Martires
International picnic at the Carmen
Adrienne and I's neighborhood
Dancing queens
Fes, Morocco
Kathryn and Katie with Kathryn's adorable Moroccan "niece"
Me, perfecting the art of tea pouring at Kathryn's host home in Fes
The old medina in Fes
Dates anyone?
Henna in Moulay Yacoub
Our new friends
Katie showing the boys pictures of themselves...they loved it haha
Besties
City walls of Fes
There is nothing like meeting your best friends for an adventure on the other side of the world <3
I would have never guessed that I would have met such a warm-hearted Italian man to spend my vacation with, but life is full of the unexpected. I flew into Bologna where he studies and we took a train the following day to his beautiful little town of Salsomaggiore. It was beyond incredible to smell fresh air without the grey clouds of exhaust expelled by the tiny Alhambra shuttles that are found in Granada. After meeting his sweet parents (mom doesn't speak a word of English, but dad speaks a little) and sister they took us out to dinner where I ate way too much as the story goes in Italy.
