An Odyssey in Assilah

    Well, in the great blog catch up, I had to leave myself a large block of time to talk about what is possibly my most epic adventure to date. In a bout of post-midterm stress, a large group of us decided that a trip to the beach was just what we needed to relax- with the beach only a four hour, fifteen dollar train trip away, this seemed like quite the plan.
      We left the pouring rain of Ifrane at 4:30pm on Friday to catch the train in the nearby town of Meknes, and we arrived in Meknes just in time to see the train pull out of the station. With the next train not until nearly 11am the next day, we weighed our options- and found that options are much better weighed while drinking fresh squeezed OJ.

Yum- and costs about $1

    We decided taking the bus to Tangier, a large city 1 hour from the beach we wanted to go, to was the best option. The bus was scheduled to leave at 10pm, but in typical Moroccan fashion left around midnight.   We arrived to Tangier at around 5am, without sleep and still 1 hour from our destination. With no place open and nowhere to go, we killed some time on the beach of Tangier- rough, I know. We watched the sunrise, an amazing lighting storm in the far distance, and swam in the ocean. So, my Saturday morning started something like this:

  We left the beach for the breakfast, and has happens frequently in Morocco, found a friend to take us to a cafe. -Side note on this- I have made a point to travel with at least one person fluent in Arabic, and therefore always seem to find a random native willing to help. Welcome to Moroccan hospitality. Our friend found us an excellent cafe with tasty omelet sandwiches- additional side note- if it seems like I talk about the food here a lot, its 'cause its awesome. During breakfast, we made friends with this little guy:

and, as a bit of a downer, saw a homeless man drama play out across the street. (A man sleeping in the street had his things stolen by another man- chaos ensued, while men in suits drove by in BMWs). Stray cats and homeless men, surrounded by natural beauty and 1st world wealth- what a country. 

  By then our four hour journey was pushing 15 hours, and we still had not arrived. Turns out our new friend had a friend.. and after a bit of bargaining, we found a ride to Assilah- via fruit delivery truck! Ready for the adventure, the eight of us piled in- after two of our boys helped them finish their deliveries.. and pictures were taken. 

The Crew!

Are we surrrrre about this???

Ride in fruit delivery car- crossed off the bucket list. All in all, what started out as a short train ride turned into an adventure. We finally arrived in Assilah, and by talking to another "friend" managed to find an apartment for the night. Cockroaches and used diapers in the kitchen aside, it only cost about 42 dirhams, or six dollars for each of us. We met up with the half of the group that HAD made the train, and booked our ride to the beach. True to the theme of unusual modes of travel, we found the following to get us to the beach: 

Giddy-up!

They took us to a place called Paradise beach and the name did not let us down. Not only was it beautiful, I counted five other people the whole time we were there. I also got to ride one of the carriage horses bareback.. and may have showed off my "Montana" by galloping around like a wild woman, laughing like a idiot, and giving my friends some unsolicited equitation tips. :D 

I feel captions would be inadequate for the above pictures. We left the beach at sundown, took another wild carriage ride- this one involving a near-hit with cars on the road. Luckily the car managed to squeal the breaks and go into the ditch. The night was spent with a rather chill enjoyment of the group, the consumption of low-quality wine and beer, and a wonderful sing-along to Old Crow Medicine Show's Wagon Wheel. To me, and apparently to several other of the Americans in the group, nothing says a bit of home like some Old Crow. Hellva night. 

We managed to explore parts of the medina in the morning, and catch our 11am train. Sadly, no fruit cars or carriages were to be found, only trains and grand taxis back to our "real" life. 

The mural on the wall actually has Arabic poetry on it- Amazing!

The beach lookout- nearby there was a man with a monkey, and woman in a traditional jellaba, and a sweets seller

This trip was one of the most amazing I'd ever been on- the places, the people, the shenanigans. Future trips on the docket include camels in the desert, possibly a Bob Dylan concert in London, and my winter break Eurotrek. Check back soon for more details!