Morocco and Semana Santa

Hola!! It's been so long! A lot has happened since my last post... went to Morocco for 6 days, enjoyed the festivities of Semana Santa for a couple days, and now... back to school and papers and exams.

But first - Morocco. What an incredible experience. It was crazy - we took a ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar and BOOM! We were in Africa. Ha ha. :) My favorite part was the time we spent in the Sahara Desert. We rode camels out into the desert and camped out in tents next to this giant dune. When we got to our set-up, we climbed that giant dune to watch the sun set. That night we listened to the Berbers (the natives) play the drums and danced a bit. We slept outside, and I woke up in the middle of the night and looked at the sky - the moon had set, so it was pitch black with only the clear stars to light to night. I really have no words to describe how beautiful it was. The next morning some of us woke up early and climbed the dune again - this time to watch the sunrise over the border of Algeria. It was simply amazing.

And of course, I have to mention the food - Moroccan food is fantastic! I discovered I really like dates (they have them in all kinds of dishes), almonds, and apricots. The most delicious dish was a meal called pastilla - a flaky pastry filled with chicken and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Mmmm. I'm going to learn how to make it (hopefully!).

I took about 300 pictures in Morocco, so I don't think I can post them all up here... but I'll put up a couple favorites. :)

After returning from Morocco, it was Semana Santa here! Semana Santa is a week-long holiday leading up to Easter (although they don't really celebrate Easter here). There are all kinds of processions (we called them "paseos") - it's basically a giant fiesta for the city. Thousands of people come to see the processions, so it's crazy-crowded. But it was a ton of fun and Ruth even came to visit from England!

Wellll, I think I'll leave you with some pictures of my favorite week here so far, because I should probably go write a paper or something like that. ;)