Ok so you would think I would have learned by now. We went out for tapas at 930 at my hostal here in Granada and our fun little group didnt get back home until 630. I went to bed but than woke up at 8 as my roommates got up and I couldnt get back to sleep. Oh I am so tired, but I did have a really good time. So much for getting caught up on my rest and getting rid of my cold. How could I resist, tapas, drinks, cute guys, and dancing. I have a strange keyboard again so dont mind my lack of punctuation I just cant get certain symbols to work, for example the @ symbol you have to do Alt 64, how would you ever in a million years know how to do that. I have so many good pics to share I wish I could get them out so everyone could see them. Last nights pics are hilarious, really good. I enjoy the group pics of my new friends, I look young, tan, happy, and pretty. It is so funny because one of the last pics was at the dance club at 6 in the morning and I look happy and refreshed. Lack of responsibilty works well for me I guess. This whole experience has been really good for me. I discovered Tinto Verano summer wine and it is sneaky as it tastes like juice. I handled my drinking well but some of the guys in our group didnt there was a cute Australian guy Shane that I was hanging out with, he kept jumping next to me as someone was taking a pic and making faces. I said you are ruining a nice pic so either look normal or stay out of the pics. I know I am so charming, he seemed to enjoy my attitude as he kept buying me drinks, I said I dont want to drink anymore and just gave the drinks away to my new friends. We got to the dance club around 4 and by that time I was just buzzed as I had cut myself off but Shane kept just pounding the drinks, we had been talking a bit and I couldnt understand what he was doing, I told him he was going to get sick. He said he was nervous to dance, I said you will look more foolish throwing up or passing out than dancing funny. I went and was dancing with Cameron the other Aussie that I had gone hiking with that morning and his girlfriend for that day Rachel. Shane stayed up at the bar drinking. Long story short poor Rachel ends up taking Adam another drunk in our group back home to the hostel, he couldnt even walk. I said to Cameron why dont you help her with Adam, he said oh shes fine, lets dance. Cameron and Rachel had been making out and seemed close and he didnt help her, jerk. So we dance with our big group, I go up to the bar later and check on Shane he has made a new friend Shaun who introduces me to his girlfriend and as soon as she goes to the bathroom proceedes to hit on me. Dumb men, I tell you I have had so many examples of bad ways that men can act. He says I really love my girlfriend but I like you, your pretty, and starts petting my hair, than says I shouldnt touch you I have a girlfriend, I laugh and move away from him and let him buy me a red bull. I am not attracted to him and say Hey Shaun, he leans in eagerly, and I say could you not spit on me when you are talking. Yes I am charming but somehow it seems to work. Shane of course gets sick and we have to help him home all of which I document with pics. I didnt help much I have no patience for men that cant hold their alcohol, Aussie men are known to be drinkers. Cameron and Shane are both big guys and Cameron was fine after drinking a lot. So when I will share those pics with you so now you will know the story behind it. This morning Shane was in the common room when I came down and I showed him the pics he couldnt remember anything. He was embarrased, such is hostal life.
Back to the Morroco story, so we were walking the streets of Fes with the drug dealers and prostitutes trying to find a room we went to at least 20 hotels and they all say Complete, which means full. We all came to hate that word by the end of the night. Finally we go to a fancy place and all they have left is a suite, Jeremy and I go up and look at it, it is beautiful and huge. It will be 25 euro each but Elisa wants to keep on looking, I say I am staying here, I am not walking those streets anymore, and offer to pay for her as I dont want her out there either. She is hard headed and stubborn like me, but she begrudgingly gives in, refuses my offer and pays for herself and we all go up to the room. We were just frustrated because we thought we would be able to save money by coming to Morroco but it didnt work out that way. At that point that evening I wanted to live more than I was worried about money. I took pics of the room but we were all so wiped out we collapsed into sleep. I had horrible very realistic nightmares that woke me up trying to catch my breath. So even though I was exhausted I did not get a good rest. The next day we got up and went to a great little cafe and had a delicious breakfast. We met a really nice guy that lived in Fes who was from Washington DC he gave us all sorts of tips about the town and the history. We went to old town were there is a section of souks and we got a student guide that took us around for hours. The men in Morroco are horrible, extremely obvious in how they look at you sexually and will walk close behind you and do this hissing sound, it creeped me out. You get used to the staring it is just the horrible intent behind it, it is scary and exhausting, they will grab themselves while looking at you, just disrespectful. We wandered around the Souk for hours up and down, it was extremely crowded and you were constantly squeezing by people, scared someone is going to steal something. The good part was that night we were in a big square just hanging out and there were a bunch of kids and they always ask for money. The guys went and played soccer with some of the kids and Elisa and I sat down with the little girls. They were fascinated with us and wanted money, I gave them some sweets that I had and they were thrilled. That was a nice time and I was impressed at how good Daniel was with the kids, he was an art teacher so it figures but I find it very appealing. I planned to go to Marrakesh with Daniel and had even bought my ticket for that evening but I got feeling really sick so I really didnt want to be sick in Morroco so I exchanged my ticket at the last minute and went back with Elisa. Our train trip from Fes to Tangier was horrible, smashed for 6 hours between these gross men, it was so bad. The best part of our trip was when we got to Tangier before we caught our ferry Elisa and I went to a Turkish bath or what is called a Hammam. It was an amazing experience. We were the only non native people there and basically you go into this big room that is full of steam and hot water, buckets full of the hot water which you use to wash. A woman comes and uses a loofah mit and scrubs you down, I thought it might be a little awkward as I havent done anything like that before but it was wonderful and nurturing. The women were such a huge contrast to the men in this society, they were curious about us as we looked different but so kind and welcoming. You lay there and they wash you scrubbing layers of dead skin off your entire body, they also wash your hair, you feel like a little kid being taken care of by your mom. It was lovely, it was the cleanest I have ever felt in my life, I just glowed afterwards. I would do it all the time if I could. We arrive back in Tarifa that night after the Hammam and make a huge thing of spaghetti, inhale the food and fall into a dead sleep. I am awakened by two guys arriving in our room around 1 in the morning. I get out of bed to go to the bathroom, I reek of garlic, and my hair looks like a troll doll as when my hair was washed in the hamam I hadnt put any product in it before it dried and anyone with curly hair knows what that looks like. They are staring at me apologizing for waking me up, by the way they are gorgeous, and I just smiled and said no its ok we are just trying to recover from going to Morroco, and I collapse back into bed. Their names are Alex and Mateus and they are really funny, they are from Germany and Sweden, oh their accents... Alex has a shirt on that says Here I am Now what are your other two wishes. They arent exactly shy, the next day a group of us all hang out in the hostal in the common room just talking, lots of cute guys in our hostal, surfers, mmmmm. We all have great conversation, Mateus is reading a book about how to pick up women, like I said none of these guys would be the type you would think need help, he tells us about the book and says to me women are complicated, men are not, you just ask us and we will say yes to coming home with you.. Several of the other guys have read the book too and we all talk about it. They quote things from the book, one is doing magic tricks or card tricks, Mateus does several for me, thrilled at my participation in his game, one of the lines is You have pretty eyes can I touch them. The premise is smart to be different and make a woman laugh which is always a good thing. So I end up getting sick for the next couple days, Elisa had to leave the next day so it is me in the room with them. They want me to go out with them, they sit on my bed say why do you sleep so much, I say I told you I am sick. I look like crap dont shower for days as I am trying to recover from so many nights without sleep and my cold. They go out every night and come back at night drunk and fight with each other in their underwear, seeing how many punches they each could take from each other in the shoulders, they are so silly, not a bad view for me but after a couple nights the novelty has worn off. Yes I got pics.. They say to me what are you doing, want to see a card trick, can I touch your pretty eyes, I say go to sleep, get off my bed, I am sleeping, at this point I think of them as amusing brothers, hot of course but just silly and fun. They are totally high maintenance using more lotions and hair products than I do. Another girl is staying in our room on my last night and I watch with amusement as they do their little tricks when they get home drunk that morning. Her face is so funny, full of shock at their silliness with each other that night,amazing what you can just get used to. I went out with the group my last night in Tarifa and a group of us walked on the beach it was clear and beautiful at 2 in the morning, you could see the stars sparkling and the lights of Morroco were very visible and looked magical across the water, than ate pizza and gelato to soak up the alcohol and went home. So this is a totally condensed version but I think somewhat caught up to the current. It is so weird one of the guys Ryan, I met in Tarifa who is from Portand, just arrived in Granada at my hostal. In Tarifa after I had spoken with him a bit about Morroco and both being from Portland, he asked if I was going out that night, I said no I am sick, he grabbed my hand and put it on his chest and says you are breaking my heart. Can I remind you all that at this point I had worn ans slept in the same clothes for days and not showered, my hair was still troll like, this trip has been eye opening and good for my ego I must say. I am leaving Granada tomorrow on an overnight train to Barcelona, transferring to a train to Genoa, Italy staying for a couple nights to go to Cinque Terra, and then going on to Rome before going to Sardinia the 21st. I cant believe now how fast time is going and I dont want to do my course on May 7th as there are so many more places I want to travel. I am now off for another fun day.
