Africa
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YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS BEFORE YOU VOLUNTEER IN A SCHOOL IN AFRICA
Chaos. 49 children, between 2 to 4 years old in one classroom. Only 6 are sitting down, the other 43 let their inner wild animal out. 4 are getting under the carpet while 2 are jumping on top of it. 3 are hanging out the windows; 1 of them is throwing chalk out to the garden. 5 are taking turns climbing the tables and jumping to the floor. One landed on a girl that started crying. 4 boys are moving the furniture against the wall, while 3 boys are fighting for a tennis ball. 2 boys are drawing lines across the board; another 2 are erasing what I had written.…
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MOSHI TRAIN STATION – Where Time Stopped
“Moshi has a train station?! But there are no trains here!” 2 weeks into my time in Moshi, a town in the north of Tanzania, I found out about the existence of a train station. And as it has turned out, it became my favorite place in Moshi. With the sumptuous Kilimanjaro as a backdrop, it is a place to sit in peace, a place where time stopped and where
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A Tanzanian Town and the Tanzanian People – from a Mzungo’s perspective
“Mambo” “Poa” “Hujambo” “Sijambo” “Habari” “Mzuri” “Karibu” “Asante” This was the daily introduction conversation exchanged with strangers on the streets of Tanzania. For the first two weeks living here, my brain couldn’t think quick enough and countless times I ended up answering the wrong thing. The locals would laugh at my clumsiness trying to correct myself with another wrong answer! At times it felt like the locals were testing how much Swahili did I speak, which was pretty much just about it. Tanzanian people are super friendly, curious and always happy to
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Meet my camel… Kammy!
For those of you who are thinking that I got a deal and swapped my boyfriend for a camel, the answer is no. Hahah But Kammy is very charming! Every time he gets up I fear I’m going to land on my face, so I have to lean back firmly because when he stands up with the back legs first, he throws me forward before I am thrown up in the air. And he is pretty tall! 20km from the Algerian border, in the Erg Chebbi Dunes in Sahara desert, our berber guide ties the camels to each other in a line and guides the first camel with the others following him. We are…
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Camels on the road!!!!
As morning broke my sleepy eyes were greeted with a surprise as I looked out of our window, our Riad was located next to the massive wall of a mountain. When we arrived last night it was pitch black and we couldn’t see much beyond the Riad, so I was shocked to see such an impressive sight in the daylight. Oh it is time! Ibrahim welcome us with a big smile! Quickly we get back on the road, today is the second day of our road trip to the desert! After a brief stop at the monkey finger’s mountain and looking over the big city of Tinghir, we approach the Todra Gorge. It is…
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On the way to the desert I found a Disney city…
On the way to the desert there are mountains to be crossed, middle-of-no-where-roadside-persistent vendors to face, movie-sets to explore, nomadic berber families to meet, their camels to adore, a few quite big cities built in the middle of a deserted land to pass, a night in a countryside riad, more tangine to eat and moroccan tea to drink… among others. It is a 600km journey divided in 2 days, driven by our guide Ibrahim, whose favorite phrase is: “No problem!” (in his moroccan accent!) Love it! “Do you want to stop here? No problem!” Ibrahim says. We left Marrakech 3 hours ago and we are now passing through a little village that…
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Streets of Marrakech
In the dusty streets of Marrakech checking twice to cross the road isn’t enough. You even have to watch yourself on the side walks as motorbikes and donkey chariots move on to it to skip the traffic jam.
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Once upon a time, a Sultan…
Once upon a time, a Moroccan Sultan was murdered as he was planning an alliance against the Ottomans (the Turkish Empire). His son, Abdallah al-Ghalib, took over and was planning to eliminate his own brothers too, so they had to run away under protection of the Ottoman Empire, their names were Al-Malik and Al-Mansur. After 17 years al Ghalib died and his son Abdallah Mohammed took over the power. His sultanate only lasted for 2 years as his uncle al-Malik returned with the help of Ottoman forces and conquered the Moroccan throne. Mohammed was feeling lost but he wasn’t going to give up on the throne so easily! So he went…
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Marrakech – Jemaa El Fna
What a vibrant square, Jemaa El Fna! At day light there are a considerable amount of orange stalls to choose from, acrobatics, fortune tellers, henna painters, little monkeys, snake charmers, people walking trying to sell you glasses, mobile phones, paints, …; people who just wonder and people who just stare and if you are lucky you will also find a man who uses a scale to make his business (bless him!). One of the best ways to observe the square is to find a seat in one of the many panoramic restaurants around the square… and well, we are hungry! We entered a busy one, called Snack N’Zaha and climbed to…
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Souks, the Art of Bargaining
Michael grabs my arm to push me to the side. I turn around and the motorbike speeds so close to us, I could actually smell the sweat of the driver. The streets in the Souks couldn’t be any smaller and despite some signs forbidding the traffic of motorbikes and cyclists, the rule doesn’t seem to apply to Moroccans. I think if cars could fit, they would drive short cuts through the souks too. You even find donkeys walking these alleyways, with or without carriages, stocked up as high as it is possible to balance. Lorena, our host in the first Riad, said she has been knocked down a few times on these streets. Gotta…
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Riad: heaven in a chaotic city!
Hmmm… my taste buds are happy with the warmth of this fresh home-made moroccan bread. All the hassle from last night is forgotten and we are looking forward to exploring the streets, but first we walk around the Riad… Why should you stay in a Riad whilst visiting Marrakech? What’s so magic about it?! … Our first Riad is called Dar Eliane, right in the middle of the souks and near the fruit market. 10 minutes walking distance from the main square Jemaa El-Fna. Despite being difficult to find at first, it has a very central location in the Medina. Our host was lovely Lorena, she is spanish and also speaks…
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Marrakech – we arrived! HELP!
– Follow me!!! – But the taxi driver said to turn right… – No no, your hotel is this way! We look at each other, the taxi driver didn’t quite know where was the Riad but refused to let us go when we said we would find another driver and acted like he knew. Then dropped us here and told us to turn right at the end of this street. Now this tall man, dressed with a long dirty vest, came out of nowhere, literally grabbed the paper with the address of the Riad from our hands and started showing us the way to the left… It’s night time, the…
