Ifrane
With each rotation made by the wheels on the bus, Ifrane seemed to get colder and colder but with all the excitement (and gallons of pee) building up inside me, we couldn't have been travelling at a slower pace. You see, ever since I applied for this scholarship to Morocco, I've been hooked on this particular school. It's an American type school where the students have the option of being taught in English and they offer pretty awesome courses! I was told that we were GUARANTEED a tour of the school when we went to Ifrane, so just try to imagine for a second the "OMG!!! OMG!!!! OMG!!!!! kind of excitement that was bubbling up in this tiny little body of mine.
I could hardly contain myself when, after sitting in this bus FOREVER, I saw the school's sign. Destiny a-hoy!
Ok... now try to imagine me fighting to contain my rage when the buses just stopped outside and NOBODY was getting off the bus and heading to the entrance :S... Including the person who confirmed that "Yes, this tour will happen, for sure!"
Yep! ( That's to confirm that if you guessed I was lied to once again, you are 100% correct). Could you believe this? Had I not slept well the night before, I would have gone bonkers on "the ones who shall not be named" but I just pouted a bit, held my tongue and tried to stay calm. Apparently, their request to see the school was not granted (if a request was made at all) and when they decided to roll up with one hundred of us to this school, the request was doubly denied or... you get the picture.
Now this is where things start to get juicy - for lack of a better word.
After having felt the rejection of the decade, we sauntered down to the Centre Ville in Ifrane. I don't know what it was, but I seemed to attract a ton of attention there. First, I'm standing with my friends and this group of adolescent arab girls pass by wanting to touch my hair and take my picture. Being the paranoid person I am, I refused. Then again, had they been polite, I would not have been so ready to decline. Then they proceeded to touch my hair... or so I was told. My friend saw it happen but I didn't feel it. I was probably too busy trying to decide what I wanted to eat...
THEN...
My friend Janene and I had to go back to the bus because she wasn't in the mood to deal with the cold. On our way back, I (the one whose internal compass is outta wack) passed the bus unknowingly... taking poor Janene with me. Big mistake. We're "cornered" by a group of teenage arab boys. My spidey senses knew that something was about to go down. Luckily, the disappointment from not being able to see the school and having to still be on that hell ride that was my tour bus had me jammed with fumes ready to be released. I was ready for a fight.
So these boys surround us and start shouting things at us in arabic. Ok, that may sound a little dramatic but they were intimidating none the less. They didn't speak much french so I couldn't figure out what in this world they were saying BUT I am an excellent reader of facial expressions and other forms of body language and I tell you, they were up to no good, those boys!
Janene's mad, I'm PISSED and an argument begins. They wanted to take our picture, we refused...they couldn't take a hint though! I mean, NO is pretty universal. They kept following us as we tried to find our bus. Touching my hair, trying to hold on to us and getting on every last nerve I ever had. Then I did it... I had to do it... I shouted at them. Now I don't usually do this but come on, it was necessary in this situation... wasn't it? Janene even had to push one boy against the bus when he wouldn't get out of the way and the polite request for him to "excuse" himself didn't work. Sounds scary doesn't it? I'm only 5 ft and a few inches but I was definitely about to get my Hulk on. It would have been an unfair challenge for them... hehehehe.
So we finally get past those annoying boys (who took the liberty to taunt us on the outside of the bus window) and we're greeted with even more amazing news. Our great trip planners need for us to pay extra money to go to the mountains because there was absolutely no snow anywhere else in Ifrane. Now if I'm wrong, you can say it to yourself as you read this but if you're planning a trip on the premise of seeing snow... shouldn't you be sure that there lies the possibility of this being able to come to pass? I mean, check a weather report! If there was ABSOLUTELY no snow a week before the trip in January wouldn't you think that it was time to start thinking about informing your travelers that the trip will have to be taken a step further (to the mountains) so that the necessary finances can be arranged before. What if we all decided to leave our purses at home? What would have happened? We would have been disappointed for the billionth time in two days! I tell you, these people hold records in my books.
Now focusing on the better parts of this fiasco of a trip... I am proud to report that I was able to overcome my fear of horses. Prior to this, I was pretty terrified of the idea of getting too close to a horse or even worse, riding one! Yep! I, Den Whyte, opted to not only take a picture with the horse but to actually go for a ride xD.
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| How excited do I look? |
All in all, I enjoyed being on the road with my friends and although I will never be taking this particular trip again, I'm pretty glad I did. I got to see what Morocco is like outside of Rabat and I got to eat some of the best croissants ever!!!! I also learned some very valuable lessons, when I visit these towns again, I will definitely be taking the train and some music! Now a few more pics from the trip to Ifrane:
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| Onica joined me on the horses! |
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| Me winning the snowball fight :D |
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| Guess who? |
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