Ceuta Recap

Spent a lovely weekend in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, a peninsula jutting out into the Mediterranean...

We left immediately after school on Thursday afternoon. The train ride was hotter than hades, probably around 110 degrees (F). But think about it: sitting inside a metal box in the middle of the desert in the 'dead' of summer?? Stifling. Especially when the train randomly makes 45 minute rest stops for no apparent reason. Still, we had lots of fun listening to Sarah's ipod and of course making new Moroccan friends with whom to practice Arabic. Leslie met some people from Meknes who offered to give us a tour of their city sometime soon.

I enjoyed taking in the beautiful green countryside dotted with tiny villages, minarets peeking out; families working the fields togeter, women in djellaba and full hijab; donkeys pulling ploughs; lone shepherds tending flocks; impromptu soccer games. Community.

We caught a grand taxi for the 2 hour ride from Tangier to Ceuta. Gorgeous scenery: mountains that drop down to the oh-so-blue Mediterranean. After random drama and money changing annoyances, we *finally* arrived in Ceuta at midnight, 12 hours after we departed. (Well, it is 2 hours ahead :)

WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS:
*the boat ride around the peninsula

*the half-day hike Sarah and I took around the edge of the peninsula: cliffs plunging into the sea, villas seeming to dangle precariously off the cliffs, remote beaches, waves crashing on the rocks, people splashing in the tide

*collecting sea glass on a remote beach

*the scrumptious seafood dinner we had in honor of Sarah's 21st birthday!

*people-watching at the feria