Today, because I was sick, we only worked a half a day at the school. So Barbara and I decided to make the most of it and headed out of town to Volubilis! (I’m going to be such a great nurse..)
If you don’t know anything about Morocco, you should know that this was the original capitol city. It was founded and constructed during the Roman Empire, or in 3rd century BC (so like…really old). For around 900 years, people occupied the city, but eventually it was left abandoned, and all that’s left are the ruins.
Barbara has a friend that lives in Casablanca, and he hired a driver to get us out there. We were very tentative to get in the car at first…The driver pulled up, shook our hand, and pointed to his car, where we saw another man sitting there. We asked who he was, and apparently Barbie’s friend hired a translator as well. But Barbie trusted her friend and his judgement, so we slowly got in, making sure our phones were in our hands, ready to dial any one at a moment’s notice.
Barbie pulled up her GPS to make sure they were taking us the right direction, and when they did, we eased up a bit.
We first drove along the beach in Rabat. It is so beautiful and blue..
And (after having a naughty lunch by purchasing some greasy McDonald’s) we drove through the country to get to Meknes.
Our driver pulled over several times asking for directions. Apparently, Volubilis isn’t very well known to the locals here in Morocco. Finally, we reached our destination, jumped out of the car, and raced to the entrance.
We refused a stubborn tour guide and went on our way, exploring the ruins on our own.
Then we got silly…
“Does this make me look sexy??” No, Mary Jane. Quirkyness doesn’t equal sexyness, sadly 😦
“Take a picture of me jumping!!”
Eventually we attracted some attention, and a couple of lovely women from Pennsylvania pulled us aside to get a picture with us.
“We want to take you home!”
It was a pretty successful day, apart from the being-scared-we’re-going-to-get-kidnapped thing. Aaaanndd…Also getting pulled over at a toll because of speeding, which the driver so skillfully took care of with 200MAD. Morocco, right? I’d get arrested if I ever tried that in the States!
Mary Jane xx
ps. my Sahara post soon to come! (:
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Fierce and Freckled 