Why, Royal Air Morocco? For the love of god, WHY?!?!

Arriving in morocco...what a joy. We got off the plane and we were quite joyful to finally have made it to north africa. Especially after all the crap we had to deal with in the madrid airport. So I was looking forward to seeing alyson (finally), taking a shower, and eating couscous. Oh, how I love thee, couscous!!!

Before we could do any of the aforementioned things, we had to first get our luggage. We happened to be on the same flight as 2 of the other people who got screwed on the flight the day before. So we waited with them, and 2 other people coming in from madrid, at the luggage carousel. We waited and waited and waited. Finally, the realization that a nonmoving carousel probably meant that there was no luggage coming, hit. We went to the lost luggage office and we were informed that our luggage had not arrived, but would probably come in on a later flight. Were we surprised? No. Even more defeated? Yes.

We were told to call back after 7 and if it had arrived, we could come back and get it. We left the airport in complete disillusionment; Dreams of a shower and not smelling like an old trashcan quickly fading into an abyss. We then took a bus to go meet alyson in the city center. Despite the feeling of utmost futility, I was able to take in some of the beauty that is morocco. Marrakesh is surrounded by gorgeous mountains and many of the buildings are reddish colors that seem to blend into one another. There was also a gorgeous mosque on the horizon as we entered the terra-cotta colored wall surrounding the medina, or city center, of marrakesh.

Seeing this beauty was quite inspiring and reminded me of how great it was just to be there, with or without luggage. And the greatest part was that as soon as we got off the bus, alyson was there! And how happy were we to finally see eachother!

We got situated in our riad, which is a hostel that is outdoors facing a fountain in the middle. It was quite beautiful, but freezing cold. I was soon to learn that indoor heat does not exist in morocco. We walked around the medina and just took it all in. I will expand more about this later when I actually upload pictures. I am not sure words alone can capture the zany magnificence that is marrakesh.

P.S. We finally did get our luggage later on in the evening. The guy who helped us did not answer the phone when we called at 7. Surprise, surprise. So we went down there and took matters into our own hands. Yet again, we received absolutely no help from the fine folks that make up iberia/royal air morocco. Am I bitter? Just a little. Am I over it, yet? Almost.