First off I would like to say thank you for all of the prayers for my trip to Morocco. Other than missing a bus and having to purchase a new ticket once back in Spain everything went very smoothly. I did not encounter any issues with my passport coming back into Spain and am now "legally" here for another 90 days. Mission accomplished!
The bus I was taking left for Morocco at 515am Wednesday morning. This was a two and half hour ride from Torremolinos to Algeciras Spain. In Algeciras you take a half an hour shuttle to Tarifa Spain where you actually take the ferry across to Morocco. Once in Tarifa the shuttle drops you off roughly a mile from the port so I also got a nice walk in that morning. After all of this there is a relaxing 40 minute ride on the ferry into the port of Tangier.
Once in Tangier I was greeted by Helen who is a missionary there and whom I was staying with. Helen and her two roomates live in the old part of Tangier so it was very interesting to weave through all of the tiny cobblestone streets taking in the sites. We first went by the house to drop my bag off then headed to Le Creche or the orphanage. The children there range from infants to about 16 years old. On this particular morning we were helping care for the infants, about 20 of them. We spent time holding and playing with them, then helped with feeding time and diaper changes before putting them down for naps. Of course I fell in love with all of them! On Thursday we headed back to the orphanage this time hoping to take some of the babies and older kids out for a walk. Helen has been trying very hard to get the children out more, but is never sure if these outings will be okayed or not. Thankfully we were able to bring 3 babies and 3 older children out on a walk. It was myself, Helen, a young German girl and a French couple who are adopting a little boy that walked with the kids. This, for me, was such an eye opening experience.
As we began our walk I was holding the hand of Ismeal, a little boy who I think was around 4 or 5 years old. He was trying with all his might at some points to get his hand out of mine so he could take off running. At other points he would stop dead in his tracks and stare in awe of something as simple as a car driving by. This is when I realized how little these children get out of the orphanage and why these walks are so coveted by Helen. It is something so simple that is all to often taken for granted all over the place. We walked the kids to a park where we played for about 30 minutes then headed back to the orphanage for lunch time. Again Helen and I headed upstairs with the babies to help with feeding and getting them down for naps. Just these few short hours spent at the orphanage those two mornings was the highlight of my time in Morocco. I felt tremendously blessed to have the opportunity to spend time with and love on these kids!
The rest of my time mostly consisted of checking out Tangier. I was able to see the old city, which I was staying in, as well as some of the new city. It is truly like two different worlds colliding together! I enjoyed my time in Tangier, but was also happy to be heading back to Spain. There was definitely a lot of culture shock being in Morocco. On Friday morning I got back on the ferry to Spain and upon arrival was given my new passport stamp which this whole trip was for.
Thank you again for the prayers for my travel and renewing my visa. Until the next update, Adios!
