“You have a HUGE mosquito bite. No I’m kidding you don’t have one. Waiiiiit. Actually, don’t freak out but you do, but really, it’s not that big.”

Reaching into the vault for this story as I’ll be posting to entertain both myself and anyone reading during self-quarantine.

It was day one in Morocco with OnFleek Travel, the people who became some of our very best friends over the past two months. 

We were in Chefchaouen, Morocco. Remember that. 

The entire town is blue. Blue stairs, blue houses, blue walls. They painted everything blue to keep the temperature cool and keep the mosquitoes out. Immediately upon arriving, I wanted to paint Fayetteville blue. It felt like I tumbled into another world, a fantasy land. 

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Also, Morocco, while only hours away from Sevilla by ferry and bus, was very different. It felt like we had traveled halfway across the world. We walked through meat markets where we saw live chickens killed when they were purchased and full lamb heads sitting on tables. On our way to Morocco, our friend from Sevilla, Jesús, whose second language is English, said very confidently that he was “ticklish with the Moroccan food.” We were stitched with laughter, until we realized he meant picky.

Then, I learned my favorite Spanish word: tiquismiquis. It means picky in Spanish. From then on, any food we didn’t like was labeled “ticklish”.

We also had wonderful dinner entertainment with street performers and a man who balanced candles on his head while doing flips and spins. 

I listened to “Morocco” by Moon Taxi on repeat (shoutout Hunt Wasden) and loved walking through the narrow blue alleys. I would gaze in wonder at the Arabic letters, wondering how our languages are so different and marveling at how big the world is. 

Clothing was important in Chefchaouen for the ~Instagram~. We were told to wear colors that stand out against the blue, for example: yellow. So, Hallie wore a yellow dress with black tights and a black turtleneck. I wore a white, short-sleeved shirt. 

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 When we got back to the hotel, Hallie asked me to check her back and arms for bug bites she had been recently itching. As a great friend (who loves to play a prank) I said: “Oh wow they’re HUGE!! No, I’m kidding you don’t have one.”

Then: “Waiiiiit. Actually, don’t freak out, but you do, but really, it’s not that big.”

It was actually big. But HOW did Hallie get bit by a mosquito while wearing a turtleneck, tights and a dress, and I didn’t? 

Panic ensued. Hallie was immediately convinced she had malaria, and, therefore, only a few hours to live. I was so tickled from her string of frantic commentary about malaria, Africa, immediate death and her last words to her family that I couldn’t help. All I could do was recommend for her to Google it. 

CHEFCHAOUEN. THE ONLY PLACE IN MOROCCO WITH MALARIA. WE WERE THERE. 

Now Hallie was certain. Malaria. 

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I’ll never forget the next moments. I couldn’t stop laughing (I know it’s bad, I’m sorry Hallie if you’re reading this), but we googled everything. Is there a cure for malaria? When do the symptoms show up? What is the treatment plan? Where in Sevilla can you be tested for Malaria? How much are flights back to Sevilla tonight? I set an alarm for 4 days later, when the symptoms were supposed to show, just to be sure.

All of our friends who worked for OnFleek told Hallie she needed to see a doctor ASAP, and that she would probably not make it. A joke, of course, but it felt real because here are the bug bites:

Okay, I’m just realizing how big they actually were….

Anyway. We had a dance party that night. We danced a little harder because it was “Hallie’s Last Night.” A random Moroccan man crowd surfed from the stage, we talked Jesús into singing Anaconda on the bus microphone, and since it was Elena’s birthday, she had to give a speech where she announced to the entire group that Hallie had malaria. 

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For the hard time we gave her, I’m really glad she doesn’t have it. And, now that she doesn’t have malaria, the story becomes funny (except I might have thought it was funny the whole time …) Ultimately, we think the mosquito was in the hotel room because we found one that night. However, because we avoided one epidemic, we’re hoping we can now avoid the pandemic. 

We are very ticklish with Malaria.