MOROCCO: MARRAKECH & ESSAOUIRA

Friday, March 6th

After almost two years, Nick I were finally returning to Marrakech to redo our first trip. The previous trip, I didn't feel well after the first two days and spent most of my time near a restroom. I wasn't going to let that happen again! This time we only had 3 days, but we were going to: shop for a beni ourain rug in the souks, ride a quad in the desert, and ride a camel on the beach. I also talked Nick into the trip by promising him he could kite board when we were at the beach. 

The photo is a little fuzzy through the dirty airplane window, but below on the right was Spain and the tip of Gibraltar. On the left, you can see Morocco and a whole different continent! Pretty amazing!

We were back!

When we landed we waited for about an hour to go through customs. There was a tall, blonde woman that must have been a celebrity. She got to cut everyone. I was more impressed that she was about 6 inches taller than me!

Our driver, Eunice, was there to pick us up and take us to Riad Agdim. He was complaining that it was too hot in Marrakech. It definitely felt warmer than Italy, but it didn't feel that hot to me. I was pleasantly surprised, since our last trip was at the end of April and it was sweltering.

When we got out of our wild toad ride to our Riad, Tarik was there to greet us. He got a boy with a cart to help us with our luggage. It was pretty hysterical watching him try to navigate the cart though the tiny lanes of the souks.

We were shown our room in our beautiful Riad, and then Tarik gave us some very helpful information and some mint tea. It's so good! The moroccans really know hospitality. They will practically give you the shirt off their back when you visit them.

The first thing I wanted to do was find Art Akhnif. Friends of ours had bought rugs from them on our last visit and were very satisfied with their purchases and the prices. After getting lost several times in the souks, we finally found it!! (Actually, Nick found it) I could have cried, I was so happy to see them again. I had been dreaming of that moment since we had left almost two years ago. 

We didn't waste much time. We caught up; they asked about our family, we asked about theirs and then they brought out the rugs! (One funny side note - Art was interested in telling us about his religion and how when a man is wealthy enough he can have several wives. I think my eyes were as wide as the size of China.) 

It didn't take Nick and I long to decide. They showed us about 10 rugs and we were stuck on 2 that we liked. Originally, we were only going to buy one, but we liked both of them! 

Nick worked his bartering magic. We paid for two 7x10 rugs (and a pillow case) for $900. We were so excited! We thought we got a pretty good deal.

Warning: Another Ryanair story - I had purchased two checked bags for our return flight. The weight limits were 20kg and 15kg. The rugs actually weighed 18kg and 15kg. It was perfect!! I had to laugh. Nick told me not to buy extra bags for the return flight because he wanted to put the rug(s) in his kiteboarding bag. His kiteboarding bag had a weight limit of 20kg for the flight. His bag actually weighed 20kg. That meant there was literally NO extra weight he could have carried for ANY souvenirs. But, "mama didn't raise no foo." I bought the bags ahead of time when we originally purchased the plane tickets, which meant we weren't charged an arm and a leg for bringing two rugs back with us. You're welcome:) That could have ended horribly, and could have been yet another terrible Ryanair story; however, I know how their system works and I don't fight it. That is key! And end of story. :) Back to the rugs...

I totally forgot to get a picture of our rugs! (Ours are in wrapped in the background) They laid out this rug, so we could get another photo op. 

It's hard to tell, but he had a Buzzard squadron sticker on his desk! And that was the only sticker he had on it! How cool is that?!

Another side note: After all of this negotiating we actually didn't have any money to give Art. We tried a few different ATM's, but we couldn't withdraw any money. Art informed us that it's often not because the card, but because the ATM just doesn't have any cash! Ha! I've never heard of that. He took Nick to get cash out of a different ATM and it worked!

A man showed up with a cart to take our rugs back to our Riad. The men at Art Ahknif paid him, and we were off. I ran ahead to get this photo. The old man was so happy...at first.

We got lost a few times on our way back. The old man was not happy about it. We didn't speak the same language but I could tell he was complaining to anyone and everyone that would listen. When we returned to our Riad he wanted more money for having taken the photo. We gave him a Euro, and he stood there and complained and complained in Arabic. Tarik, the man from our Riad, finally sent him off. Ha! 

That night we relaxed and had dinner at our Riad. They made a tomato salad, eggplant salad, and a beef tajine with apricot. It was so delicious. Afterward, we headed out into the square to see all the excitement. Every night, there are hundreds of booths selling food. I've never been brave enough to try it because the food isn't always cooked to our standards. 

It was an hour earlier in Morocco than in Italy. We both hit the sack by 10pm. It had been a long but successful day of traveling. 

Saturday, March 7th

After a good 9 hours of sleep (even Nick!) we were ready for a new day! 

We had a delicious breakfast made and served to us by Tarik that included: crepes with honey, a chocolate croissant, mint tea, coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice. A great way to start the day!

At 9am, a man from the Marrakesh Quad Evasion should up at our Riad. We walked about 15 minutes through the souks to his van. A man yelled at him for about 5 minutes when we got into the van. Apparently, the police had just towed the car parked in front of him, and they had almost taken his van as well, but the man talked them out of it. Yikes! That was a close call!

We drove half an hour outside of the center to a run-down shack. It looked a bit sketchy, but there were dozens of quads. We were definitely in the right place. The last and only other quad I've ridden was in Greece. It was a measly 50cc quad. This quad was over 300cc. It was so much more powerful! We test drove it for about a minute, and then we were off. Our guide was in front of me, and Nick was behind me. I was so grateful the guide had given me ski goggles because there was SO much dust from his quad. 

This was about 20 minutes into the ride. My right thumb, which was holding down the gas button, was killing me! I thought for sure I was have huge thumb muscles after this ride. 

It's hard to tell, but we were COVERED in dirt.

Do you see the brown lines on my face? Nick was laughing because he thought it looked like I had chocolate all over my face. :)

Also, it's hard to see but the Atlas mountains are in the background.

Our guide took us over to a small farm house. I felt so bad walking in their house because I was so dirty! 

I walked around the house (with permission) to take some photos.

I think I kind of love donkeys. They make funny noises, but they are so sweet.

I think this donkey liked me:)

They called me back into the home, and we were served crepes and mint tea. The man that owned the house was so sweet. He poured the tea in the cups, and then poured the tea back in the tea pot and started laughing hysterically. Nick and I didn't quite understand. We later found out he was mixing the sugar; otherwise, it would all sit at the bottom.

The crepes were delicious. While I had been wandering around the home they invited me in the kitchen. It was the size of a penny! It was so small! I felt like we were eating the only food they had! I felt so bad! 

After having tea and crepes, they brought us fresh milk and more bread! It was all made from ingredients they had grown!  

The milk tasted a little like sour cream with the consistency of Greek yogurt. I tried SO hard to drink it! 

We sat and listened for a few minutes as the guide and the owner of the house were speaking Arabic. The owner of the house said he liked us a lot more than the French people that usually visit his place. He said, they weren't as interested in having a snack with a local, as they were just riding their quads. I thought that it was interesting that he liked American's more than French. Ha! We didn't tell him that most of Nick's family is from there. Haha!

At the end, we gave him a bracelet for his wife, and some of the American snacks we'd brought with us and a thank you for the lunch/snack. He was so happy! 

When we returned to the quad shack, we were blown clean of dirt with an air compressor. That's a first for me! 

We returned back to our Riad about an hour later. It was then, I realized that I had left my bandana at the home where we'd eaten. I've had that bandana for 15 years, but I'm glad it went to a good home.

We decided to kill some time by wandering around the souks one last time. It's always a good photo op for me! 

We started in the main square: Jemaa el fna. It was definitely warm out there!

We stopped in the Grand Balcon Cafe Glacier for some cold drinks and to people watch from above the square. 

The "artists" can't bother you from up above. It was interesting watching the drummers, snake charmers, and henna artists trying to coerce the tourists in.

After our cold Cokes, we ventured back into the souks. We ducked into a different alley and saw a chicken market. It smelled SO bad! I walked in, snapped this photo, and left. The men weren't too happy that I had taken their photo. I pretended like I didn't hear them.

When walking through the souks often you'll get comments from the men like, "Lucky man!" This time I also got, "Nice camera. Very retro." And "Nice style." Haha! Those work so much better on me than some of the comments I had heard from our previous trip. The first time we walked through the souks, we were cursed at and yelled at if we didn't stop to buy something. We didn't get any of that this time. I'm hopeful that they're learning that yelling will never get you any customers. 

Art had invited us to join him if we had any extra time, so we visited him again the second day. He brought us mint tea and bought us some treats. It was so nice! He had just come back from a hammam. He told us all about the hammam, and how it's a ritual to clean yourself before making love to your wife. Haha! I always learn something new when I talk to him.

We were both getting very tired, so we walked back to our Riad to rest before dinner.

For dinner that night, I had made a reservation for Comptoir Darna. It was highly recommended on TripAdvisor. 

We quickly walked through the busy square, to find a taxi. We paid just 50 dirham for a taxi ride to our restaurant. We were told to get there 15 minutes before our reservation time, but when we arrived they had us wait by the bar until our table was ready. 

The food was definitely worth the wait. I had a lamb and dates tajine. Nick had lamb that had been roasting for 5 hours. 

There was supposed to be a bellydancing performance at 10:30, but we were exhausted once again by 9:30pm. Not to mention, we had finished our meal by then as well. We enjoyed the live music that played during our meal, but we left early to go to bed. (Lame, I know!) Ha!

Sunday, March 8th

Our last full day in Morocco was going to be jam packed. We hired a driver, Eunice, for 125 Euro for the day to take us to the beach town of Essaouira. We had a quick and delicious breakfast at 7am, and then we left at 7:30 when Eunice arrived. 

The drive was pretty much a straight shot to the coast. There were beautiful rolling hills. Herds of cattle, goats, and sheep were everywhere. Wild dogs would shoot across the road. (You definitely wouldn't want to drive there at night.) We were grateful to not be driving for a few reasons. 1. There were cops EVERYwhere. They target non-Moroccans. 2. We had to bargain for parking at the beach town. And last, getting through Marrakech during rush hour would have been a nightmare upon returning. Instead, we got to sit back and relax.

Our first stop was on the side of the road. There were goats in the trees! We got out, and the goat herder handed me a baby goat! Can I keep him? :)

The goats like to eat the argan nuts, so they climb up into the tree to eat them! 

Arian oil is produced almost solely from this region in Morocco.

Eunice stopped at an argan shop for a small demonstration. These ladies sit here and produce the oil by hand every day. They have about 200 women that work here. Some women work from their home because they have children to care for.

After 3 hours, we finally arrived to Essaouira. 

Eunice was so nice. He gave us a small guided tour even though he really didn't have to. First, we walked through the souks. They were very relaxed, and hardly even talked to us. We were definitely not in Marrakech any more! 

Eunice informed us that the hippies come out at night and play their drums and sing in the main square. 

In the Medina, these Portuguese canons are still on display. They date back to the 1600s.

Eunice also informed us that there is a small island just off the coast with a prison on it. The worst of the worst criminals are there. He said there was a prisoner named, "John," that killed 200 wives and then built a cave and lived in it for 5 years before being caught and imprisoned there. Yikes!

Next, we walked along the walls of the Medina..

We tried to get money out of the ATMs in Essaouira, but couldn't get a dime! Eunice, thankfully, let us borrow some of his. He was so kind!

We walked over to the old port next to take some photos of the famous blue fishing boats.

That's Essaouira in the background. We had just walked along those walls in the picture.

We found the boats! They were just as pretty in person as they were in photos.

Noisy birds.

Eunice offered to take some photos. :)

Happy cat!

We walked back to a little restaurant I had found on trip advisor: Umia. We ate there, and Eunice went to find his favorite restaurant that served fresh fish.

I had a delicious salad with a chicken pastry.

The owners of Umia were very hard working and VERY talkative. They love what they do!

After lunch, we drove to the beach to ride some camels! I was singing, "Camel, camel, camel camel," while Eunice was apparently trying to get a good deal for a camel ride. I didn't realize what was happening. We paid 250 dirham ($25/person) for an hour ride along the beach. I don't know if that's very good, but I loved every minute! I had even worn my camel shirt that day, I was so excited!! I had waited 2 years to get to ride a camel! 

They started by wrapping our heads with scarves. Our guide walked us down along the beach. He was very good about taking our picture!

Nick couldn't get over how big their eyes were.

Camel selfie!

We rode for 8 days in the desert...jk! We were still on the beach! Haha!

At the very end, we were both a bit sore. Camel saddles aren't the most comfortable. Also, when a camel sits down the person on their back has to hold on for dear life. I almost went right over the top! It was like a roller coaster!

After the ride, Nick was chomping at the bit to kite board. There still wasn't really enough wind, but he got his equipment out anyway.

I helped him launch the kite, and almost hit about 8 people walking by. Oops! 

Eunice sat with me on the beach. He helped Nick launch the kite again, and helped him bring the kite back down. He also went around and picked up trash while we were waiting. He was so kind!

Nick rode down the shore line for about 3 minutes, and then couldn't ride back up wind. There just wasn't enough wind. He was a little disappointed since we'd been lugging his huge bag all over Morocco, and we'd paid $140 to have it checked on the plane. Boo:( 

We both loved our Essaouira even if there wasn't much wind. We'd wished we had more time there. 

We drove the 3 hours back to Marrakech and through the wild rush-hour traffic. We were tired and hungry by the time we got back. Our Riad was willing to make us a last-minute dinner. Nick and I both fell asleep before dinner. At 9:30 we woke up and had a delicious veggie tajine. It was simple and perfect. 

We discovered that Nick had somehow left his jacket in the car or at the beach. It had our room key, and his sun tan lotion in it. We still can't figure out how it disappeared. Eunice never found it in the car. Hmm....

At 4am the next morning, we got up to catch our flight. It was a little painful. Eunice drove us once again! He literally had not slept all night! Yikes! 

We had a successful trip back to Morocco! I loved everyone we met! They were so kind! Makes me hope we get stationed there one day!