Morocco

Early Tuesday morning, May 29th, we flew to Agadir Morocco.  We stayed at an Airbnb for 4 days and flew back on Saturday June 2nd.  What was supposed to be a relaxing week turned out to be a cultural experience.  We did have moments of relaxation, but not what we expected.  When we arrived at the airport, we weren't sure how we would be able to find our accommodation.  We had a language barrier, but luckily were able to show an address to the taxi driver.  We had to split up in 2 taxis because we didn't fit it just one.  That was a little unnerving as well, because we had about a 30 minute drive, half of the seats didn't have seatbelts, we didn't speak the language or know where we were going, and they were crazy drivers.  My driver was on a phone the whole time he was driving.  I just prayed that we would all make it to our destination.  I also only had the equivalent of about $20 on me, so if Alex and I got separated, I wouldn't have even been able to pay for the taxi. 

We did eventually get to our place, which was pretty nice.  But as we set out to find somewhere to eat, we soon discovered we were in Morocco during Ramadan.  That meant everyone was fasting from dawn to dusk, until 7:30pm, so nearly all the restaurants were closed during the day.  It was hard to find food, but we did find a grocery store about a mile away.  Alex walked to get groceries a couple of times.  What we ended up doing was eating breakfast and lunch each day before we went to the beach in the afternoon.  Then we could eat at a restaurant in the evening.  There were a couple of restaurants by the beach that were open and serving food earlier than 7:30pm. 

It took 30 minutes to walk to the beach (we didn't want to take any public transportation).  My phone said we walked an average of 4.8 miles each day, which was tiring.  It was also eye opening, as we saw lots of poverty.  We saw a lady with a young toddler living on the streets (we saw her in about the same place each day) - gave her a little bit of money the last time we saw her.  Also, all of the women were covered from head to toe, so I didn't feel comfortable walking around in my swimsuit.  I ended up wearing a long swim cover-up dress and draped a scarf around me.  And I was wearing my tennis shoes since we had to walk a ways.  The kids were embarrassed to be seen with me! 

I bought the scarf the first day from a lady selling them on the beach.  People were constantly trying to sell things to us.  They wouldn't take "no" for an answer - they would stand there and keep showing what they were selling.  We did end up buying donuts, the scarf, a rock, a fossil, and camel rides.  We had to play for beach chairs and umbrellas too.  Our Airbnb only had 2 towels, so we had to buy some more of those.  We also ended up buying a DVD player (which was advertised at our place, but didn't have one).  We wanted to be able to watch movies at night.  We also had to buy bottled water to drink and boil water to sterilize the dishes. 

I did jog on the beach for a little bit one day, which felt good.  The water was a little cold to me, so I didn't get in much.  The kids got used to the water pretty easily.  The temperature outside was nice - about 78°, so not too hot, but warm enough to get in the water.

The highlight was probably riding camels on the beach.  The guys kept asking us every time they came by if we wanted a ride.  We finally gave in and paid for the ride.  We all rode a camel for the first time!

Alex and I tried the traditional break-the-fast meal one evening.  It was pretty good - dates, soup, orange juice, loaf of bread, croissant, hard boiled egg, and chebekia.  We bought some chebekia in the market so the kids could try it. 

The market was another interesting experience.  We felt bad for the sellers, because we knew that's how they were making a living.  I wished we could have bought something from everyone, but we were determined to just buy a few things.  Alex found a fossil that he wanted, but the guy was trying to sell it for a really high price.  We tried to walk away, but the guy just followed us and bugged us and bargained until we agreed to buy it.  The guy had a chameleon though that I wanted a picture with - I did get my photo!  It reminded me of the chameleon in the movie Tangled. 

It was an interesting week.  I don't think we would go back there, but it was a memorable experience to see another culture and another part of the world.  And we can now say we have been to Africa!