This weekend the 5 of us headed out for our first adventure together. We went to Essaouira http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/753 which is an old hippie resort on the Atlantic Coast. I think that we all thought that we died and went to heaven....it was so beautiful and peaceful. We stayed in a riad (fancy house/hotel) and ate and yes, drank and walked around the town at night. The town is full of old men fishing in their jellabas or sitting at cafes for hours.....women dressed both in traditional and very modern dress, lots of French tourists, narrow windy streets etc. It is supposed to be a very windy area and is very popular with windsurfers but it was calm when we were there. Temperature was mid 60s and sunny. I felt like I had come home there.....even thought of buying a little flat if I can ever sell my condo.....it would be so easy just to stay there for weeks and months on end.

lobbypool

the alley to our Riad

riad lobby

To get there we took the train from Rabat to Marrakesh (about 4 hours) and then changed to a lovely bus (3 1/2 hours) (after a quick coffee with a friend at the train station) which took us to Essouria where we were picked up by a man with a little cart who took us through the narrow streets to our hotel in the medina (old city). We walked around the town, ate fish at a fish stand and took off our shoes at the beach. The next day we tried to go to the Mellah (Jewish quarter) and see the synagogue but never made it. .  That is reason enough for me to return which I will many times since it is an easy ride from the town in which I will be living. Like all of Morocco, Essouria has a very old and venerable Jewish population and still has a somewhat functioning synagogue (so does Marrakesh).

Then on to Marrakesh where we realized soon after arriving, that the Marrakesh Marathon was taking place the next day.  It seemed like everyone was staying at our hotel and the place was filled with tall, skinny Kenyans.  Since it was the same hotel that I stayed in last year, I knew my way around and could guide us to the medina and the famous Jamaa El Fna Square which was crazy Saturday night... so crazy that I didn't take pictures of the square until the next day when it was calmer.  I don't think that anyone (except me) was prepared for the rush of people and the total insanity of snake charmers, African dancers, fortune tellers, families filling the food stalls, and ofcourse the constant peddlers....I thought that it was invigorating but something that I don't think I will repeat each weekend.  Since Marrakesh is a short distance from Asni where I will be living for 2 months, I think that I will be making lots of treks in.


Since last year, our hotel acquired a night club which we attempted to enter and then left quickly when we looked around and saw that the club was filled with about 80% men (and it wasn't a gay bar.....just the Moroccan culture) and so much for a religion that doesn't drink :-) After the peace and quiet of Essouria, Marrakesh was an interesting change.  On Sunday, three of us went to the Jardin Marjorelle which is a beautiful garden that was given to the city of Marrakesh by Yves St. Laurent who, along with his partner, adopted this beautiful red city. 

All in all I think that we did well negotiating everything (with a little local help), but everyone came back sick and is now recuperating.  This weekend is Mohammed's birthday (even though he didn't celebrate birthdays) and so we have a three day weekend.  We may go to Fes, still planning.

Jardin Marjorelle

Kotubia mosque which we could walk around but not go in since we weren't Muslims.  Only one mosque in Morocco is accessible to non-Muslims and that is the new modern one in Casablanca.

So tomorrow I will try and write more about my life here.  We have classes in the afternoon and also time to prepare for the work with our students the next day.

I'll also try and give you some idea of what my classes and students are like.  Now it is time to go to bed.  Tomorrow is another day inshallah.