Schroder's in Spain: Morocco Mania

I am back logged on posts because we have been traveling so much. Our latest trip to Morrocco was so interesting that I thought I would isolate this post for simplicity.

We arrived late in Agadir via Casablanca to a mob of taxi salesmen. The taxis were for only 4 people, so we panicked in this totally forgein setting to quickly figure out who would go on their own. We decided to not give Holden and Luke money and so their taxi driver would have to follow us if he wanted to get paid.

Suddenly on long stretch of barren road, the boys taxi sped ahead of us and our driver turned into a desolate feild. I snapped a quick photo of the boys as they past us...

We were scared to death, over tired and paranoia set in. Maybe we should have covered our heads with scarves I thought? Maybe Ricky shouldn't have started singing "Rock the Kasbah", when the driver pointed out the city famous holy Kasbah (Kasbah means walled city in Arabic) on the hill.

Every scary movie I have ever seen flashed into my head and prayed we would make it to our hotel ALIVE. The next morning we were all still alive and enjoyed checking out Morocco gingerly within the safety of our hotel first.

"Mom what is this?" asked Faith pointing to the machine with tubes behind her.

Another opportunity to say..."You would never see HOOKA PIPES in a hotel lobby in America."

A day time view of the Kasbah on the hill from our hotel.

It wasn't long before we ventured up to the old Kasbah and rode camels.

In 1962 there was a huge earthquake that wiped out most of Agadir. Here we stand on a spot in the Kasbah ruins where over 4000 people were killed in the quake. Our guide in broken english said, "Here is where is where ze people sleep forever."

BOYS SURF TRIP

Luke had another opportunity to book a surf trip for Holden and himself (remember Mundaka). I think sometimes with older teenagers now, Ricky and I are more into letting them stumble a bit in order to learn. With little ones, you always remind them to look both ways before crossing the street, to wear a warm coat, eat all your vegatables.
Now Ricky and I are like...."let them freeze, let them starve, it's the only way they will learn. Let the boys book their own surf trip in a totally foreign country....."

"Our guides were total rookies," says Luke when he got back to the hotel later that night.

"What do you mean?" I asked

"They ignored us, made airport runs with us in the back of the van, we had no food or water so we starved all day."

"What do you expect for $25 for 3 full days of a guided surfing?" I asked

Luke thinks for a moment and then says...."Whatever Mom."

The boys arrive with the surf guides at their first surf spot.

The next day Luke packed a backpack full of water and snacks (see being hungry was good)

Holden on his way to catch some waves. My witty dutch friend looked at this picture and said, "I guess it doesn't matter if the women in Morroco forget to put sunscreen on." (it was a joke)

The boys catch some "epic" waves.

On the last day Ricky decided to go with the boys to take some photos. While driving in the 'van of shambles', Ricky asked the 25-30 year old Austrailian surf guides, "So when are you going to start your real life?"

"Dude this is as real as life gets," was the reply.

After a few days on the coast we take a long road trip to Marrakesch toward the center of Morroco

"You would never see cows in a pen on the top of a truck in America," Cambrie says

Multiple climates close to eachother makes Morroco special. A view from the desert to the snow a top the Atlas Mountains.

The road to our RIAD which is an old house in the Medina (city within the walls) turned into a small hotel did not look promising. The roads were tight so a guy with a buggy had to carry the lugguge through the passageway to our hotel.

"The place looked great online." I said a bit worried.

Soon though, we walked through an old sketchy door off the tiny wobbly road into an oasis of charm and style.

Our Riad was fabulous. Morroco used to be a French Colony and so the blend of the Morrocan and French sensibilites are often incredibly beautiful and our Riad was a perfect example.

Attention to detail....

Pattern mixing looking chic in the boys room.

Each room of the old house had unique charm.

Outside the walls of the peaceful Riad was chaos though. Hussle and bussle on top of loud speakers through out the city chanting the call to prayer. There are over 1100 Mosques in Marrakesh and Muslims are asked to pray 5 times a day facing Mecca.

One call to prayer this time of year is at 4am. The first night in our Riad I woke up startled to the sounds of wailing, chanting in prayer. At first I thought there was some kind of bombing or news story taking place outside the walls. By the last night though it became a warm reminder of the knowledge and love I had gained for this facinating part of the world.

The bussle of the women's second hand market.

Donkey's, bikes, cars and no traffic lights.

Faith and I looking like complete tourists.

We met up with some friends with Barcelona and had a fun day bartering in the Souka District (concentration of market shops)

THE FOOD

Tagime is the main dish of Morocco. It is a medly of meats and vegatables cooked in like a clay mini crock pot.

"Oooh mine is full of intestines," says Cambrie.

"Mine is mostly fat," says Faith.

"I liked the Tagine on our surf trip better," the boys say.

" I am not really hungry anymore," I complain.

"Then I will eat it all, because I love it, and I don't want to waste food!" Ricky says.

Ricky about to work on eating yet another plate of Tagine.

This biscuit filled with_______on the plane still has us puzzled. Smelled like dog food, looked like dog food, but watching others scarf it down we decided maybe it was Camel puree.

Scorpions for sale at the market, promises to chase away evil spirits if you dare eat them.

The meat and poultry shops are open where 'fresh chicken' reaches a new level. Pick the chicken you want from the cage and a man will cut off it's head and hand it to you. You don't get fresher than that.