I arrived to Biarritz Weds evening with a cold, a sore throat, and an ear ache from the plane. Time to slow down…. While collecting brochures at the airport information counter someone approached me and asked in English “Are you with the explorer group”? What? No. “Oh, your outfit, I thought maybe you were part of the group…….” I was wearing short western boots, jeans, a scarf and the only jacket I have. Not very French I know, but really??? I caught a taxi to my hotel, and rolled up with just enough energy to check into my room and ask where I could get something to eat. Thankfully my hotel was right in the middle of town with shops, restaurants, and bars all around. I chatted with the manager Arnaud for a bit, and met the resident career traveller/surfer staying in the flat across the way. He had a strange resemblance to someone I knew….. Who was it? Oh yes, Gary Busey in the ’90s. With an equally “unusual” personality. After that – an early night!

The next day I took advantage of the fact that I had absolutely nothing to do, and didn’t leave my room until about noon. I had a full blown cold and felt woozy, but needed to do some errands including getting a new cell phone, finding the laundromat, grocery store, and pharmacy, and making arrangements for surfing lessons. I checked in with Arnaud who set me up with a map, and marked all my stops. After some investigating I had to go to the neighboring town Anglet to get an unlocked cell phone. (A small but significant point I learned to clarify after I found out the cell phone I bought in Spain was useless when I tried to insert a Moroccan SIM card). I went to the bus stop, got directions, a map to the bus, and off I went. Shockingly easy.

While picking up my cell phone I noticed a giant Carrefour in the shopping center and decided to check it out. I had never been before, and the best way I could describe it is like a more upscale version of Target. And like Target, I wandered around for hours looking at things I didn’t need to buy. Aaahhhh – the aisles and aisles of stuff!! Then I went “home” to the hotel, and spent the night resting and nursing my cold.

Friday I woke up still not feeling great, but I was determined to go for a run! I hadn’t run in about a month and a half with traveling, and not being sure if running alone was a good idea. Now that I could run around freely in tights and a tank top I wanted to take advantage. I ran down to the ocean, and along the walkway up and down the beach. I don’t know if it was the ocean air, the much needed exercise, or seeing all the people in skimpy bathing suits, but I came home feeling calm and confident!

After showering, I stopped for my daily visit with Arnaud (my new BFF who speaks perfect English, and has a slightly twisted sense of humor), and he mentioned he was going for drinks that night with a former guest of the hotel if I wanted to join. Sure – cold or no cold, I can’t stay locked up in my room all the time. Later that evening I joined Arnaud and James for a drink at the bar down the street. James was from Australia, and was taking advantage of some new found free time to spend a couple of months in France. He had checked into the hotel for a short time, and ended up staying a month. This place is the “Hotel California” of Biarritz! We were joined by another one of Arnaud’s friends, and spent the evening talking about such serious topics as: how to swear in multiple languages, dating, traveling etc. I was having a great time, but as the night wore on my voice wore out. Within a couple of hours I was hoarse, so I sent myself home. But not before I committed to a bar crawl the next night.

Even though in the last couple of days I hadn’t done much, it was obvious that France was a world apart from Morocco. Getting around, running errands, shopping, daily interactions….. Those were the things that stood out to me. It may seem like the last couple of paragraphs are pointless observations, but they were a the stark contrast to my pointless observations in Morocco just a few days before.

After a while the days started to blend together like a proper vacation. Do some stuff, visit with my new friends, take naps. I took a couple of days of surfing lessons. After 4 nights at the hotel I tried to extend but they were booked, and I moved to a surf hostel. Different location, but the days mostly stayed the same (except with a long walk to town). I had intended to check out some of the neighboring towns (Bayonne, St. Jean de Luz), but found that I was perfectly happy to stay where I was. Biarritz was exactly what I needed to recalibrate. A small town, south of France, right on the beach, tail end of the tourist season so not too crowded, weather was beautiful, everything was easy, a blend of casual surfer culture and luxury tourist industry. I liked the place, I liked the people. It was going to be very hard to leave. 9 days after I got to Biarritz I moved back to the same hotel for my last night. And so, I left from the same place I started. Still sick, but feeling rejuvenated.

Things that came up along the way:
– If you thought taxes for the wealthy in the US were high – in France they are proposing a temporary tax rate of 75% for people making over 1 million Euros!
– The French words for pedestrian (piéton) and prostitute (putain) sound very similar to me.
– I’ve downloaded an app for my Ipad to translate French to English. Unfortunately sometimes things get lost in translation. I tried to call a taxi with it, and basically spoke nonsense. I ended up having to call Arnaud at the hotel to have him call the taxi for me. I repaid the favor by introducing him to the movie the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I’ve heard there is now a young handsome straight Frenchman humming the “Sweet Transvestite” song around Biarritz.
– The people you meet in hostels are always interesting. My first night at the surf hostel I found out one of my room mates lives in Astoria NYC. I also met a Swiss guy who will be traveling SE Asia the same time as me. I’m hoping to meet up with him along the way!

The next morning we left early for the CTM bus from Marrakech to Essaouira (a beachside town). Another mode of transportation, and again nobody hassling Nancy! (I should have offered someone a tip to bother her. I would have paid 100 dirham for that no problem.) The CTM and Supratours busses are like night and day compared to the local bus I took to Chefchaouen. I guess in hindsight….the first experience made for a good story.

While we were waiting for the bus to leave we looked out the window – and there was Allan from Riad El Zohar!! He had told us before that he and Malika were catching the bus to Essaouira for a couple of days as well, but we weren’t expecting to see his smiling face that early. We said hello, and exchanged Riad information so we could meet up.

The bus trip was uneventful – other than the goats in the tree branches on the roadside which I woke Nancy up for. Apparently the goats love the fruit of the Argan trees, but can’t always reach them from the ground, so they climb up the trees to get it. I’m sure the goats we saw on the side of the road were coaxed up the trees for the benefit of tourists, but it didn’t make it any less strange to see. By the way – you know that Argan oil that’s in all of our cosmetics and hair products now? The traditional way it was produced – step 1) goat eats Argan nut from tree. step 2) goat digests all but the kernel from the nut, and then poops it out. step 3) person collects the kernel, brings it home and makes Argan oil. It was so quick I didn’t get any pics, but this gives you the idea.

Once we got to Essaouira we quickly checked into our Riad, dropped our bags off, and then wandered around town. We were staying within the medina (another UNESCO world heritage site), at a chilled out beachy feeling Riad. As soon as we could pull ourselves together we went off to explore the Medina. It was a much less hectic town, still plenty people trying to get you to stop and visit their stores – but in a less aggressive way. Everyone was more relaxed, you could smell the ocean….I could just feel the tension in my muscles (what I had left of them) release. We stopped in a couple of shops, walked along the top of wall of the medina, looked out at the ocean.

Finally we realized we were starved and desperate for lunch! Thankfully at least one of us did our research (not me), and had read about a seafood market with fresh fish that you could have cooked for you right there. We found the market, checked out a few of the stalls, and then picked a sampling of squid, shrimp and fish. Just behind the stalls is an area with a couple of kitchens where you go to have it prepared and eat. It was packed!! Eventually we handed off our bag, and sat down to a shared table. They sell drinks and sides, so we ordered some Fanta, fries, bread, and dug in. Delicious!!!

After lunch we wandered the spice area a bit, and were stopped by an enthusiastic young guy remarking on the Fanta bottle I was still carrying around with me. Apparently it used to be his favorite, but they changed the formula so now it didn’t taste as good. He convinced us to follow him to his shop to try a tea concoction that was even better. I know…. I know – haven’t I learned my lesson yet about friendly strangers? We were having such a good time, and were so relaxed we followed anyway. We sat down in the little shop he worked at, had some tea, he played on the guitar a bit, we chatted, some other French and Spanish tourists he had befriended stopped by to visit – we were having a good time. He invited us all over to his place for some wine and tagine that night. The tagine was amazing! A friend of his stopped by who is a professional performer of traditional music, and was awesome! And low and behold, one of the French friends was also a professional guitarist, and treated us to a couple of songs. We stayed late, sang songs (or hummed when we forgot the lyrics), and laughed. It was an incredible night!!

The next morning with too little sleep we woke up to go ride quad bikes. We got a little tutorial on how to ride the bikes, and then were sent off with our guide Simo. We rode out onto the beach and along the water. Beautiful!!! Simo lead, Nancy was a dare-devil racing behind, and I took up the rear. We stopped at a beach next to a cave where a rotating cast of “hippies” lived. It was a beautiful spot, we wandered along the rocks for a while and took pictures. Nancy
is never one to shy away from the camera, and while she was hamming it up a huge wave came along and drenched us! Simo laughed. We’re pretty sure he knew that would happen.

After that Rachid (the owner of the quad place) sent us to a restaurant in town and treated us to an amazing lunch!! While we were walking into the restaurant we looked up – and oh look….Allan and Malika! We decided to give them a little space for once, and sat down to a separate table, but chatted for a bit after lunch.

Right after lunch we went back to the hotel to change, and off to meet up with our Fanta friend from the day before. He was taking us to a nearby town to go horseback riding on the beach. We got a bit of a late start, and finally got into a taxi around 6 or so. After a half an hour taxi ride we arrived in Sidi Kaouki. Our friend found someone to rent horses from, and we finally got going around 7. The thing is, I’ve never ridden a horse before. Nancy had, but I hadn’t. These horses were beautiful, and well cared for – but they seem much bigger from up top. They got me up, and we went off along the beach. It was amazing walking along, not a soul on the beach but us, and the sun was starting to set. It was surreal. We walked along for a while. I was fine. Then we walked a smidge faster. I was having a great time! Then just a little bit faster – I slipped sideways a little and almost fell off. Not having a great time!!! I panicked. I had visions of falling, breaking my arm, and going to the hospital in Morocco. That probably would have made for an interesting blog post, but would have put a damper on my kite-surfing aspirations for the next day. From that point I was adamant that this horse and I would only walk!!! Sorry to my 3 partners that were forced to walk as well, but there was absolutely NO WAY. We watched the sunset, and spent forever getting back because of me. Notice how it looks like my horse is practically standing still?

That night was Nancy’s last night, so even though we were exhausted from the long day we went out for a quick dinner, and then a drink. The next day we stopped by Allan and Malika’s Riad to say goodbye, Nancy left to catch the bus, and I moved to my new budget Riad.

After a power nap I went to the surf school for my kite-surfing lesson. We packed so much into the last week that I was beat! I walked in the shop like a zombie, and was told that I would have to hang out for a while as there wasn’t any wind. No problem! I grabbed a snack, and chatted with the guys at the surf shop for a couple of hours. Finally, the call was made – no kite surfing today. Oh thank god. I went home and took a nap!!

The next couple of days were pretty uneventful. The wind was only good one day so I managed one more kite surfing lesson (still not on the board!!!). I did get a couple of regular surfing lessons in though, and I found out I like it lot! You’re able to make more progress sooner, so you don’t feel like a complete failure. The school was excellent, and the other students and staff were really friendly. Great way to spend the next 3 days on my own! The one thing I will say – Moroccan’s have very long eyelashes, and beautiful dark eyes. It can be very distracting to try to pay attention to what an instructor (or anyone) is saying with eyes like that. I need a very old unattractive instructor for future kite-surfing or surfing lessons if I am ever going to make any progress.

From Essaouira I took the bus back to Marrakech and overnighted before my flight out of the country. Morocco has been awesome. My time has been jam packed, but I had only just scratched the surface. The culture and customs were completely different, and sometimes confusing. There were highs and lows (a few unmentioned). The country is modern and westernized in some ways, but very traditional in others. There are things that are considered “wrong” here – but you see people do them anyway. Drinking, dating, touching in public….all wrong, but not really. But really, but not really. But really. Half the men willing to start a conversation with you either are angling for money, or are hoping to sleep with you. Not everyone of course, but enough to keep you on your guard. On the flip side I’ve met some of most genuinely kind and funny people (like the ladies in Chefchaoen). To add to the confusion you can wear whatever you want, but often I covered up anyway to avoid extra attention (especially when traveling alone). You can run alone and be safe, but I found I was too intimidated to try. I’ve loved it here, but it’s not always easy. I face-timed with my cousin Cammy and she had a perfect observation – it makes you appreciate the freedom you have as a woman in America.

Monday morning we were picked up early for our trip into the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara.
We would be spending the next 3 days and 2 nights driving around with our guide Ismail. Ismail was very friendly – AND turns out he was a guide to the stars. He’s worked for Leonardo DiCaprio, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ridley Scott, and several more. Made us feel very VIP.

We loaded up, settled in and got ready for a long day of driving. Had a little nap on the way out of Marrakech, and then woke up to a preview of the drastically different scenery we’d be seeing over the next couple of days. Nothing but brown mountains broken up by olive trees and other miscellaneous trees for miles. Only once your eyes focused, you could see there were actually villages! The buildings were made out of earth mixed with straw and bamboo roofs, so they literally blend into the surroundings. Except for the satellite dishes that is…. From what I could figure out they are either made of “rammed earth” to create walls, earth bricks, or some are made of modern material but are covered on the outside with earth. I thought this was amazing, but couldn’t imagine it would last very long. One big rain storm and there goes your house! When I asked Ismail he said it doesn’t rain that much (oh right. desert and all), and they only have to repair every couple of years.

We stopped for coffee and pics, and then back on the road. As we drove we begged Ismail to put on some arabic music, and tell us a little more about the culture and traditions. Obviously we were curious about relationships and marriage. He explained that yes, in Morocco you could have multiple wives, but it wasn’t that easy. You have to be able to show the government that you can support more than one wife, and also get permission from your first wife. He said it’s not all that common. I was curious about how this arrangement works, and asked Ismail if the wives live in the same household? He kind of laughed and said “No, that would be like putting two snakes together – hissssss.”

(Going out of order a little bit here – but more along the marriage/relationships line. The Moroccan government passed laws in 2004 to protect women. Not too sure on the specifics, but I think among other things it gave women the right to seek a divorce, ensured child support, and gave women the ability to marry without parental approval – all of which was new. The whole dynamics of relationships is kind of a mystery to a foreigner. You really aren’t supposed to touch the opposite sex in public, and people aren’t supposed to have sex before marriage. But the views on that are very different for men and women. In fact men can kind of do what they want, but for women they are essentially kicked out of their house and ostracized if they are believed to have had sex before they’re married. Women are expected to be virgins on their wedding night, and “proof” is shown in the form of a bloody sheet. So I guess all the libidinous dudes are having sex with foreigners and prostitutes? Not exactly. Hymen reconstruction surgery is a booming business here.)

During the day we watched the scenery go by, stopped in Ouarzazate for lunch and visited the Ait Benhaddou Kasbah (another UNESCO world heritage site). It’s a large Kasbah (Islamic city or fortress) with the buildings packed tightly and surrounded by defensive walls, and the oldest buildings date back to the 17th century. Not many people live here, as most have moved to the newer side of town. They have shot a ton of movies here including Gladiator, Prince of Persia, The Last Temptation of Christ, Jewel of the Nile and a bunch more.

Ismail showed Nancy how to wear her scarf on her head like a Berber man – and she spent most of the next day and a half this way.

More driving. Completely unimportant, but I noticed that there were completely different soil colors in different areas. But sometimes in the same area you could see a bunch in one area – green, brown, rust, tan.

We ended our day in Tenerhir – a small town in the Dades Gorges.

That night we relaxed at the hotel, had a delicious dinner, and then were treated to a jam session with singing, drums and dancing! Video couldn’t come out because it was dark, but at least you can hear it!!

The talented musicians plus Nancy

We dropped off our bags, and then took an hour and a half camel ride into the Sahara desert where we would overnight.

Our group consisted of me, Nancy, 3 Arabic speaking brothers, and a daughter. We didn’t understand a word of what they were saying, but we did understand they were able to update their Facebook status the whole time. Once we got to the tented Berber style camp we met up with a Japanese group of tourists, and sat down for dinner in the middle of the circle of tents. After dinner we gathered around to another jam session. Everyone is so talented here! Makes me feel lame that I can’t contribute – no voice or real sense of rhythm (without alcohol).

At some point in the evening it became obvious that one of the 3 Arabic speaking guys was extremely afraid of bugs. All of a sudden this giant scary looking guy would shout and RUN out of the tented area. Not only was it funny to watch, but it became a major source of entertainment for the evening. We stayed up until almost 2am listening to music, playing games, and watching the other guys torture him. They would catch “cockalackas”, wait until he got close and throw them at him. At one point he hiked his jellaba, cursed, hauled ass out of the tented area, and then refused to come back. I think he slept by the camels that night…

Unfortunately it was overcast that night so we couldn’t see the stars, but around 5 am I woke up to go to the bathroom and they were EVERYWHERE! It was intense. Then we got a little over an hour later and watched the sunrise over the dunes. You can never get a moment like that to come out on film.

To be honest – I spent most of that day sleeping in the car. I’m sure we passed by some beautiful scenery but I was exhausted! Then Ismail brought us to his home to meet his family and have some tea. Nancy and I had mentioned to Ismail that we loved how the Moroccan ladies do their eye make-up and loved the henna, so he arranged for his daughter and sister in laws to give us a Moroccan beauty session. I wish someone would have given me a scarf to cover up that hair….

We got back to Marrakech late, and then spent the night before we headed off to Essaouira in the morning.