Taghazout to Marrakech!

Tonight is our last night in Taghazout. Tomorrow we head to Marrakech for the last few days of our trip. I've  come to like this town quite a bit, but I guess that makes sense for any town that you spend enough time in. The surfing has been much easier and more fun for the past few days, and the weather has been hot and dry. Even though the swell has been pretty small around here (3-4 feet), the sessions have been long and more successful. None of the more experienced surfers have very much ego or territorialism here, so there is never a feeling of hostility, which is great. Since I only surf once a year, hopefully my body will remember everything it has learned. More than likely, I will be relearning it all the next time I surf; however, that sounds way better than not surfing at all.

There are lots of stray dogs here. Raakhi wants to adopt every one, except for the grungy ones. So she wants to adopt maybe a third of them.

The people here have become friendly and have stopped trying to sell us things or offer us services that we don't need. It's been nice to be a familiar face around town and have conversations and interactions with Moroccans that didn't involve us spending money. We went and had tea with a local guy named Kamal last night. We figured he must have an angle, but we went anyway. It turned out that he just wanted to tell some stories and pass some time, which was a pleasant surprise. Once we got stuck in the pouring rain and a taxi driver stopped and picked us up, soaking wet, surfboards in tow and took us back to town for what little money we had on us. We have a butcher in town that we frequent. It has been a surreal and satisfying experience to stay in the same spot for a while.

We've made the most of having an apartment with a kitchen and have cooked many lovely meals, although we did go out for grilled fish once and it was amazing. We both managed to get sunburned like idiots. The coastal weather has been glorious, but I guess we are ready to take on the heat of Marrakech. Tomorrow we ride.

Holler (le surf)

Semicolon Attack! ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

For some reason;, our semicolon key has decided to go ber;ser;k. So occasion;ally ther;e are; just addition;al semicolons added into our sentences like dashes of paprika.;;;;;Som;et;imes i;t just ;;mak;es ;lines of ;semicolons as far as the eye can see. Not particularly useful, but not the end of the world ;either;;.; I: guess we'll get used to ;;it;..

The problem with surfing on;ly on;e ;time per; year is that you are per;petuall;y learning the same things over; a;nd over; again. Oh well. It is nice to be in the ocean and hang out in a beach town.

Holler;;;;;(le semicolon)

Taghazout Pictures!

Agadir - Photos

The Surf Gods are Harsh

We tried to surf today. It didn't work. The waves were strong. We were not. It is never a good day when you can't even paddle to the outside. Maybe tomorrow will be better. We will try a different spot.

We did cook our first meal in Morocco, however. Pasta with halal chicken sausage, strange zucchini, mushrooms, tomato and garlic. We also had delicious gin and tonics. There has been very little alcohol on this trip and we are happy to have a drink at the end of the day.

Holler (le suck)

Taghazout at Last!

We finally made it to Taghazout today! The surfing segment of our program shall begin tomorrow and I'm pretty stoked. Raxx and I scored a pretty sweet apartment on the beach. After securing our awesome pad, we made the trip back to Agadir to stock up on booze and food to last us for the entire eight or nine days that we'll be here (Taghazout is a dry town, no booze kiddos). This involved a grand taxi ride, two petit taxi rides and a local bus ride. The grocery store was gigantic (kind of like a Moroccan Wal-Mart) and the competition for aisle space was intense, but we triumphed in the end. We've developed a theory on whether or not to trust Moroccans based on the number of teeth they still have. The fewer teeth they have, the more wary of them you should be. It seems to be relatively accurate so far.

After some smoked salmon with tomatoes and cheese on wheat crackers, chased down by a couple of Casablanca beers, I'm ready for bed. Tomorrow, waves! We've heard tell that the waves will be 10-12 feet high by Wednesday morning, which means I better get some surfing done while the swell is still small. Ha. A demain!

Holler (le pimp)

To the Coast!

This morning we woke early and continued traveling with our Dutch friends. Our initial plan was to have them drop us off in Tarroundant on their way to Agadir, but as we passed through town after town in central Morocco, we realized that we had no desire to stay anywhere that wasn't near the ocean, so we tagged along one more time and made it to the coast! The terrain in Morocco is beautiful, but it is exceptionally dry and hot this time of year and the towns are not that interesting or hospitable. Fortunately, riding with Frank and Frederieke has allowed us to see much of the countryside, towns and cities without having to spend multiple days there. Also, the company has been great.

We decided to stay at the same riad as our friends in Agadir so that we could hang out for one more night. The riad has a pool table and a pretty amazing rooftop terrace, so hooray for us. Our French hotel owner mentioned to me that he found Americans to be silly, stupid and unaware of the world outside the United States' borders. I mentioned that it was probably equally silly to generalize all of the people of a nation that is as large as all of western Europe. I don't think he understood me, but my xenophobic ass found great satisfaction in my witty retort. Agadir itself is quite a bit cooler than the interior of Morocco and there are more green things growing, which is nice after so much dry hotness.Tomorrow we head to Taghazout where we will spend the next 8 or 9 days surfing and enjoying the beach. Exciting times.

Holler (le surf)

Sahara photos!