detour adventures

weever fish

detouradventures — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 04:11:00 GMT

so today's lesson in moroccan culture was in local marine life. I had a great session this morning i was catching and riding waves really well. Then i met the weever fish. I jumped off my board and felt like i stepped on a sharp shell. I walked out of the water and immediately felt like my foot was on fire. My friend ran up the beach to get our guide who in turn start yelling at me to run up the beach. Not one to show pain in front of the women i ran up to rasheed. He started telling me that i had been stung by the weever fish and proceeded to tell me that he needed to burn the wound with a cigarette. I responded with a choice curse words and he told me he was not messing with me. So i sat on the rocks while he smoked to get a lit cigarette. HE told me to relax and he went to work burning my foot off. He then said go pee on it. I kept thinking i am such an idiot for listen to this guy but hey i have already gone this far. So i did it. For the next three hours my foot was on fire. It eventually swelled like a balloon and was only able to surf for a little while because the pain was to intense with the salt water. Found out later that i was allergic and that usually you don't surf for a couple of days because if you get another sting it can be dangerous. I kept thinking that i was glad i found that out after i had surfed for another hour. well see how my foot holds up. All i could think about on the beach amongst the throbbing pain was how messed up this third world medicine was and what my nurse friends would think of my dilemma. The moroccans kept saying that i was the most unlucky person they had ever met because there were literally hundreds of people in the water and only i got stung by some stupid fish that is usually not around this time of year. If i don't die tonight then maybe i could use that as proof that i am not as unlucky everyone thinks

Hamman Awkwardness

detouradventures — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:40:00 GMT

Today we did a lot. I guess i should not get held up on just one thing but the bath house was probably weirdest moment of my life. the bath itself was amazing. If girls in america discovered it they would become addicted. it leaves your skin feeling amazing throw in the hour massage and it is almost to much to handle. the part that made life awkward was the clothing they make you wear it is essentially a minimalists speedo. if that was not bad enough you have really cute moroccan girls bathe you and what is worse they speak no english. It was an expierience i will never forget. once i got past the awkwardness a little i was finally able to relax and enjoy the expierience. After that it was a massage for an hour and i must say i felt amazing. We did so much other stuff like go to an oasis in the mountains called paradise valley. you drive for miles and all there is is high mountain desert till you turn a corner a hairpin turn at a pass and bam there is palm trees everywhere. we played in a pool and climbed to waterfalls. Tanya and lincoln had there first tasted of bartering and falied miserably. it was a learning expierience. there is a strategy and ritual that is unique. No matter what you want to buy you hava to bargain its a matter of who gives in first. I think it is good i am stubborn. i hope to do better than the others. For now i am sleepy from all this food and the bath house. tomorrow we are going north outside of the bay to find some waves. For now i must relax with some mint tea and watch another perfect sunset from the terrace.

Surfing with aussies

detouradventures — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:13:00 GMT

Well these last two days have been awesome. traveling with the aussie family has been an expierience. the whole family are good surfers even mom julie. there son drew doesn't talk much except to make fun of dad. he is a real good surfer and always has his nose in a book when he is not surfing even when we go out to eat. Eating out every night at local places laughing and learning about a culture with people you barely know is something else. Paul(the dad) is one of the funniest people i have ever met:give him some beer and he gets even funnier. the crowning moment was when he was told to drive because our guide did not want to make one of his guests ride in the back so paul drove the 3km to the villa piss drunk. if that was not scary enough he got stopped by the local police. me riding shotgun neither one of us understood a word of the arabic and french the cops yelled at us. i struggled with the french i learned in second grade and i guess they thought we looked and sounded to retarted to keep any longer so they let us pass. We asked rasheed what the hell was that and he simply said hey man that is morocco. gonna miss the aussies but tomorrow we have a lay day because its supposed to be flat so we will explore an oasis in the mountains with some guys from belgium and then hammam in the afternoon. its a traditional massage parlor and bath house the cultural awkwardness promises to be hilarious. apparently it like a full body exfoliating treatment with a scrubbing sponge and some special oil in a big bath house. I really have no idea what to expect which might it better.

Arrival

detouradventures — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 09:29:00 GMT

Well I finally made it. It took 24 hours of travel and two missed connections but i finally made it to morocco. i am now sitting in a lttle cyber cafe in taghzout. it is a littlesurfing village north of agadir. It is a real challenge to type on an arabic keyboard. So far the country is more than imagined. Today we begin or surf journey. Breakfast is ready so i must go. the food alone is worth the trip.

Departure

detouradventures — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 11:12:00 GMT

Well the big day is finally here. In a little over four hours i will be getting on a train to begin my journey. This trip has taken a lot of planning and now i get to see the fruits of my labor. I am anxious to experience all that Morocco has to offer. I keep imagining that i will run into some guy named rick that owns a cafe and he will beguile me with stories of adventure, danger, and intrigue. I am trying to keep an open mind to what this country will have for me. Its really easy to go on this sort of a trip with preformed ideas of what it is going to be like: its a lot like life. New experiences and friendships always start off with an idea of what the person is like and how they are going to react to something. As always, they really are nothing like you pictured in your head. One has really two choices when faced with this. Be disappointed in the difference and act like they let you down by not living up to your unclear, unexplained, unrealistic expectations or one can embrace the difference and wonder in the reality of who that person is. That is what i want to do on this trip. I want to be captivated by who morocco is and not get caught up in what i want it to be. With that in mind I journey on. I love exploring the unknown. Adventure to me is just that. Being thrown into a place that is certainly not in your comfort zone and seeing how you do. It is a challenge and discovery of who you really are. Sometimes the best friends are the ones who's personality and character unexpectedly speaks to your heart. "I hope this could be the beginning of beautiful friendship"