What could I possibly have been doing for the last 10 days for not having had the descency to login and write another story? SIMPLE: just travelling, enjoying simple things, avoiding long hours in front of the internet. Its the equilibrium of between keeping people informed and just going with the flow of the trip.
Essaouira?
Yes, thats where I had landed having decided to leave Marrakesh. Its a really nice spot, a manageable medina that I could get lost in and find myself again. Its an interesting though to just follow these little streets, some of them pretty narrow, dark, dirty but none the less there is something about them that keeps pulling me further down it. Every now and then there is a tunnel - under the first floor of a house built over the street - thin and less thin wooden beams bearing the burden of the housing structure. Almost invariably the street joins into a larger more recognisable street.
Over about 4 days I managed to get out on a surf board twice, a couple of hours at a time. You know when yours truely is making progress as you'll hear him screaming with joy as he rides in standing up on his longboard that the wave is pushing forth. Still not scoring all the points for style, but the technique is getting better!
Part of my being here was to try and connect with people on Couchsurfing.org David and Emeline responded and invited me to come by their recently opened (2 months) cafe. I shared our story with The Bagel Barn. It was nice to see other people doing similar things and sharing the challenges we faced as they embark on theirs!
Quads! Now thats a cool way to make one's way around dunes! These fast and furious 4 wheelers where the theme of one of my days, driving the coast from Essaouira, over kilometers of dunes, ocean shores, past a lighthouse for a refreshing break by a small stony beach cove. The ride down a steep sanddune was quite a thrill, with the feeling that the quand is going to tip head over wheels anytime......but not!
One of the more memorable meals I had here was at the fish market. One evening, having befriended a fellow traveller from New York and after the necessary early evening mint tea on the plaza overlooking the fishing port, we headed to the main market street. To one side is a hidden square where the fish market is. One of the ingeneous systems operating here is that you go around the different fish stalls picking and haggling for the different fish you'd like to eat, then take it up some steps to the BBQ restaurant, where they swiftly relieved us of our purchases (Monk fish, Sardines, crevettes and someothernormalfishlookingspecimen) and dump them on a grill for us, after serving us plates of delivious olives, bread, dipping tomatoe-herb sauce. This, although barely cheaper than a restaurant (i expect we werent quite sharp enough on the haggling), was a delicious meal, and a fun way to have dinner!!
Sidi Kaouki & Imsouanne
Thats the name of little coastal villages further south of Essaouira heading towards Agadir. Both very nice to just take life slow. The former was very windyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Despite that, it was not that busy. The beach was about 200 meters deep till you got to the sea. To stand in the midst of the beach and look towards the wind was quite magical; the wind just picked up stand and created live-trails of sand up to 50cm off the beach......like columns of smoke exept they were of sand and horizontal.......to look downwind was akin to floating in it.....such is I suppose the basis of moving sand dunes!
A couple of nights on, its time to move on. I hop into another "grand taxi" and 40 mins later I'm dropped off on the small cliff overlooking Imsouanne beach. The old houses built into the cliff face are faded pink. They gave this little spot a fair bit of character. The ride there was quite spectacular, 100's of meters above the see on a small windy and windding road made for quite some scenery.
Agadir
That was yesterday! I came here just to check it out. i was not particularly attracted to this town, as its quite a package tourist hub. My plan later on though is to try and catch a ride with a sailing boat from here, so I've left my credentials at the marina office hoping this plan comes to fruition. I decided to treat myself to a couple of cocktails at this beach promenade lounge bar called "Le Blanc" - with live DJ spinning some CafeDelMar type loungy music - perfect! I went straight for the Mojito no questions about it! And good it was! I needed a bit of a follow up and chose a Margarita....not such a good choice at this bar, I prefered the Mojito by taste, the effect though was just as enebreating though...had an interesting hour conversation with the belgian DJ about life, music, festivals and living different. Thought about having a late night in a night club, had some food, then thought better of it.
heading south....
yes, thats next, so watch this space in about 10 days......
xx
