Shannon not so much in Italy...

I never planned to go to Morocco, it just sort of happened, and truly, it was one of the coolest things I’ve done in my whole life. Morocco is not what you think of when you think of Africa. Africa conjures up images of villages and singing and giraffes and tribal prints (sorry for the stereotypes, but it is true). Morocco is an Islamic country where the women are fully covered, all the signs are in Arabic, and most people speak French. Saturday morning I heard the 6am call to prayer blasting through the town on a loudspeaker.

The ride from Marrakesh to Agadir was mind blowing. We passed at least 4 shepherds watching sheep. People still do that. The terrain, the geography, was just beautiful. We were in the foothills of the Atlas mountains. It was like desert meets mountains meets red dirt meets some trees and then all empties into the Atlantic, which was our final destination. We stayed in a tiny yet well-kept hotel, about 200 yards from the ocean shore. The weather was in the 80s during the day and maybe the 40s at night. Friday, our first full day there, we actual did learn how to surf, and I stood up on my surf board for a long three seconds! I never thought it was possible—surfing looks very intimidating. We basically spent the rest of the day laying out on the beach, where my camera sustained an ocean-related injury (we miscalculated the reach of the tide..oops). So I did not take too many pictures, but I did get a few. At one point during the weekend, we got to ride ATVs on the beach, which was fun/ a little scary. On Saturday, after more surfing, we went to the market in Agadir where I haggled for my new silver and turquoise ring. We also got the pleasure(?) of going to a Hammam bathhouse, which ended with a topless Moroccan woman pouring a bucket of hot water on my head, and scrubbing me with her bristly washcloth/mitten. It was an experience. For food, we had a lot of fish and bread. We also got treated to Moroccan mint tea every night, which is a big deal there. I loved it, and at the market I bought four different types of dried leaves (including mint). I don’t remember the other dried leaves….but they all smell wonderful. This morning, I put a mixture of all of them in a pot of water and boiled it and it was delicious.

It was the perfect combination of relaxation and activity. I came back to Italy with a little color in my face, which is nice. This weekend---Paris. Oh the adventures..