Breaking with Berbers

Riding the train- standing in an open doorway
with the wind blowing my hair back.

Plans for my spring break began with my friend Anna and I discussing the possibilities.  As it seemed most of our friends had family visiting or were hoping to leave the country, Anna and I were on the same page about seeing as much of the country as we could.  As the semester progressed we collected advice on hip cities and intriguing adventures.  The top adventure on our list was to hit up the desert for a camel trek.  Once we decided that the desert portion should last about three days and that we wanted Alaina to join us after her family left on Wednesday, we had to formulate the plan for the first five days.  It seemed intriguing to spend this time relaxing on a beach.  Once we factored in the amount of travel from one side of the country to the other we had a stable idea of travelling down the west coast from Essouira to Agadir across the weekend and then heading east towards Merzouga in the middle of the week.  This meant we had to be in Ouarzazate, in the middle of the country, by Wednesday.  With this vague sketch we headed out to conquer Morocco.

Pretty graffiti in Essouira's main square

As an added bonus, our friends Macarena and Abesha decided to join us.  Both had planned to travel abroad, to Italy and Egypt respectively, but were denied visas because they are not American citizens, (Peruvian and Ethiopian, respectively).  We were excited despite their disappointment and soon they were excited as well.  On Friday we headed to the train station.  The trip began with a train to Marrakech and then a bus to Essouira.  Although we did not get there until late in the evening, we had a very enjoyable trip.  Marrakech is very salmon colored, in case you wondered.

Dinner of fresh fried sardines on the port.

Running on the beach.

In Essouira we spent the first night at a nice Berber restaurant and then drinking wine and eating crepes and chocolate in our hotel room.  We stayed at the Cap Sim, which is a very nice small hotel near the port, and would pass on the advice to stay there to any friend wishing to travel to a beautiful city.  The next morning we had breakfast in the hotel and spent the day wandering the port, the beach, and through the souks in the rain.  One of the best cities for shopping which I have yet encountered.  I bought some beautiful hippie outfits and a large ring.  That night we watched the sun set from Taros Cafe, which overlooked the port, and then spent the night with a few girls from school and their friends.

At Taros Cafe, Waiter who couldn't open a wine bottle, Abesha, Me, Macarena, Anna

Oh the ramparts we watched...

Hotel Cap Sim

The beautiful windows of our hotel room.

Berber restaurant

Our Berber friends who own a store across from the restaurant and with whom we had tea the next day.

We decided that Essouira was so enjoyable we had no use for a trip to Agadir, which is well known for its modernity and tourism.  After a nice sleep and showers (hot showers!!) we spent the second day in the hotel lobby with Youssef, the hotel manager, playing Uno and reading.  Youssef's brother delivered schwarma sandwiches to us from his restaurant and we watched movies on the English tv station in the evening.  I found that Youssef was actually Berber, and he taught me some sounds which distinguish Berber from Arabic.  Later in the day we had tea with the Berber shop owner who worked across from the restaurant where we ate the day before.  Early the next morning we headed to the second part of the adventure: Ouarzazate.