morocco

i haven't posted until now because i didn't want to feel like the best trip of my life was really over. tara, emily, and i spent four full days in marrakech with our guides simo and abdou, who turned out to be the coolest guys and a big reason our vacation was so incredible. simo welcomed us at the airport thursday and took us to our home, the riad, for the weekend. the lobby was our first indication, but our room confirmed that we were staying in a straight up palace! we were immediately served traditional mint tea and biscuits while we discussed the itinerary for the weekend. we headed out for lunch on a terrace, i love that they sit on couches with pillows all around at every restaurant. moroccan salad was first, the two main dishes were lamb with prunes and lemon chicken, and dessert was fresh fruit. we finished with more mint tea and biscuits, then we walked to a spice market where we learned about all the different spices and also bought black soap and argan oil for our hammam spa after. the hammam was pretty awkward with the women washing/scrubbing/massaging us, but i felt so soft and refreshed afterwards, simo said we were true moroccan princesses. we went out for dinner with simo, abdou, and their other friend zakaria and they taught us some arabic and wrote our names out for us. then we all got ice cream and called it a night.

friday we woke up early and went straight to the camels! we rode around for a while and then went to a berber village in the atlas mountains. i think this was the unanimous favorite part of the weekend. we saw a traditional house that looked like it was out of national geographic with stone walls, a woman doing laundry on a washboard, a cow and a goat in their cattle room, and a ladder we climbed leading up to the roof. we put down a handmade carpet for our mint tea, abdou showed us how to wrap a turban, and then the guys played music and we all danced together, it was magical. after a few hours in heaven, we moved on to the women's argan oil co-operation nearby. the oil comes from the argan tree, which only grows in morocco, so we learned how they make it, and also its different uses in cooking, bathing, and massaging.

we had lunch on the ourika river with orange slices and cinnamon for dessert, then went on a waterfall hike up one of the nearby mountains, which was actually more like rock climbing, but so beautiful. we stopped by a carpet house where tara and emily both bought rugs and then took the long drive home. that night, after naptime, we went to dinner near the riad and then went out with simo and abdou to a belly dancing show. we sat in a huge booth on the top floor of a nightclub, sipping mint mojitos and smoking mint hookah. we were really getting into the moroccan spirit.

saturday we got to sleep in a little before simo took us to a palace-turned-museum of marrakech, 'musee dar si said' and then to the main square to see the snake charmers and monkey tamers. next we walked a while to the majorelle gardens and took a horse carriage back to the main square.

a traditional couscous lunch was made for us in a moroccan family's home. we also learned to make moroccan mint tea and got henna tattoos in the family's living room. we were there for most of the afternoon and then left to go shopping in the square and test our haggling skills. i got balloon pants, a tea glass (instead of my usual shot glass), and a gift. for dinner, simo and the lady that ran the riad taught us to make tagine and we ate it on the roof terrace with abdou and zakaria too. after some quality bonding time with the boys, we passed out in our palace only one staircase away.

we slept in on sunday too because it was our free day. shopping was pretty much our only plan, so we went back to the main square to start. i got a few more gifts and a pair of earrings before we got so far into the markets that we had to ask for directions back to the square. we had a cheap lunch, omlettes and moroccan soup, and then got orange juice. the best orange juice i will ever have in my life. i dont even like pulp, but the freshness and perfect chill was incredible. so good. we walked to the nearby mosque and a really cute park right next to it, the weather was just so great to relax for a while before going back to the riad to pack. we said our goodbyes to abdou and our favorite little woman at the riad, then simo at the airport - all were so difficult, but i really think we all knew somehow we would see each other again. simo invited any of us to come back with friends or family and stay with him and i would love to take him up on that offer because this was honestly one of the best weekends of my life.