Sunshine and the Ocean

This past weekend I was able to travel down to Tarhazout which is a beautiful coastal town nestled in a fishing cove known for its surfing and hippy population. It was a very welcomed vacation away from the site and I was able to meet up with 2 other volunteers and hang out. I am able to take 2 weekends off a month, but that only includes Saturday and Sunday and we're only able to travel during the day so that somewhat limits how far we can go. It was a 4 hour bus ride to Agadir then another 30 minute bus ride to Tarhazout so in the end it was a very small vacation. Once we arrived I thought I was in a strange mixture of Greece and California. There were surfer tourists from all around the world and the grungy group of hippy backpackers who long ago forgot about living anything resembling a 'normal' life. I like to think of them as the present day gypsies of the world. Nice people, but a little off their rockers. We were able to swim and relax in the sun on a table of rock which jutted out of the ocean. Very beautiful! I collected rocks and beach glass as the sun and tide went down and the locals began setting up for their undoubtedly nightly soccer match on the beach. Again, I questioned if I was in Morocco. We ended the night by playing Euchre over a bottle of wine and some Snickers on our balcony while listening to the waves crash around us. Vacation at last! The next day I got up early and had to leave to get back to my site before nightfall-- No traveling at dark rule. The only problem was that there were no buses leaving Agadir for my site until late in the afternoon so Peace Corps told me to catch the next bus for Marrakech and spend the night. Score! I got into Marrakech around 5PM and was amazed to find the Marrakech International Film Festival going on in the Djeema El Fna. As I was walking around later in the night I looked up and saw Martin Scorsese on the big stage. Pretty cool! I woke up early the next day to get back to my site and was able to snap a few pictures of the Koutoubia Mosque and festival stuff.