Adventures of Ange

I don't even know how I will be able to describe the past week. It's been a whirlwind of activity, new faces and cultures.

The city of Marrakech is a bizarre mixture of old and new, local and foreign. The souks, winding streets of shops filled with colourful jewlery, artisan crafts, clothing rugs and everything beautiful have held a lot of my attention. It is for shopping, socializing, learning. I have learned about berber herbal remedies, cloth dying, woodworking, and how to wrap a proper headscarf. I have tasted the freshly squeezed orange juice and cooked tajines of Jamaa el fnaa.

I visited a hamman, a local bathhouse where you are washed, scrubbed, pumiced, and the optional massage. I spent new years eve in a taxi with three friends, listening to the countdown in arabic and smoking cigars, celebrating with the driver.

I also spent a few nights in Agadir, went up to the old Kasbah, dipped my toes in the ocean, saw a beautiful sunset. Met so many amazing people, the locals there are so friendly, we were taken to a secretive lounge with live music and shishah... good company. We played pool with some Moroccans, visited a goat-covered river valley where we were invited in by six men to a fire-cooked tajine.

I also travelled to the Ourika valley and hiked up the snowy mountain, saw the seven waterfalls. I was not feeling good emotionally; I cried up and down the mountain.

Now I am in Essaouira, still sick and alone; however I have met a beautiful man who I feel as if I have known forever. We talked in his shop all afternoon, he took me to the beach and out for tea. I left my doc martins on the ocean shore, they are free for any person or the sea to adopt. It was finally time. Four years of memory, I feel as if I am somewhat reborn.

By the way, I am not answering emails, french arabic keyboards are nightmarish. But I am reading them all, keep it coming.