Last week, we made the trip to Agadir for a long weekend, and Kevin got to try surfing! The waves were pretty gentle the first day, which made for good learning. The second day was a bit windier and Kevin’s beginner’s luck had worn off. It was still fun, and the trip was a nice break from routine.
Check out the surf —
Over one of our recent breaks from school, we took a little family sight-seeing trip to visit the ruins of a Roman city called Volubilis. It was really neat–and quite laissez-faire in regards to tourists’ curiosity! We got to climb all over everything! Now that’s the way to visit ruins!
(We tried to choose only our favorite pics, but still ended up with 14 in our slideshow!)
We had some visitors from the Middle East a few weeks ago. 4-month old Raelyn and 5-month old William got to spend some quality time getting to know each other (though William had a lot more to say). It was so fun to have the Rumbaughs here — we showed them around Casa for a few days, then it was off to Chefchaouen, a mystical town in the north of Morocco. It was our first time there but will certainly not be the last — it was so cool!
Here are some photos — I promise that the colors are not enhanced in any way! The town really is that blue. Also, our daughter is really that crazy — check it out below!
We traveled with my parents to Fes earlier this week. It was a really fun time, though a bit too short, perhaps. We arrived on Monday afternoon, and my dad and I promptly went in search of a hamam, or bathhouse. We were led to an ancient hamam in the center of the old medina — I don’t think too many tourists make it to this hamam. It was an awesome, if somewhat intimate experience that I’ll never forget!
We had dinner at a lovely Moroccan restaurant, sampling all kinds of veggie dishes and a wonderful chicken stew with onions and prunes. Tuesday was packed with a light breakfast, 4-hour walking tour of the medina, and a 4-hour drive back to Casa so I could help out a student at a senior project presentation. 20 hours is far too little to really explore Fes, but I’m glad we went and I’m sure we’ll go back again soon!
Here are some of our pictures…
This is the courtyard to our Riad. The hot tub wasn’t working 😦
At the restaurant for dinner
Raelyn’s awake — hurry take the picture!!!
A modern-day blacksmith working hard to sharpen knives. I think he actually uses that sharpening wheel in the front of his shop.
The tannery — it was fascinating to watch these guys working with the leather. It was also horribly odoriferous.
Candid shot of me walking by the mirror shop…
Trying on some scarves at the weavers’ shop. I think I’d look pretty good in the Sahara, don’t you?
Wrapping up the trip with a feast of couscous at our house.
Keely wasn’t satisfied with only posting the 2 sunset pictures, since our trip was far more than staring at the sun. So, after begging, borrowing, and stealing, I have some more photos to share. Enjoy!
We made it out to an English pub one night. The food was delicious and the atmosphere enjoyable. Lots of folks watching soccer.
The hotel's "salon" served as a great game spot. Here I'm totally killing at Catch Phrase, can't you tell?
A portion of our group, posing in an Argan tree. Goats will climb these trees to eat the Argan berries -- seriously! We saw it!
I wasn't lying! These goats are incredible!
Last week had a week off for spring break, so we decided to head to Agadir with some friends. It was fantastic! Agadir is a beautiful beach town/city with an unbelievable boardwalk (“corniche”) and lots of sun. I even got to sail three days in a row — that’s pretty much all it takes to make a good vacation. It was really relaxing and a nice recharge time away from city life. And it turned out to be pretty reasonable by staying in a room with a kitchenette and cooking all of our meals. Now we just need to figure out how to drive from Casa to Agadir without getting pulled over three times…
Here was the view from our 4th-floor balcony
Sunset picture number 1. Stay tuned for another...
Taken approximately 30 seconds later than the previous picture
We’ve had the pleasure of having a few guests in our home for the past week+. It’s been great to hang out and hear some of their stories from traveling the world. Laura started in Dubai and has been on the road for about a month. Ryan started in southeast Asia and is almost 2 months into his travels. They’re fun.
My observation is best summed up in a picture: the photo below is an accurate description of what Millennials do when they travel — surf the web!!! We have to stay connected, you know? 😉
Keely and I spent last weekend in Marrakech at a marriage retreat put on by the staff services dept at our school. It was a great time to get away, debriefing a bit about our relationship and our first 6 months here.
The retreat was at the Palm Plaza Hotel, a little 5-star place with ridiculous amenities. Luckily we were staying there using a steep discount from the owners, who send their kids to our school. We even got some free time at the spa, including the hamam (closest idea in the American vocabulary is the Turkish Bath).
Check it out here: http://www.hotelpalmplaza.com/en.langue
We had a fantastic 2 weeks off of work here. Christmas was a little different, being our first away from family. Here is a shot of our make-shift “Christmas Screen,” complete with lights and 3 ornaments!
Merry Moroccan Christmas! Don't we look festive?!
After Christmas, we drove (and ferried) to Spain! It was surprisingly easy — who knew we were so close? We spent 4 days in Malaga, Spain, enjoying the availability of bacon, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Ikea. We even got to see a movie in English!!! We saw Avatar and really enjoyed it.
Here is a shot of us from a castle overlooking Malaga. The weather was nasty that day, unfortunately.
In Malaga, Spain
The Normans in North America! 