This weekend, Nissrine and I joined a group teachers from the school on a safari into Quiçama National Park. The park is about an hour south of the Angolan capital, Luanda. It’s a massive game reserve. Within the center of the park is a group of what seemed like decent, air conditioned bungalows along with a…
Reason 1,242 Why I Love Morocco:
The Marrakech medina is actually just many little medinas within one enclosure
Most neighborhoods, whether in a big city or small town, still adhere to a medina mentality, meaning most daily needs are within only a few blocks. Each small area typically has a butcher, a green grocer, a dry cleaner, a hammam, a baker (or community oven), a barber/hairdresser, at least four cafés, a pharmacy, hardware store, tailor, a dry goods shop, and endless small convenience stores. What’s not in a shop, is usually at a nomadic stand that shows up every morning. Often, there are also shops for clothing and shoes, doctors’ offices, gyms, and small restaurants.
Ubiquitous and endlessly useful.
Reason 1,233 Why I Love Morocco: Everything is possible with WhatsApp—doctor’s appointments, car repair, hotel reservations, fish mongers, taxi pick-ups, you name it. Of course, one must obtain the numbers first, but there’s always a friend of a friend of a friend whose brother knows just the man you need.
Isli Lake near Imilchil
Reason 1,200 Why I Love Morocco: When you’re in a tiny mountain village that’s so small it doesn’t have an ATM (the nearest one is an hour away), and you also want to buy a beautiful, handwoven carpet, but don’t have the funds for both that and the room, the hotel proprietor suggests you just send him the money for both when you get home.
I had made plans to travel to and stay in London a few months earlier, but circumstances being as they were, I needed to change plans and decided to begin in Dover. What began as an inconvenience turned into one of my more amazing trips. Instead of remaining within the city, I explored the countryside…
My first tajine, which I made to mark the start of Ramadan 2015. It had potatoes, zucchini, onions, tomatoes and olives.
Reason 1,049 Why Love Morocco: The tajine. Not the meal, but the cookware. I’m so integrated at this point that I don’t know how I’ve live my adult years without one. I use it every day. It’s a pressure cooker, a crock-pot, a deep-fryer, popcorn maker, and “microwave” all in one. It’s truly a wonder.
A fairly typical entry changing area
Reason 1,037 Why I Love Morocco: For $8 I can have a day at the spa (hammam) complete with a man who washes me, scrubs me, then gives me a soap massage.
The last two years, I’ve spent the Islamic holiday Eid Al-Adha with Moroccan friends and families. For this one, I decided to roam around a bit and see the environs of the Beni Mellal area and maybe find a blind camel. Though I’d been in most every region of Morocco, I had yet to adequately…
My newly arranged salon.
Reason 1,019 Why I Love Morocco: Housekeepers (at least mine) feel emboldened to rearrange the house in various configurations both experimental and recommended. It’s like living in a new apartment every week, though admittedly it takes me sometimes a day to skillfully adapt to my new surroundings.
Fresh oysters was just the beginning…
Reason 1013 Why I Love (Oualidia) Morocco: $70 buys you twelve large oysters, two medium lobsters, one large crab, clams, shrimp, and four sole all grilled on your terrace by the fisherman who caught them hours before.