Celebrating My Birthday Moroccan Style!

 ~Round 2 Weekend at Essauoira Beach. The boys we met wanted to throw me a birthday party.
“You want a big riad with a pool?” ….”Uh, yeah sure!”…..”You want a Moroccan style cake made from the bakery?”….”Who doesn’t!?”

So we packed our bags Thursday night and Friday after school we jumped on the 5pm bus to the beach! These buses are nice, tour, air conditioned buses. While it doesn’t have a bathroom it’s a pretty comfy ride. During the 2 hour commute, which seems to go by quickly, I slept and took pictures of the vast, flat land ahead, still strange to see. Not even one hill. You can see for at least a mile. And there really isn’t anything to see. Just dirt, donkeys, and some buildings and stores every now and then. Here are some shots along the way. I asked for the front seat to elevate my leg. 

This 2 hour rest allowed me to dance later on that evening ;) Worth it!

 Again, still pleasantly surprised how clean some parts of Morocco are. There are some dirty patches too, but have not photographed them.

A Mosque
Did I mention I have finally heard the call to prayer? So once the siren and chanting starts, on this Huge mega phone, it's not like people drop everything in a trans and go running. People still carry on, however there are people making their way to the mosque for prayer I'm sure. For some strange reason I thought the sound would be either frightening or bothersome to me.....well that's ignorance for you. It was neither. I actually liked it. Of course I haven't the slightest clue what they are saying but the rolling on the tongue with all of the sounds of the Arabic language are kinda cool.

I learned that Marrakech is also known as the "Red City" because of the red sandstone used to construct the buildings back in 1122 by Ali Ibn Yusuf.

Sights on the way ....taken from bus

And there's that beautiful sunset again! One of my favorite things here in Morocco.

The French teacher Ludivine. She is from Paris. She invited me to go sometime...Sure!
And Lexi, from PA.....she teaches 3rd.

I love opening the door to the bathrooms we stay in....never know what to expect.

Love the sink and mirror.

We were each given a room to share with one of the girls and given the most unusual key. Fancy, Smancy.

So we got off the bus to meet the guys. They had a car waiting for us. We traveled along a DARK road that looked more than deserted. It looked as though it was a graveyard! There were trees that when lit up from the car lights looked white.....scary white! And then there were white huge rocks just scattered everywhere. Five of us were squished into this cab and Everyone starting yelling and screaming at me! "Catalina, I'm too young to be taken for a Moroccan sex slave"... lmao.....after I assured the girls we would all be fine (I really didn't know where this road was leading to either) we arrived to this!
Not too shabby! lol
We all had a good laugh and were ready to enjoy the evening. Even had an in ground pool!

Awesome  Night Sky

Night cannon ball contest....

Even though the toilet paper was scarce.....we had a pretty sink. 

View of our riad during the day

I decided to make it a solo shopping day....no shoes bought just yet

Loved walking around and turning different corners whenever something struck my eye.

I love these kinda rings.....didn't buy yet. Honestly, too many to choose.

Lunch back at the beach club.....this was yummy! They also had super cool live music but the videos on Blogger don't load! :(   AHH!!!

I've always had a thing for photographing bicycles.

Wandered into an art gallery and bought a piece....going back for more.

thought this was funny

I'm not a big fan of the tea that is served all the time....it's Very sweet. A lot of the teachers seem to enjoy it, and I love the glasses they are always served in. I will learn to make it without the sugar.

So many twists and turns and then landed here! Yeah! A Buddha! Hmmmm.....what is this place?
I went inside and found a really cool shaggy rug. Bought it. Pics to follow. She said they serve sushi here in one part of the store and then items in the other. Looked interesting.

Inside another shop/restaurant I stumbled upon.

Did I mention the riad we stayed at was next to a farm? We didn't know that and heard animal noises in the middle of the night. 5am the rooster did its wake up call. And somewhere between 3 & 5 there were weird donkey noises.....
Come morning, I peered through the wall and found our little farm friends. 

I wish......sometimes.

I am. 

Did he wear an American shirt on purpose? lol

I spy an man cooking in the kitchen. Actually we tried to help and they kicked us out. That's a switch.

The birthday dinner was done. Chicken, with potatoes, onion, olives, and Moroccan spices.

Oh yeah, and bread. It's always the same kinda bread. I don't even know what it's called or made of but it appears at all meals. You rip a piece off and sorta use it as a fork.

What I have noticed is that everyone eats from the same plate. You just reach with your hands and grab. Dear Lord! A germ nightmare for me! I couldn't help myself....I realized this the last weekend so this time I packed plates, forks and napkins. Didn't seem to insult anyone and we all used them. (and still grabbed meat off with our hands) Oh Well.....lol

So sweet! A HUGE birthday cake with my name on it! They all sang in Arabic and if the video loaded you could see it. :( The cake was so big it didn't fit in the fridge so the door was open all night.

Don't even know how it got started.....

Cake was flying everywhere....

And being smashed in people's faces :)

And then it was my turn....

Thankful for the friends we made and for the laughs we had, Especially when they didn't understand our slang. There were times they tried to use American slang, and or different phrases and it came at all wrong and meant something Totally different. Clarifications needed to be made. Learning about people and culture is Def fascinating to me. Even though we all are brought up differently, and from different cultures, religions, and economic backgrounds, one thing remains the same.
EVERYONE wants to be loved and accepted.
Bottom line. 

artwork I bought

The spiritual path - is simply the journey of living our lives. Everyone is on a spiritual path; most people just don't know it.

Marianne Williamson