March 2007

The surf has been onshore for two days now but the swell is lifting and it is swinging offshore tommorow morning; this morning Renaud and I went and had breakfast with these two hot french / arabic girls he knew. All was good until we left the cafe and I felt really uncomfortable as every man in the street from age 20 to 35 was just staring at us. After we walked home and got inside Renaud and Yoan starting laying down a few of the Moroccan laws to me;
One; Have sex with a girl outside of marriage and expect a good five years in a Morrocan jail. The fact that there were more laws to come didn't really concern me as that initial law meant that I think I will spend my last week and a half in Morocco just surfing playing cards and pool.

Whilst this law is true; it is only of concern when you are with local women and especially in smaller towns in the south of the country such as Sidi Ifni. In tourist spots such as Agadir, Marrakesh and the north coast the law is almost disregarded.

Im living pretty well in Sidi Ifni at the moment; I'm spending about $8 (AUS) a night on accomodation and I have a shower, dvd player, kitchen the works. Go out to dinner every night for $3.50 and get half a chicken, chips, salad, bread, mint tea, vegies and dips. And then during the day just make avocado, tomato and olive sandwhiches for about 90 cents each; and get a glass bottle of coke for 50 cents.

Ohwell it's lunch time so I'm going to head off and get a cous cous and get ready for an arvo match of poker; sorry about the lack of photos but I'm recharging the batteries.

Garrett; Sidi Ifni; Morocco.

As you enter the walls of Sidi Ifni, with one edge of the town nestled in the mountains and the other opening out onto the sea; you really feel as though you are entering another world.
With swell is building and the wind slightly crosshore; there is never more than three people in the water and a lot of the time you can be alone. With deserted beaches stretching out in front of you and surf all around it really it feels like a lost paradise.

The town has it's characters, and none more so than the local surfer Ahmed. As passionate for surfing as the pope is for religion he spends every day on the water; this thirty year old Morrocan started surfing at the age of 18 and is at home in the waves.
The two french travellers;
Renaud; the photographer.
and
Yoan; the lost surfer.
Provide hours of entertainment from our intense games of pool to the hours spent surfing, or the casual sharing of a Tangine au Poisson.

This morning Renaud and I hit up the beach; for an early morning session. With the swell picking but the winds slightly onshore it wasn't perfect, but with the whole beach to yourself it makes it all worthwhile. I had some fun waves and Renaud did his best to captre the moment.

The town feels as though everything was built from scratch in the 1950's and nothing has been altered since; with it's decaying Spanish art deco lining the walls of every house it really is a place that must be seen to be believed.

Garrett in Sidi Ifni; Morocco

The next three days were spent, lazing, eating, playing cars, drinking, tanning and jumping off the rocks in front of the house whenever we wanted a quick surf at Hash Point.

The chilled out surf town of Taghazout was an amzing place where we met ravelling surfers from Germany, Austria, South Africa, America, Australia, New Zealand, Morocco, England, Spain and even Sweden.

The Sunset's from our balcony rivalled those at home, and the black shadows of the palm trees at Anchor Point made them just that little bit better.

Last night the 5 of us went our seperate wayswith the Americans heading back to Paris and Catherine and I getting a lift down to Agadir with a Californian guy Cliff; named 'Californiacation' by the local kids. We all exchanged emails and phone numbers and vowed to meet for a reunion in Australia in 5 years time. Our awesome little crew was just one example of the amawing people you meet when your travelling. (The pic was taken by Catherine)

Anyway for the past 4 hours I have been sitting in a cafe at a bus station in Imezgane just south of Agadir; waiting for my 4 oclock bus to Sidi Ifni; where hopefully the surf will be bigger. As the local surfers say if there asked about the possibility of a bigger swell tommorow;
Incha-Hala; God Willing.

Garrett in Sidi Ifni; Morocco.

This morning we awoke to the sounds of a catfight on the terrace; as annoying as it was it served as the perfect alarm clock. We hit up a small restaraunt packed with locals for some croissant and pain aux chocolat. On the way to the bus stop our taxi driver pointed out to us the local mosque, whilst carefully navigating the lawless Morrocan roads which could be considered interesting at the best of times.

Before leaving; we decided to check out the souqs one more time and I managed to score myself some Morrocan sandals; sweet.

On arrival at the bus stop the haggling began; "take my bus 100 Dh; tale my bus 90 Dh; speaking french allows you to avoid being totally ripped off and Catherine and I managed to get two tickets to Agadir central for 80 Dh; $11 each. The 4 hour bus journey through dessert and snow gave us a small taste of the many colours of Morrocco.

On the trip we met three american guys; Mark, Simon and Will; they were studying in Paris and had just spent several days hiking in the high atlas and were heading to Agadir to relax and unwind. We chatted for a while and they decided heading up the coast to the fishing village of Taghazout to chill and surf, sounded like a sweeter option.

Catherine, Mark, Simon, Will, Joseph, Me and the taxi driver crammed ourselves into a taxi and with some sweet arabic tunes blazing we headed the 20 minutes up the coast to Taghazout. The thing in Simon's hand is the one handle that was used to open all windows; named 'the tool'.

On arrival we were met by Adil; a guy who said he would find us a sweet apartment. After the standards of Marrakesh's hotels we weren't optimistic as to what we were to expect, but after walking across town and up some steps, we were taken to one of the most amazing views I had ever seen; from Agadir to Anchor point, with marble floors, a balcony; roof terrace, shower, toilet, 5 beds, kitchen, fridge, T.V. and huge 8 seater couch; it was all ours (after a bit of haggling) for $14 (AUS) each a night.

We quickly unpacked; and whilst the americans headed into Agadir to get some beer and Catherine went into town I ran up to Anchor's and surfed sweet 6ft anchors with just 8 other guys, for the last 2 hours before dark.

We all headed into town afterwards for some tangine's and cous cous at the sweet local restaraunt, "Le Paix".

Garrett in Taghazout; Morocco.

Theres one place in London where the sun is always shining; above the clouds.

The cold, damp and depressing Gatwick Airport sitting many thousands of metres below me quickly faded from my mind as I opened the lonely planet guide to Morocco and began to rummage through the pages working out what my plans were going to be when I hopped off the plane in this Arabic / African country on the other side of the world.

My plans were all thrown out the window when upon leaving the airport; Catherine ( a british girl ) and I shared a taxi to Marrakesh's central medina; "Djemaa el-Fina and she convinced le to spend the night in Marrakesh and enjoy the souqs, snakes and cullinary delights.

I had my first real Morrocan experience 10 minutes after leaving the airport, when in the heat of an argument over which taxi was going to fit my surfboard and how much it was going to cost, my wallet and sunglasses were all pinched loosing around 400 Dh; $60 (AUS) which was a chap way to learn an important Marrakeshi lesson; watch your stuff.

Hotel CTM was our accomodation of choice qnd for 80 Dh; $11 (AUS) a night we werne't expecting much. The appeal however was not the so called shower or extreme luxury item of a flushing toilet. But the location; with a rooftop balcony over-looking the Djema el-Fina with it's hundreds of food stalls selling seafood, salads, kebabs and cous cous.

Bongo players, snake charmers, story tellers and fortune tellers it truley is a world of it's own.

The calamari, tomato salad, olives, bread and dips was my pick washed down with a glass of mint tea will set you back around 30 Dh or $4 (AUS).

The fashionably poured mint tea is Lorroco's answer to Starbucks and serves as a great way to soak up the heat and laze away the afternoon.

When you come to Morocco, expect to be hassled, because you will be. For anything from the price of a taxi to a freshly squeezed orange juice, the vibe is fast paced and all about the business. With the sun setting over the medina and the smells of seafood all around I was stoked to be in an arabic country on the other side of the world in th ecolourful and buzzing city that is Marrakesh.

That night we chilled on our hotel roof terrace soaking in the moment and the craziness of the past 7 hours; whilst staring out on to the lit up food stalls filling up the Medina.

Garrett in Marrakesh; Morocco.