Holiday continues in Essaouira

Waking up and not being able to shower is not that exciting. It’s fine if you make the choice not to shower, but when the decision is made for you, it’s much less fine. At least there was water in the sink to wash my face and brush my teeth. Oh, and the toilet was finally flushing by the morning.

After waking and breakfast, we made our way to the bus station, found our tickets, and boarded the bus to Essaouira. (Pronounced s-o-wear-a, now say it quickly. Good job.)

Ah, Essaouira. This is the place for a holiday. A quiet ocean side town, only about 70,000 people who are as relaxed and friendly as I’ve come across in my short time here in Morocco. Getting off the bus and feel the cool of the ocean breeze wash over me gave me an immediate Zen feeling. I was already looking forward to spending an afternoon on the beach, reading a book, without guilt. However, there were other small adventures to experience first.

For our first night in Essaouira, Annie was to be my roommate. She and I had one simple request now that we had arrived in our new location, we wanted to enjoy an adult-type beverage with dinner. Sadly, that didn’t happen. However, we did run into other colleagues who’d been in Essaouira for the entire holiday. We agreed to meet up again that evening for drinks and catch up.

There are an incredible amount of stairs in Essaouira. The place we found for dinner, although no drinks, did have a view of the ocean, once we made it to the fourth floor. Johnna, in her persistent effort to try new things, ordered grilled shrimp. Sadly, Johnna’s not the biggest fan of seafood, especially when it still comes with its shell on, and has a fresh, salty, fishy (good fishy) taste to it. Thankfully, when we stood up to leave, the seagull who’d been watching and creeping closer quickly finished the remaining shrimp. It was quite the scene to watch this seagull standing on the table top and slide the shrimp effortlessly down its throat in one swift gulp for each shrimp.

Now, time for ice cream. Happily, the ice cream place was on the ground level, and next to where we met up with our colleagues for drinks. Drinks were on the fourth or fifth floor. I lost count as I kept thinking the stairs would end.

Our group of four happily grew to 11. We shared stories, laughed, and made plans to meet the next night for dinner. I didn’t realize it was possible, but I felt a bit like the character Pippen from the movie Lord of the Rings when they stopped at a pub and he was so excited to order a drink that came in a pint. Well, at this place, you could order a drink that was a liter! That’s insane, and huge.

Our party became smaller as children were tired and needed to be put to bed, but a few of us stayed for one last round. It was down to Annie and me to slowly finish and continue to relax and drink in the night. We then noticed a group of three folks enjoying the warmth of the fireplace next to us, and we all struck up a conversation.

A lovely group of Brits! The five of us stayed sharing stories out until who knows when, and this became my night of staying out like a rock star. We also managed to make several new Moroccan friends, who really just wanted a chance to practice their English. As teachers, who were Annie and I to protest? Needless to say, Annie and I slept in like the rock stars we were, and finally made it out for lunch. I love holiday!