Monday, June 27, 2011

Weekend in Essaouira

Sorry readers about the hiatus for a few days from this blog. I just got to take a trip down to a coastal city called Essaouria. It's pretty big with tourists both Moroccan and foreign. I went there for the annual Gnaoua Music Festival that is very popular as a party weekend for Peace Corps volunteers in Morocco.

The journey was quite a long one totaling in about 8-9 hours travel one way. I got to spend time on the beach (with a lot a lot of sunscreen on, Moroccan sun is strong!), hang out on a cool Moroccan roof, and spend lots of time with a lot of other volunteers.

In total there were about 80-100 other volunteers there from all sectors and all training groups. It was a strange but nice feeling being part of the group there that were going to be the next to leave country. It all goes so fast here that I can easily put myself in the position of anyone else at any stage of their service. It feel strange that I am nearly on my way out already.

It's always fun meeting new volunteers. There are about 230 volunteers in country and it's not possible to meet or know them all. But now I can say I know a lot more! We are all so spread out and Moroccan travel is usually a long and tiring process that it's not likely that I will see many of them again but I wish I could.

Overall it was an experience that I am glad that I got to have, one that  a lot of volunteers like to do while here. It took me back to college days with lots of partying and hanging out in a big house.

I don't have any pictures to share with you because I didn't risk my camera being stolen by taking it there. Essaouira was very crowded during this weekend and I always here about ramped pickpocketing. Plus being in a house so close to so many other people things could get misplaced. But luckily I had no incidents of unfortunate events. Here are a few from the Internet just for you to get the idea.