Heading to the Beaches - Essaouira

I think I mentioned we have a nine passenger van, I think we needed it, but leaving it parked for six days in Marrakech in a secure location ( that we paid for) made me wonder if it was the right decision.
 
Adam contacted me, he was one of the two young guys we met in the town where the kids played “ Foosball” , or “babafoot” here in Morocco. Adam can be seen in the pictures teaching Aynsleigh how to shoot pool. He was a very impressive young man, 22 years of age and was so good with my younger children. He is from Marrakesh and was just in that town visiting his grandparents. His English is perfect, he’s very educated and had a charming personality. He offered to join us on our next part of the trip which I could only define as,” going to the beaches”.
 
It was a difficult decision, our family dynamics work well in traveling and we can pretty much sleep anywhere. When you add someone else you take a chance of changing those dynamics. Plus these are the last few days our family will be together for almost three months and we had to think hard if we really wanted someone to join us. Sure having someone to translate is great, but we’ve managed traveling around the world without a translator so we really didn’t need that. 

Adam came by our riad and we instantly were reminded how much we enjoyed him and agreed we had room to include him. We never regretted the decision! He was a wonderful addition to our family. Adam stepped in when shoo keepers were too pushy letting them know that turned me off, he bargained for me, he secured apartments for us... he helped watch Loftin and truly cared for him. We fell in love with him and were glad we had the room for him. We didn’t alter anything due to his presence, he fit right in and rolled with all of our punches.
 
Our first stop was Essaouira! A wonderful shopping experience and a lovely beach town filled with wonder! There were many strays and we continued our tradition of carrying around cat food and dog food for them.
Adam secured us a nice apartment and a facility that washed and dried our food.

Driving around Morocco and a sweet spot

We have rented a nine passenger van for our two weeks. We always rent with AutoEurope and I think I could be their biggest fan, they are awesome! We just got in the car and drove!!! We didn't think we'd go too far, but we forewarned Pedro at the hostel if we didn't return that night don't worry about us!

About an hour east of Marrakech,  we drove through a town, Sidi Rahhal, a small town that appeared to be mainly a very dusty street and something told me for us to stop there for lunch. I saw a man cooking outside with tangines (the traditional pottery used in Morocco, with a chimney type cover) and he caught my attention.

This was not a tourist area, far from it I guess. Within seconds the kids found a building beside us filled with school kids playing Foosball and Pool/billiards in this one huge room of just cement walls with little to no decoration. Nothing new inside and each game, to play, cost 1 dirham/mad (about ten cents). Kids gathered around us as we made sure everyone had money to play, more kids showed up and everyone was smiling! It got a little crazy with so many kids asking for money, but the cost was so minimal and I was certain they'd remember my kids for a long time and I knew my kids would remember these few hours forever so throwing minimal money at the situation was worth it.

 

Two older " kids" in their early 20s watched over my kids and translated beautifully. Both were very impressive young men, one we called " Smiles" as his smile was lovely and his name sounded similar, the other was Adam, who impressed me of his handling of my kids, especially Loftin and Aynsleigh.

I got many wonderful shots of the girls playing Foosball with tons of boys and feel pretty certain these boys have probably never played Foosball with a girl before. This was a mama heart moment!!!!

It was beautiful to see, and Steve and I relaxing street side right next door eating our wonderful tangine was just an added bonus.

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