Nichols’ Family Blog
Upon sorting through some video files I encountered this clip that was shot in the beach town of Essaouria, Morocco back on June 13, 2007. Justin had tried to teach the little kids to slap beat while Dad played “This Train”. Fun!
Short and sweet.
The square billowed up with smoke like a volcano, swallowing up tourists in wild frenzy. Night life in Marrakesh Square presented no other image than this. Moroccan barbecue stands lay scattered about like dice thrown from a cup. Their spicy odor rose into the night air with the steadily growing smoke. Foreign tongues filled the huge square. Standing still, with one’s eyes closed, the sound roared like water poured out to flood the streets with reverberating noise of unmatched amplitude and variety. Wading through these tidal waves of sounds and smells, our eyes slowly adjusted to the dim light. Even in the darkness, the sights astonished us. People raced about on motorcycles, bicycles, and three wheeled cars, avoiding collisions by the literal breadth of a donkey’s ear. Skinny cats meandered through the streets pawing nervously at bits of food. Djemaa el Fna square sits in the heart of the Medina of Marrakesh. My brother and I followed our dad through the thick crowd. Adventure awaited us in the largest public square in all of Africa. Three American guys would soon leave the realm of gawking tourists and look through the eyes of native Moroccans. Continue reading ‘The Meaning of a Moroccan Smile’
Monkeys, snake charmers, mint tea, drums, chameleons, rugs, cheap converse, henna and shops. Lots and lots of shops with people hollering at you to come in to “just look, no buy!”. The huge square billowed up with smoke like a volcano, swallowing up tourists in wild frenzy. A plethora of languages whirled through the thick air, demanding, begging, frankly pleading to engulf your money for a meal.
At night time a hundred or so crowds would form about performers of all types. From magicians to jugglers to acrobats to sitar imitating banjo players; the square was the locals source of entertainment. My brother and I both had the opportunity to join performers a various times. I at a drum circle and my brother at a miniature circus troop. He spun his Chinese yo yo with a fury that could only be matched by one boy.
That one boy invited us over to there circle and told us to juggle and basically perform. It was magnificent. We are in Marrakech Morocco. It’s been a fun day. tomorrow we are still here, the day after that we go to the coast of Africa. I’ll post some videos and some pictures up here soon. ciao!
Esaouira, Saouria, Esira… How do you pronounce it again? We went to this white washed town by the cold Atlantic ocean after two days of inner city madness. In comparison, Esaouira was a calming sprinkle of rain to our red blood shot eyes. Esaouira is famous for its blue doors, its wind surfing and its skinny cats. My grandmother, keeper of eight cats, fed them all with pieces of chicken. Anyway, we stayed there for a total of 3 days in various apartments and met many locals. If we go back we’ll have plenty of friends to visit and drink tea with.
I’m in Morocco!
I’m in Esouira!
I’m surfing!
IN THE ATLANTIC ACEAN…we went to a hotel where there were 2 rooms, just the right amount for 6 people. The guy who rented it to us said that there was a surprise… a surfboard. The next day we went surfing, but it was really hard because it was a expert board that was build for speed. But the next day we went and got a half hour surfing lesson with easy boards and a wet suit for Nathan. The most time I spent surfing a wave was when I glided across the water for about half a minute. It was so cool!
Our teacher didn’t know how to speak much English, so he kinda motioned to us what to do. He motioned for us to put the surf boards on the sand right by the water. He told us to first start swimming before the wave hits you, and then when the
wave hits, you lean forward, and hopefully you will get a little bit ahead of the wave. At this point you start getting on your knees, and then on your feet.
P.S. I was shivering crazy half the time.