Dar Dalila Essaouira

... shops to try to find some culturally appropriate clothes for Mauritania and some local art. I ended up buying a new purse and shirt. I do believe by the end of this trip I will have quite the eclectic wardrobe. Craig says I’m starting to look like a proper hippie already. I just need to find someone to give me dreads….

... man after his bath with the locals. Apparently you go into a big room and they put local soap all over him and scub he said that a layer of skin came off and then they put big buckets of hot water all over him to make him clean. As I could not go Mohammad brought me back some local clay that you mix with water and put on your hair to make it really clean and nice so will have a girly night when we get home and we can try it out.

Marrakech, Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz, Morocco traceybelle

... dear as a souvenir) scarf - and they ended up draping it 'round my head and THEY snapped a pic of ME!

- Given my (relatively recent) penchant for collecting a bitty tattoo from each country I visit (o.k. I only have 2 so far - starting w/ my 1st ever in South Africa 5 years ago, followed by a sweet blue and yellow "Om" symbol from Bali ), I was understandably eager to add a permanent Morocco tattoo to my ...

... into the small kitchen seating area to wait for it to be cooked. Yassir orders me some chips and a Moroccan salad. The atmosphere in there is superb – and I love every second.

Their selection arrives cooked and ready to eat. They all get tucked in and I really, really wanted to join them, I just can’t find it in me. Then Yassir breaks off a small bit of sole and hands it to me “come on” he says “eat it, it can’t kill you” ...

... A popular old Russian song by Alla Pugachova, the light suddenly went down low for a couple of seconds and the show was over... It looked like synthesizer of a band member was burnt by electricity failure=( It was so pity...

So, as far as we ended our drinks, we went back through the night city, which looked wonderful at night... Then again we spent some time by the pool with some wine=)

... this is not happening... la dee da da da... Bloke splashes after us and lingers. "I have good stuff, you want stuff? I make for you good price. Very good price." I contemplate asking "What do you mean, what kind of stuff? What is this stuff of which you speak?" just to humour him, but Mum has already got her wallet out... Haha, kidding, she ...

... lovely room in Moroccan style. I felt like I'd never want to leave again. My first stop was Il Mare. A restaurant right behind the city walls but high enough to look over them. Ten days before Christmas, I was sitting outside on the roof terrace, enjoying a good lunch with a view of the ocean. It was blue skies all over and just pleasant. Was it really 3 days since I was walking through the snow...

... drifted apart, lured by the many beautiful shops which beckoned, and I found myself alone with Cara. It was a crisis situation; my alcohol stock was none existent. The last of the wine was polished off last night in an attempt to divert my attention from the damp, musty smelling room. Eventually we stumbled across a small 'off licence' and stocked up. Our bottles were wrapped in newspaper and then placed in a plain black plastic bag, as is the way in Morocco ...

... women with older children strapped to their backs walking to city to sell rugs or get supplies for rug making. Crazy! I really can't imagine living this way. Also passed through many fields of argon trees, used to make argon oil that is suppose to be very good for you including to help treat diabetes. The good news is that the weather got cooler and cooler as we got closer to the coast. Arriving in Essaouria from up above in the ...

... reason we had been upgraded from standard rooms to huge corner suites, with the sea crashing outside the windows of both sides. We can only think that Rashid somehow got her to upgrade us. We then set out to look for some dinner, and by chance bumped into Megan's parents friends who were coming back from dinner. So we all went out for dinner for us and drinks for them and a catch up of our trips around Morocco.