The Atlantic Morocco

We are sitting on the train from Marrakech to Safi, a small fishing village on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. This is the only train ride in Morocco on our journey as the west coast is covered also by rail. It turned out that there are not free seats in the train. But fortunately, the ride only lasted three hours. The train was delayed as usual all transport opportunities in Morocco are. We managed to push through the masses of Moroccans fighting to get into the train. It was a bit like a cattle fair. When we entered, only the place near the toilets was free. The surprising thing was that the ride turned to be totally fun. We had a local guy who was constantly praising his "cool" cell phone that has a picture of David Beckham, and he was playing musicon that cell phone and singing. He shouted like crazy with no voice during fierce "trash" music. Later, one guy pulled the drums out and we danced near the toilets on the train. As Morocco has only recently experienced the development of mobile communication, it’s common to meet people that want to see your mobile phone, trade something for it, or they just praise with their mobile phones and show you what gadgets they have.     

We traveled the Atlantic coast of Morocco from Safi to Agadir. Most of the coast is known for its pleasant relaxed towns like Essaouira and popular surf destinations like Taghazout. All these originate from small fishing villages that grew into large urban units, or surf and tourist destination started by the uprising "hippy" culture. And so today, the coast of Essaouira is known as a popular windsurfing destination, and the southern part of Agadir by wave surfing.

The little fishing village Safi – not even the fog can hide the garbage dump that goes all the way down the cliff to the Atlantic.

Safi - a product of old generations of fishermen. The picture shows the central street, trade, poverty and old buildings.

Globalization.

Taghazout - before a small fishing village, then a "hippy" paradise, now a tourist center and the leading wave surf spot in Morocco.

We shared an apartment with more people.

Socializing at our hosts, most of them are surfers, all look like Bob Marley, all live this lifestyle, but none of them drink or consume "the blessings of this country". Most of the guys we met want that their mothers find a girl for them, according to the Muslim tradition.

Negotiations to rent a surf board.

Swimsuit, new line, Summer 2010

The funny thing was that we came here so I can live my long forgotten dream, wave surf. It took awhile to find the waves because the season is the whole year except summer. Basically, we arrived in the time of year when the waves moved in other distant places.

Our new Dutch friends and surfers shared some useful tips.

Finally we found a spot, "Banana Beach" near Taghazout, maximum waves "waist high", just right for learning. Anyways, I finally found an oasis in the world of sports. Surfs up.

For more about Morocco check out all the other posts...