Day 126: Life Is A Beach

Asilah – Paradise Beach – Asilah, Morocco

We originally planned on leaving today for Fes in the late after noon, but while we were on the ramparts in the medina we had been persuaded. one of the locals told us “you have not seen Asilah until you have visited Paradise Beach.” Needless to say the sun was shining and we dropped our plans to spend the day bus hopping to Fes.

We hopped onto a horse cart in town and took a bit of a ride out to the beach. Riding a horse out on the highway way was interesting but trying to keep from falling off while the horse was in gallop down a beaten dirt road was more of a challenge.

The road opened up and showed us the coastline and it was everything that was told of it and more, Paradise Beach is defiantly a fitting title. We popped down in a nice spot that was fairly deserted and enjoyed climbing the rocks, the sun and surf. A local kid came by and grabbed a handful of clay in my hand and began gesturing me to rub it all over myself. Not one to go against reason i did, From what I understand is that you rub on the clay, let the sun bake it on to your skin and when you wash it off in the water you skin is soft and fresh or that’s the gist of it considering i don’t speak Arabic.

Elys went off and perched herself onto a nice boulder and caught a nap, while I spent the next little while getting bugged by some shady characters who tried to teach me the wonders of the Moroccan Mafia, Allah, and how to try to get money from tourists for doing absolutely nothing, It didn’t go to well considering none of us spoke the same language and after a heated debate about how i’m not going to give them any money, they left to kick some sand.

We met up with Abdul at the beach and relaxed a bit more. I lack the words to describe the scene and actually do it justice. The water retreated back into the sea, and there was a long sandy stretch between us and ocean. The sun was dropping and it was time for us to catch the horse cart to get back to Asilah.

 After another one of Aunties famous dinners Abdul took us to hang out seaside. We lounged around, tried to pick up chicks with a guitar (instead attracted small children and drunkards who like to sing along…DISAPPOINTED), ate snails, all sorts of good fun.

Afterwards Abdul took us to a spot where some of the older musicians from town get together on saturdays and play traditional Andalusian music. Each song is about a half hour long, then between songs hash pipes are passed around every which way and the new song starts. the music is easy to get lost in, mesmerizing. Its no Rihanna but it fit the mood.

Definitely was a good idea staying in Asilah for and extra day..but tomorrow comes the long bus to Fes (its the cultural capital of Morocco don’t cha know)