We arrived at the Atlantic Palace (ahhhhhhhh...) where were greeted by Ryan (ahhhhhhh...) and a clean room and a clean bed and fresh food and water and a giant beautiful pool (ahhhhhhhh...). I had never been so happy to arrive somewhere in my whole life. It literally felt like walking into a dreamy mirage in the middle of the dessert.
Beckett had a whole lot of fun in the pool with his Daddy. He loves the water and thinks that everything that his Dad does is the funniest thing in the whole wide world. I love watching them play together!
Here we all are at the beach in Agadir. There was a nice boardwalk to stroll along. It's such an interesting blend of cultures. There are lots of Europeans that visit the beaches in Agadir as well as the locals. The contrast in swimwear says it all: European women in bikinis and Moroccan women in long dresses and head scarves.
We rode camels, of course. Beckett hated it at first and screamed when we got on our super-sized camel, but after a few seconds of the back-forward rocking he decided it was fun and started to laugh. I wasn't sure I was going to like it either, but a taking a family ride on a camel in the desert is actually a pretty good time.
We took a day trip out to visit Taroudant, an old walled city with a bustling market. It was interesting to see how people live there. In some ways it feels like you've stepped back into Biblical times and then you see someone on a cell phone selling DVD players. Odd. And interesting.
The tree goats were a definite highlight. Our guide was telling us about them as we drove and sure enough if you looked on one side of the street or the other you could see herds of goats here and there, some laying on the ground in the shade and others up in the tops of the trees. Apparently the goats like to eat the nuts that are high up in the branches and figured out how to climb up and get them. We pulled off the road to take a few pictures of the goats and the herder was quick to bring some tiny baby goats over for us to hold.
These ladies are pressing the nuts that the goats "pass". They make a fine oil that is used in cosmetics (all around the world). It was interesting to see the process from goats in a tree to hand lotion.
Our last night we saw the strangest sunset. The sun had a "spotlight" that was going strait up into the sky. I kept thinking that it was going to be a fleeting moment, but it stayed through the whole sunset. I've never seen anything like it before in my life. It was a good way to end our visit in Morocco.