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Published: November 8th 2009
Oct 29
So today we headed to Amado after breaky. It was a west facing beach break just south of carapeteria. It had a nice right hander off the north side of the beach and left hander off he south side. We opted for the right hander when we got there however after about ten mins it shut down there was a huge rip that pulled right through it. So we went to shore to reassed and decided to try the left. We both got some good waves nothing epic or legendary but a really fun beach break and it would barrell on the inside, whether you'd make it or not is a different story but it was good fun. This beach was set back in a cove surrounded by red rock cliffs. So it gave beautiful scenery while we were surfing. We did 2 sessions one early then one after lunch and some down time on the beach. It was a gorgeous day out to boot. Both sessions we had had some great fun waves. When we got home jay and I got our spear gear together and had nelson our driver drop us off at the near by harbor/beach. It had a perfect seawall and cliff bluff to fish near. So we suited up and hopped in. The water was pretty clear in close but the sun was setting so it was hard to see. We unfortunately we didn't see any fish at all really just some minos and small makeral. We only had about 20 mins of light so we gave up and headed in.
When we got back we washed our gear, had showers, heated up some frozen pizzas, and watched some surf flicks till we passed out. What a soild day.
Oct 30
So today we headed back to Amado. It was looking real fun. But jay and I both had to "make" there was public toilets bit no tp. So jay had the idea to do it near the water and use wet sand. That was not the best idea.
After that intresting experience we suited up and paddles out. My first wave was sick. I had a nice bottom turn and tucked into a barell then shot out. It was super soild way to start the session. Most of the boys saw it since they were on the inside catching the smaller ones. They all complimented me on it. It was cool. One of them said I was so deep he couldn't see me then I squeeked out the doggy dog. It was sick. I had a ton of good waves much beterr than yesterday. It was lining up much better than yesterday which made for a solid session. When all the boys went in their coach came out and even complimented me on my first wave tube. I took a few more then headed into to have lunch.
After we ate jay and I wanted to try spearing. We walked around the point to a small harbor/boat launch. There was a tiny island just off shore in this little cove. We thought we scored big. But when we got out there we swam half way round and saw nothing litteraly nothig. It was terrible. We then headed to the point but that didn't work either nothig over there. I think I saw maybe 5 minos but that was it. So we headed in. Jay is a bit sick and wanted to rest for the swell tomorrow so he didn't want to paddle out. I contimplated it for a while I ate some food and wantted to go out but it was a bit cold and windy so I didn't bother. Even though some of the rights looked really good. I decided to sit on the deck watch the surf and have a coffee. It was a nice relanxing way to end the day.
When we got back I tried to ring mom and dad but the Internet crapped out on me. And it hasn't come back on all night so I'll have to try again tomorrow.
We had dinner garlic infused pasta with chicken and our olive oil sauce. It was pretty soild but now we reak of garlic. Were just gonna veg out till we pass out and hopefully surf our brains out tomorrow.
Oct 31
So today we hit zavial. It was pretty heavy and big. Unfortunately It was closing alot. It had really fast not very makeable barrells. But we suited up and had a go anyway. It was ok. It had a fun drop then shoot n pump down the line but then youd have to kick out to avoid a closing barrell. I stayed out for about 2n half hours or so. Jay got out ealier because he was sick and it really wasn't that good. I asked him to try and tape a bit when he went in but of course by them time he got set up I was tired and didn't get any good ones. After the surf I went in had some lunch and sat on the cliff bluff read about morroco a bit and watched the surf. It was gorgeous out. I stalled abit about going back in but eventually went for it. I did another hour and half session or so. I had a few soild lines in the begining but the same thing happened at the end just have to stomp a big drop shot a bit of the line then kick out. There were 2 bodyboarders out there snagging all the waves it was annoying and the girls droped in on me as well so I decided to get one more decent one in and call it a day. Hopefully the surf will be more fun tomorrow. Were just on our way back to camp now where jay and I need to do some laundry and pack up so we can be out of the room by the morning. Then make some dinner and pass out. Unfortunately the laundry machine was broken so I did a few shirts n boardies by hand.
Nov 1
Today we headed back to zavial but it was mega crowed and was still closing alot. So we decided to hit ariffana today. It was much less crowded at least when we first got there. The point looked like it was working so jay and I headed out there and most of the boys followed us. It was really sketch though because there was alot of sharp jagged rocks in the line up. The boys stayed out there for about 20 mins before they paddled back to the beach break. Jay had nicked his board on the rocks when he was sitting on the inseide that's how shallow it was. You could litteraly see dry sharp rocks while you were barrelling down the wave. It was scary. While jay was looking at the damage from he rocks he noticed a major crack from his fin box to his rail, which is a terrible place to get a crack because that's where all the pressure from the wave and standing on it is. So he decided to head back in. Nelson our driver was out there with us too but he headed back in as well. So it was just me out thee for about 2 hours. It was sketchy and scray when they were there but was even more so when they weren't. It was a solid 20 min paddle back into the beach. I did manage to snag a few good ones but I definalty pussed out on a few others because I was afraid of not making the wave and ending up on the rocks. I did managed a few fun ones though. When I went in jay told me he was filiming and got all of my waves but my good in on film. Hahah we had lunch in the sun and just relaxed and watched the much larger crow surf the beach break. I contimplating going back out when the boys did but my suit was pretty dry and I wanted it dry for our trip tomorrow and the beach break just wasn't looking worth it to me. We had been doing double surf sessions most every oher day so I decided to just chill read about morocco and enjoy the sun. I had a coffee at the cafe over looking the surf and I jsut sat there lisiting to music fully content with my life and lifestyle.
When we got back jay and I had to repack some things, take quick showers, and have some dinner before Jose took us to Lagos for the night.
When we got to Lagos we set up our camp site then headed to town to use the internt since it had been down at the surf camp for a few days. After we caught up on emails we headed back to crash because the fist bus to Seville Spain was at 6 am.
Nov 2
So we had a 5 am wake up today. We had to pack up the tent and our gear walk across town to the bus station. Were we rocked up just before six with a little running at the end. Only to find out the bus wasn't until 6:30. So we sat and vegged. The mini bus finally came and took us somewhere where we transfered to a much bigger bus. A few hours of sleepng later we arrived in Seville. We did stop at one point and we thought we were going to have to go through customs but there wasn't any around. Kind of weird but really nice.
So were in Seville and need to get to algericas which is where were going to take the ferry to morocco. Unfortunaltely nothing is easy and we have to go to a different bus station. We asked the lady and she said go left 4 blocks it's about 2 k away. Jay was keen on walking so away we went. 1/2 hour later we stopped to ask someone but hue said the only other one is far away and in a differnt direction. So we decided to head back to ask the actual name of the bus station. We tried taking a local bus back to the station but they wouldn't let us on with the boards. So we had to walk back. When we got back we got we got the name hoped in a taxi and he took us to it.
When we arrived we found the right bus ticket counter and bought our tickets. We both were running low on cash and needing to poo as well. Jay went to poo I tried using he ATM 3 times but it didn't work so when jay got back he tried but no dice. I went to poo and then walked around the block to find an ATM. Which I finally found on that worked. I also saw a small resturant we could eat at since we both only had some fruit bread for breaky and some chocolate sandwiches for lunch. As we went to pick up our bags I noticed my camera bag was gone and I started feaking out. Jay walked around looking for it. But no such luck. Some one must have stolen it while we were at the ATM around a small doorway corner. While jay was using the ATM some man dressed in nice linen asked us wha bus station this was. I think he was distractiong us while some one else grabbed my camera. I did find him odd and watched him as we walked by our bags but someone probably nicked it just before I looked. Fucking terrilbe. I'm so mad and sad. Its not even the money of the camera well it is a bit but I again had lost of photos and footage on there and even some of me surfing which out off all of our surf trips this was a first. Fuck. I'm also really pissed because I was gonna use that for africa. I'm not doing well with cameras the past trips. Damnit. Well it could have been worse like my wallet or passport or both. Still fing sucks.
We went and got some small shitty sandwiches at the resturant and then got on the bus to algericas. Which will be an adventure as well since we have no guide book or any idea where to stay. Life is good. I want to go home. 16 days left Haha. I really want to get back in the water for a stress releiving surf. So for at least half the bus ride there was a black lab under the seat infront of me so I couldn't put my feet anywhere but he was cute and nice so even though i had no leg room he may have raised my moral. Dogs are amazing. As we got to algercias we payed attention to find a hostel. We managed to nab one around the corner a bit. We dropped out gear and went to grab some food, tickets for the ferry, and use the Internet.
We walked into the first cheap kebab shop and I turned to jay and said we are in Spain we should eat spanish food. So we walked around town for 1/2 hour or so tryng to find a place but could only fond cafes. So we went back to the kebab place and had some delicious kebabas and split a pizza as well, which was also tasty. Then we went and found tickets for the ferry tomorrow 20 euros for the 2and 1/2 hour trip at 7am. We then hopped on the intenet for a bit and went back to the room to go to bed.
Nov 3
We had a 6 am wake up we walked to the port and got confused about the propper entrance. We walked though some private area and wound up in the right spot or so we thought. We were there at 6:30 standing in line till about 10 of when I guy noticed my ticket and said it wasn't the same company we were meant to wait. We were dumbfounded so I went down to the ticket office and asked about it she said there is another terminal we were at the wrong one so I ran up there to see if we could make it but it was to late. They said we should be able to ake the next one though. So we had to wait and hour and half for the next one. When we bought the tickets the guy said they were not changable so we were both worried about it but luckily they let us on. While wee were boarding we met this Austrian/German guy who sat and talked to us most of the ride and helped us when he made announcements. What was really cool was we got our passports stamped on the boat on the way over. It was so nice to get that out of the way.the boat ride was quite nice. The boat it self was pretty big and very clean a nice posh feeling to it. When we got off the austian guy helped us get on the bus that transported us to the port/customs building.
Now fully in africa our first mission get money. I lead us directly to the banks but none of the ATMs worked. We both had a few euros left over so we exchanged them. Then we walked down the street to the bus station. Where we got our tickets to head to Fes. We were a few hours early so we decided to walk around get more money and some food. The bus comapny had a left luggage place so we were free to roam around for a while. We walked through the medina which was super cool. They were just tiny walking streets lined with tiny shops of all sorts, from food and meat to hand made blankets, rugs and leather goods. It was amazing. We found a propper bank and got some money out and walked around abit more. Time was pressing however so we headed back to the bus station and grabbed a bite, across the street from the station. It would be our first meat meal in morooco. We got ketchba that's not how it's spelled but I think it's seasoned lamb meat. It was the menu of the day so it came with a salad and French fries with a wrap or roti on the bottom. It was all very tasty the meat was seasoned well I think It has cinamon in I because it tasted Christmasy. Haha. We ate up then hoped on our bus for the 7 hours ride to Fes. On the bus we met a girl from Jackson hole wy. staveling solo. She was pretty cool. She got of in a differnent town than us though. The bus stopped a number of times along the way and once for dinner were jay and I got our second meat meal. There were a few pig carcas hung out side. Luckily one of the guys spoke a bit of spanish and we got some ground beef with onions and some beread like Nan but thixhker and rounder. It was delicious. I love street food. Hope my iron stomach holds up I hear everone gets sick here and in India, well see. We fnally make it to Fes around 7 ish and it was already dark out so getting to a hostel is gong to be a mission. We were able to ask the woman at the ticket counter for some help. We walked out the bus station and were bombarded with taxi touts. We almost went with one but he was charging over double what the woman had told us. So we retreated back in. One man followed us in trying to heckle us. I went back to the counter to ask where the real taxis are and what they look like. They were tiny red cars. We finally decided to head back out and that guy started following us again we tried poiletly saying no but he was so persistant I started waving him off. Well he got mad and didn't like that at all. But finally he let us alone. We walked down the block to a busier corner and tried hailing a taxi. Some of these guys were worse than the other guys charing us 100 when the woman said it should be 20 d. We walked across another St and saw a taxi stand but no one wanted to deal with our boards. Finally one guy said yes and we talked him down to 40d. He put the bag on the roof without tieing it and said let's go. We were hesitaint but he assured it would be ok. So I stuck my arm out and held on to them the entire way cross town. It worked out fine
He dropped us off out side the medina. Jay had the guide book and I was towing the boards we walked in seqch for a hostel but wound up walking in a big u and found nohing. Some little boy was following us and trying to direct us somewhere just when I was about to say let's go back and check some hotels out because we passed quite a few a man came up to us and spoke enlish and led us to the hotel jay had picked out. Turns out he was a tour guide and wantted to take us on a tour tomorrow. He said he'd be back at 9:30 for us. The place jay picked was one of the more expensive places and they only had a tripple avaiable. Jay was super tired and couldn't be bothered going else where so we stayed the night. That hotel had the tighest hallways and spiral staircase I have ever seen. It was ridiclous, us with our 2 big bags and a huge heavy surf board bag. It was a nightmare. We finally made it to our room showered, bought some water, and went to bed.
Nov 4
We woke ealry since we went to bed around 9. We had our breakfast, bread with butter and jam some julce and coffee on the roof terrace.
The weather was supprisingly cold. We both put on sweats and long sleeves and decided to try and do a tour ourselves. As we headed to he medina and about 100 yards from the hotel we run smack into the guys from last night. He said he would show us aroud till noon for 150d. We decided to just go for it.
Which turned out very well the medina is huge with no rhym or reason of streets it was a messy maze we would have gotten lost in for sure. He first took us to a tannery. It was amzing everything was done by hand and old fassioned way. We got to walk to the top of a buildig that over looked one of the tanneries and get a birds eye view of fhe producion. It was amazing. Everythig from skinning/shaving, washig, dying, hang drying, and artist work was all done in house. It did smell horrible but was very intresting and amazing. I wish I had and unlimited $, space, and knew everyones sizes because they had everything 3 levels of leather from jackets to shoes to pocketbooks, pilows, cusions ect. It was crazy the amount of stuff they had. Jay bought a pretty nice pair of leather shoes.
From there' the guy too us down many shop filled streets and markets. He showed us many of the mosques inside the medina. He also showed us what was apparently one of the first universities in the world. It was all very lavishly hand crafed. He explained how the green tiles stood for Arabic people and blue Islam I think. Along the way we stopped at a carpet factory where we got to see a man weave a carpet, apparently the woman weave the balnkets. Again if I had the money and apace I would have bought everyone one they were all so intresting and beautiful.
We also stopped at a wood carving muesum which had artifacts from all erras, everything from domesit tools to weaponry. Our last stop was a spice shop. Again I have never seen so many spicies in my life. It looked like a mad scientists office. The owner spoke good english and explained about many spices and how the most valuable spice safeon was cultivated. He had us smell a few spices all of which were amazingly aeromatic. He went on to explain about some oils perfumes and medicines. It was very intresting apparently many perfume come from some glad in the head of a deer. He had a photo of bill clinton and his chef he said he gave bill the aphrodisiac that he used on monica lewinsky haha
He had cures for many things including sinus problems and snoring. He took a small handful of thus black stuff rubbed it in a small thin towel and told me to come near him. I thought I was jsut smelling it but he grabbed my head put it up my nose pinched my other nostil and said breath in. Whoa that was intense and strong like puttig ludacris sauce up your nose just didn't burn as much as the Luda would have. He made me do my other nostil too. Man it was intense he chuckled and said you won't snore tonight. Jay was ding laughing. The guy told jay try but he is just getting over being sick and got a nose bleed earlier so he couldn't. After all that I decided to buy some moroccan curry and the "man of the house spice" apparently it contains 45 spices and even a bad woman cook could make good food with it. Haha. I kind of wish I bought more of it but it was expensive and he had allready bagged a larger amount ofhe curry. Maybe I'll find some more in merakesh.
The guide then lead us back to our hotel where we gathered our things and headed back to the bus station, of course after convincng a taxi driver to take us there. On the way to the station we hit a guy on a moped, not hard just front tire he was splitting inbetween cars to cross the street but we were driving on the wrong side of the road. Don't know who was more at fault hahah.
We checked our bags in and both ran out to get some more cash and some fruit for the bus ride. The bus ride has been decent not much leg room but doable atleast for me jay is tall n it must suck a bit more for him. We stopped once and got to pick up some crappy fruit bread snack for the ride.
We made it to Casablanca and got some help from te cute girl at the info both at the bus station. We bought our tickets to safi for tomrrow and then headed out to find a hotel the first 2 we tried were booked finally the third had rooms. We lugged our stuff up to the room then went out to eat. We had a full rotisserie chicken small salad rice and chips or French fries. It was awesome since we only really had bread as breaky and lunch. Jay needed to find a surf shop to get a ding kit to fix his board so we set out to try and find one. We went back to the bus station to try and get help from the girl and 3 other people tried to help to but no luck. So we then decided to walk around a bit and saw a city sports. So we went in there maybe they would know. They gave us some direction to a quicksilver shop. We started out and jay some how started talking to this guy and he said he would walk us to city towers. I thought it was a bad idea off the start but I let it go. So we walked and walked about 1/2 hr later we get to the towers and it was a mall and I said to jay we need to end this is getting ridiclous. So he told the guy we would walk around by ourselves and he then he said ok and asked for 5 bucks. Jay gave him 5 durian the guy siad no 5 dollars. To witch jay replied we don't had that and luckily the guy just sighed and left. I couldn't beleive how naive jay was about he whole time. It was ridiclous. We walked around and found the quicksilver shop inside another sports buidling but it was closed. I told him we should catch a taxi back since it was a long walk and it was getting later and it was a bit sketchy. So we did. We made it back to our room showered and went off to bed.
Nov 5
So today we continued our mission to find a surf shop for jay to get a ding kit. We went to the info booth to see if they could help us. She sent us out to a shop but it was just a sport shop so that didn't help. We then decided to head to the foxy store to see what they had. The didn't have anything worth while but they did point us to a ripcurl shop that had boards and a small dig kit but it wasn't really the right kind. One of the guys in the shop told us about some shaper he knew in the next town. He was really nice and gave us directions and te phone number but it would have take ln way to much time and was really confusing on how to get there. So we beaded back to the Hoyle grabed our gear went to the bus stop hot some lunch and then got the bus to Safi. When we arrived we asked directions to the center and we hoofed it down. We found a decent hotel checked in and wen to catch up on some much need email time. Some guy in the Internet place said Kelly slater has been around here surfing, mauve well get yo see him in the water.
After that we went and got some dinner. The first thing I saw that caugt my eye was the goat head. A comon meal here they eat everythig off the head except the bones. I was full on jay soon followed suit. The guy grabbed a head peeled the goats face off pushed the eyeball out and started hacking away at it. Then he stuffed it in a small sandwich. It wasn't bad it had a mushy consistany br decent flavor. Jay didn't watch it get chopped up and cooked but i was intreged by it. After that small sandwich we went to the food stall next to it and got some chicken and some sort of minced meat with some veggies. It was pretty awesome. The guy even grabbed us some chairs from inside. Many of the people are very nice and friendly here. I forgot to mention as we were walking down from the bus stop some guy said hello and welcom and shook my hand and his bum friend tried getting money or a ciggarett from my but the first guy told him off. Actually many people say hi and welcome and are all very suprised we are from America. They think we are ozzies or kiwis but they are happy. Thanks for Obama we don't get scowled at any more. We ate right at the food stall and I found out I am very alleric to smoke. I was caughing away like one of the night in Ireland we blew out the candles and the smoke just sat in the van. It's weird I never used to be that bad but I'm horrible with it now. I weeze when I inhale and caugh a ton. After dinner jay wanted to walk around a but to see if we could find a surf shop but he didn't gave any luck so he had to fix his board with the epoxy putty I brought, hopefully it works.
The past few days I have been thinking alot about my life and traveling. I won't go into much detail in this but I had a goal to see more countires than my age which I will accomplish this winter after my African safari. But I also noticed jay and I have been to 11 countires together which us one for every year we have known each other that's pretty crazy most people have only been to a couple and we have been to 11 together and bothe have been to over 20 total. Pretty amazing.
Next I'd like to take a minute to mention all the things jay abs lost alone the way. First e left his raincoat for Ireland on the couch as his moms house in jersey. Then he left his towel at shane's in Ireland. Then he left his flipdlops on keaneys van in ireland. Then he left his flannel at one of the breaks in Portugal that we had to make a special stop one day to go pick up. Then he left his fins in Nelson van which we had to pick up on the way back to Lagos and he realized he lost his booties probably at the same place he left his flannel. Oh yea one day he made a sandwich and left the top half back St the surf camp. And between him bs keany they each lost the keys their knives and other things 100 times. When we checked tonight he nearly lost his passport. Unbeleivable. Book smart and street comonsense smart are verry different things. This list may get bigger in our last 2 weeks here well see.
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Romain Zambaux
non-member comment
Make it shorter
Hola Terry This romain, the french guy from MoNtanita. Send me a resume on my mail of your trip, is so long I don't speak as good english as that, so make me a short story on my e mail. You know I try to Juancho come in Francxe next summer working in my restairant. I hope a lot. Morocco is nice, i've lived there for six years when I was young, so enjoy!!!! Besos RoMaNo