Well, folks. July was a bit of a "down" month for us, as we were pretty busy in June and knew we would be busy in August. So, there's nothing too exciting to share...J knocked out French classes in the morning and Arabic classes in the evenings, and K comforted street cats. We shared dinner with new neighbors and wrapped up the month with a long weekend in Spain - this time visiting the cities of Marbella and Ronda. We enjoyed having a bit of time to relax before bouncing around the month of August. Some of the highlights in Spain were: eating cereal with pink milk and ice cream at the Cereal House cafe, riding around town on electric scooters (way more fun than we anticipated), relaxing and enjoying the GORGEous views of Ronda *pun intended - it's a city known for its gorges*, and spending some time on the beaches of the Mediterranean.
So, let's get to August...
We started the month off with a week-long stay at Villa Mandala in Aourir, Morocco, just north of Agadir. This trip was planned by J, who read about Villa Mandala and Surf Maroc in Outside magazine. They also happened to be celebrating their 10-year anniversary, so there was a special retreat organized. Villa Mandala offers week-long surfing and yoga retreats, and this special anniversary retreat also included organized cultural trips to various areas of Agadir. Errrrr, timeout...surfing and yoga? Do y'all even surf or do yoga? Nope, but if you're gonna do it, might as well be all or nothing. Am I right??
So we find ourselves at this amazing facility a stone's throw from the ocean, with just 11 other guests and about as many staff members. Seven days, 10 hours of surfing, 20 hours of yoga, 4 excursions, and 21 delicious, vegetarian meals later...we were more like a large, obnoxious family than a group of strangers staying at a bed and breakfast. The two of us managed to improve from complete beginner surfers to average and above average (we won't tell you which one of us was which), and yet we remained equally as awful and awkward at yoga (with the exception of J's "shavasna" and K's "headstand" - we knocked those out of the park). We left the retreat having convinced the staff to write a cookbook; felt like we had aged 10 years in the spine; but, excited to try our hands at some more surfing, and happy with the idea of "thinking" about stretching after working out. Hah, we'll see how far we get.
Overall, a huge two thumbs up to the staff at Surf Maroc and especially Villa Mandala. We highly recommend this experience to others, especially as a couple without children or a girls/guys adventure, or an adventure by yourself because you would make some great friends along the way!
We returned home from Agadir to spend a week in Rabat doing laundry, re-packing suitcases, and preparing for our next August adventure...
JORDAN
But, that trip needs a post all to itself...to be continued :)