This is where I was able to decompress from Marrakech. It took a full week for me get back to “normal”. After Marrakech, I was a little bothered that I wasn’t my normal traveling self. I kept wondering when the “high-on-life, over-enthusiastic, can’t stop smiling, intoxicated on happy” girl would come back.
To continue the face-punches Morocco was insistent on dealing me, upon arriving at the bus station I was swarmed by taxi drivers offering to take me to Taghazout. I had reserved a direct transfer though the camp, but that didn’t deter the taxi drivers. There are no addresses in Taghazout and there are surf camps everywhere, which is exactly why I booked direct transfer. They would have dropped me off in Taghazout, by my lonesome and lost, to walk around finding the correct camp I’m supposed to be in. This girl is not stupid.
After beating them away with a stick (figuratively, of course) I found the pay phone to call them as instructed. I intentionally accumulated coins to do so, but the damn pay phone kept eating my coins (SERIOUSLY!? DOES ANYTHING WORK OUT FOR ME HERE!? Gosh LOL!) and it took more than a few times for them to pick up the phone. So frustrating. Upon arriving I asked to cancel my second week at the camp (I made a reservation for two weeks initially) as I was flustered and had enough of Morocco at that point, and they wouldn’t let me.
Honestly, I was just so beat up I gave up and handed over my credit card hoping that I would like it enough to actually stay. I’m happy to say I’m SO glad I stayed, but at the time, I was still crossing my fingers. I did do my best over the next few days to meet up with a friend and skip out on the second week anyways but, it was too much of a hike to give up my cost at the camp and spend on new costs to get all the way over to Santorini. So I stayed put.
After being shown my room and around the camp, my stress and frustration were put in the back of my mind once I got to the terrace. It was the 
first time since the extremely chaotic beginning of my trip that I felt ok. The fresh ocean breeze and cool air made me feel like I was home. That’s it. That’s all it took for me to feel better. It was a place that I had nothing to do except hang out and surf. I booked the all inclusive package so I literally didn’t have to think about anything except whether I wanted to go out surfing with them and when I wanted to go to sleep. Surf lessons, wet suits, breakfast, lunch, dinner, surf guiding, and accommodations were all taken care of for only 39 Euro!
Week 1
My arriving day consisted of hanging out on the terrace mostly. Everyone at the camp left in the morning to go surfing, so I had the entire place to myself. During this first week I met fellow Americans, a Norwegian, Brits, Canadians, and Australians. We were quite the group! I loved all the people that came through the came. This places attracts laid back people looking to surf and have a good time. Energy levels were pretty low all around as Ramadan was still going on there weren’t too many people at the camp just yet. This worked out for me as I was still in decompression mode. Normally though, I hear they have quite the parties!
The next day I did go out to surf! We went to Anza to catch some waves. They were small, but good enough for me since I’m a beginner! It was a successful first day with me being able to stand up a few times. I wiped out way more than I stood up but that’s okay haha. It felt great to be in the water and have an all-day workout. I remember saying to myself I should have hit the gym more and got back into Crossfit to build up my strength and endurance again. I was exhausted from paddling around all day.
After we were done surfing and were horsing around the beach, I managed to cut my foot! GAHHHH! Another blow that Morocco dealt me haha. This unfortunately kept me out of surfing for the entire week. But, the surf went completely flat, so it worked out anyways (sorry other surfers lol). In lieu of surfing some people choose to go to the souks in Agadir, some went to Paradise Valley (highly recommended but I never made it), some people went to the nearby beaches to lay out and swim and we also threw in some stand-up paddle boarding.
They don’t sell alcohol in Taghazout so if you want some booze you will have to
bring it in from Agadir. Thankfully they do runs into town frequently so we were able to get our hands on some 😀 Oh, and there isn’t an ATM in town either. It’s THAT small. A couple villages over, in Banana Village, is where the ATM’s are.
I did say earlier that energy was pretty low key, but that didn’t stop us from having extremely memorable nights! We met travelers with the most epic adventure vehicle ever. There was a tent on top, canned goods inside, fishing poles, a first aid kit, surf boards, and everything else one needs to survive on a road trip from Germany to Morocco. Yes, you heard me. This guy drove his car all the way down from Hamburg!!! Oh, and the one and only fire stick. This made an appearance at least a couple of nights while they were here.
Chasing sunsets on a paddleboard
Week 2
It’s always a sad time when people have to leave, but after one week most of my entire first week crew was gone. They moved on with their travels or back home. Some had to leave, some ran out of money, and I think some were bored. I stayed as planned and met the new round of eager surfers
This was when I started to feel like myself again. My foot was healed, I was going out surfing, and when I met my new roommates I had that happy, enthusiastic voice that I normally get. I was BACK!
It was intersting how captivated I was with the new people around me. I stopped distracting myself and hiding through my phone and computer. I was withdrawn for good reason, I needed it, but I told myself to put all that crap away. This is where most of my fun was had.
I was glad I took the time to get myself out of a rut so I could open myself up to new amazing adventures 🙂 Surfing, jet ski’s, camel rides, more fire stick action and memories I will keep with me forever. I keep thinking that had I left in a haste out of frustration, I would have missed out on all of this the second week. Let me tell you, it was definitely one for the story books. I’ll keep the details to myself but I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end my time in Morocco.
Memories from another life 