chutes and ladders

Salaam! This is Sara. I just thought I would update you all on what Jenny and I have been up to. My trip has been a life experience that I will never forget. I arrived a little bit late in Agadir, but seeing a smiling Jenny was well worth the long trip. Miraculously the luggage came, bizzare. Fahrid, a Moroccan who lives in U.S., befriended me and gave us a ride from the airport to our hotel (Hotel Argana) where we then unloaded our things and went out for dinner at Little Italy.

The next day we traveled by grand taxi to Essaouira which was beautiful. We drove along the coast most of the way and arrived in the afternoon. After checking into our hotel called Hotel Smara, we basically shopped the day away. A word that I repeated over and over throughout the day was; overwhelming. There are so many vendors and so many choices. Especially shoes. At the end of the day I wasn't sure of what I liked anymore.

On Easter Sunday, I woke up Jenny to a pre-planned Easter surprise. I hid plastic easter eggs filled with American chocolate and jelly beans all over the hotel for her to find. We then grabbed a quick breakfast of freshly squeezed orange juice and cookies and took another grand taxi to Marrakech. Long taxi ride, but also worth it.

Marrakech is an amazing place. It is very busy with lots of people (Moroccans and tourists), millions of vendors, snake charmers, orange juice stands, monkeys, crazy people zooming around on mopeds, and horse and buggies. We checked into our hotel called Sindi Sud which was very cute! Jenny planned for us to meet her friend and fellow Peace Corps volunteer, Rebecca with whom we were sharing our hotel room with.

Shopping was very successful in both Essaouira and Marrakech, but I found that the people in Essaouira are much nicer and the vendors in Marrakech just want your money and were very rude. Most of the day in Marrakech I pretended I could only speak Spanish so men that harrassed me would leave me alone. Once we entered the souk I really felt like I was in Morocco: I had no idea which way was out!

During the afternoon Jenny and I took a break from shopping and paid a man 150 durheim to take us on a horse and buggy ride around town. I loved this! The driver took us through the souk honking his horn so everyone would move and I could take as many pictures as I liked without getting hassled for money.

On Monday we woke up pretty early and left for Jenny's site! The taxi ride was very long and we stopped half way for lunch. The journey to her town takes you through a big range of mountains with lots of twists and turns and the a pretty quick decline into the valley. Jenny had sent her luggage to a nearby town so we stopped on our way to pick it up and it was there waiting for us!

Currently I am in Jenny's house! We made it safely to her site and I met Kabira right after we got out of the taxi. She is so beautiful and very smiley. It's nice to know that Jenny is well taken care of here. Today we had lunch at her host family's house where I met Nadia, lots of family, the twins, and Abdella - the cutest little Moroccan 4-year-old boy ever. He remembered 'Megan" and wants me to tell her that he says hi! "Lunch" was a 6 hour affair. We also had a 'fashion show' where they dressed me up like a doll in four different traditional Moroccan wedding outfits. I was very sleepy and tired of being fussed over.

We left the host family around 5pm and came back to Jenny's house to grab Chutes and Ladders to play at the Dar Chebab. Then we had to go right away to the Dar Chebab. Jenny's boys are so cute. The LOVE her. Everyone is constantly saying "Jeeeenie" to get her attention. They all want to be near her and one, Salah, left early because she wasn't paying enough attention to him! I think about 20 to 25 boys came. We played connect-four, chess, and chutes and ladders. They LOVED chutes and ladders. I won twice! And Morwan won the other time. Morwan is my favorite so far. He constantly says Jenny's name, which is cute, and he also walked us home and even helped us buy cilantro. Jenny says her boys always walk her home at night because it is dark. I have no idea what they are saying, but I do know that the all talk her ear off!

Tomorrow we might play Monopoly in the morning and then we're going to the farm for lunch! I am having a blast here and don't want to leave on Friday. I wish I could stay at least another week with Jenny!

Lastly, I just want you all to know how proud I am of Jenny. She is fluent in Arabic, a master chef, and established a great youth program here all by herself! Also, I know some of you are worried about Jenny but I want you all to know that she is well taken care of. Her host family, her boys, Kabira, and so many others care a lot about her and look out for her well being and safety!