Morocco: Culture & Ecology, Spring 2008

The weather was gorgeous for our trip to Asilah. Clear and sunny every day, not balmy but a moderate temperature. When we stepped off the train at Asilah on Friday the mellow feel of a beach town immediately struck us. We walked a kilometer into town from the train station alongside sprawling beaches and the crisp Atlantic Ocean. We dropped our bags at the Bellvue hotel and ate lunch with a particularly annoying littler dog, then strolled the Medina.

Asilah's medina is small but but very intricate and charming. The walls were more castle-esque than Casablanca or Fes, with high ramparts, towers, crenallations, and cannon emplacements. The houses themselves were hap hazard and oddly placed like the other Moroccan medinas that we have visited, but the homes were white and many different shades of blue or green at street level. Asilah is known for an annual art festival, so many of the walls of the medina bear interesting murals. The median runs parallel to the sea on one side, providing gorgeous views of the sea from the its' high walls.

Saturday began with the rare opportunity for a sleep in. After rousing ourselves for some Malawi at 10:00 am, we prepared for a horse cart ride to paradise beach. We had strong horse and a driver that tended to push the limits of his animal, which Kempie did not appreciate As we left Asilah for the beach, we rode though a small shanty town outside of the city. It stood in jarring contrast to the clean streets along the beach and the work being done to attract foreign tourists. The scenery was beautiful, rolling green hills of grazing and farmland, with a small town and minaret placed perfectly on top of a hill in the distance. The terrain dropped sharply into the water, but the seaside cliffs ended abruptly, exposing a wide stretch of sandy beach.

The beach was spectacular, maybe the nicest I have ever been to. Large swells, refreshing water (meaning it was a bit cold) and barely anyone else on the beach made it a memorable couple of hours. I am accustomed to the crowded beaches of the Maine, New Hampshire or Florida. I never thought that such a perfect stretch of beach could not have too many people, sleazy beach arcades or high rise condos. It is nice to know that some beaches in the world have not yet been overrun.

The apres-beach party was held at the local hmmam, or public bath house. It was my first hmmam experience and wont be the last. This hmmam was broken down into a changing room were I stripped down to my bathing suit, then into three washrooms of increasing in temperature. The hottest room was nearly as war as a steam room, while the coldest was like a hot shower room. The men were extremely helpful in showing Charlie and me proper way to get water and where to wash. I was concerned about breaking some important rule of etiquette, but no such thing occurred. I spent most of my time in the hot room pouring cold water over my head. Many of the men would sprawl on the ground and take a nap or rub down a friend with the hmman scrubby It was great to take a long time to clean myself because generally a shower is an in and out routine. I made it a painstaking and involved process. I haven't felt that clean in years.

Asilah was a relaxing distraction from the intensity of Fes the we really enjoyed ourselves.