Travel diary #43 : Unexpected interlude in Ourika Valley (part 2)
Salam Aleykoum !
Here is the second part of my 2 weeks stop in a yoga center in the surroundings of Marrakech, Morocco.
The village of Douar Sbiti where I stayed for 2 weeks :
🎂 For my 25th birthday, I decided to wander in the shady alleys of a botanical garden near the village. Anima Garden is the work of artist André Heller, it’s a 2 hectares oasis of art and plants hidden on the outskirts of Marrakesh. So here I am, in the middle of nowhere in Morocco contemplating Keith Haring's drawings or plates signed by Picasso under the shade of a giant cactus...crazy.
I obviously felt in love with this place. To my mind, Anima garden is even more special than the famous Majorelle Garden of Marrakech (and bigger!).
Note to self : from now on, spend each of your birthdays in a botanical garden.
The visit ends on the terrace with an incredible view of the Atlas Mountains. I planned to climb Mount Toubkal (4,167 m) in February with my dad but my plan fell through because of the border closure. It will be for another time, for sure ! This is also what this « slow travel » mindset is teaching me : it’s not possible to see/do everything in a country with a limited amount of time. If you don't want to just discover the places on the surface, you will have to renounce to some things and accept that it’s ok.
After that, I’m then invited to drink tea and eat the “second breakfast” (in case you haven’t realized yet, you eat a lot in Morocco) at several people in the village. Olives, trays of delicious homemade moroccan sweets, bread and oil to dip in... it would be rude to refuse, right? I never cease to be amazed by the generosity of the people here. So between two glasses of mint tea, I try to thank my hosts with clumsy "choukran bezaf" (“thank you very much”) and a big smile.
Life goes on in Bab Zouina and I can' t get enough of this place….Camera in hand, I enjoy the place…
Of course, there is also a Tennis court here (!). The opportunity for me to take some pictures of my hosts, Karim & Helène, in action.
As if life wasn’t good enough, I can take a break in the Hammam after a day of work… what a life.
And here is the yoga room. I’m lucky to attend a few classes :
Karim, the owner of Bab Zouina, is also member of an association of school support for children in the village. He gave me the opportunity to visit the place and to spend a morning with the kids.
Children singing the national anthem ⤴
Like often in Morocco, I’m welcomed with a lot of kindness and generosity. I attend the children's activities and participate to a small party to celebrate the end of the semester. I was very touched by all the volunteers who put a lot of energy into giving the children access to what they were not lucky enough to have when they were younger.
Children can come here after school to receive tutoring in English, math or history. They can also come just to do activities, draw or sing. It was amazing to see how hard people work to provide the best education possible for them.
Remember Ayoub from the last article? He is also an active member of the association. When he's not teaching maths, he's making the kids sing!
Mohamed is an english teacher here. A special thanks to him for spending whole morning with me showing me the place 🙏🏻
This group photo with association members turned out way more badass than I thought ! 😅
With all these new experiences and a full heart, it is time to leave Bab Zouina for new adventures.
The day I left, I discovered the talents of Aicha, the cook, who drew a gorgeous henna tattoo on my hands. Nice goodbye gift ! (well, it would have been perfect if the product had not burned my skin after 30mins. I’m really curious of how henna is prepared 🤔).
I am now back in the vibrant city of Marrakech for an undetermined time !
The country's borders were closed for two months and reopened this week, Morocco is happy. As for me, I think I had gotten used to being the only foreigner in the streets and I have a strange feeling when I see more and more tourists walking around the city every day. I don’t have Morocco and its exoticism all to myself and now I have to share with others.
I have to admit that even though traveling as a covid is not easy, it has allowed me to experience places that haven't been so empty of tourists in decades. I feel really grateful to have had that chance !
Memory of my first month in Morocco, in Taghazout ⤴
I have started this blog when I first travelled solo in South East Asia more than 2 years ago. The passion hasn’t faded and I’m still really excited to share photos and stories with you here. If you like the content I post every week and want to support the blog, you can buy me a coffee here ☕️ (A big thanks a lot to the people who supported me already, it means a lot 🙏🏻) or simply leave a comment below ! :)
