Hey guys!
It's just five days ago I flew to Marrakesh. After having some ups/ downs I can definetly say - everything works out well! Being in the mood to share my thoughts, stories about those intensive last days.
Where to start?
I knew it will be a rough start flying to a different continent, a new country and being a solo traveller. Moreover I haven't been out of europe before COVID happened - so i was a bit frightened.
But finally everything worked out perfectly.
Why did I actually choose Morocco as starting destination? Well mostly I'm listening to my gut feeling. There is not a logical answer to this. Essaouira, city famous for kite surfing was always something on my bucketlist and amazed me.
So now you could be thinking: Well I could had been flying into the country and going directly to the ocean to give kite surfing a try. But I thought it would be nicer to have some workaways before - so to better understand/ explore the culture.
So it came that I found Rachid, the owner of the "Riad Panorama" Toubkaltrekkingguide.com in Imlil. A "Riad" is a typical Hotel in Morocco. He was in the need for someone experienced in webdesign and so I had a quick chat before coming and he accepted me staying as a volunteer. Volunteering as a workawayer means to help someone for 5h +- a day in exchange I'm getting a place to sleep and food for free.
Way to Imlil
I catched a grand taxi in Marrakesch and made my way to Imlil. I enjoyed the ride together with a brasilian backpacker - which I met the day before on the streets in Marrakesch. As we were both solo travellers it came that he wanted to join me for Imlil.
Which was quite awesome, as I felt a little bit lost in Marrakesch - a hugh, crowded and loud city.
Being together with him relaxed me a lot. He is quite a funny guy but I found out that he is really into making videos. Which he did from everything ( really EVERYTHING) 😂
So we arrived around 12:00 o'clock at the bus terminal in Imlil. I had the address of the riad panorama saved in my maps.me app so to better navigate to the place.
We walked up the hill into the little village center.
To the left and right were shops for trekking and street food stores selling tajine, moroccon soup and much more.
We stopped at a small Café and enjoyed the view. Underneath us were berber people walking around with mules, wearing traditional clothes.
After the cafe we walked up the hill to the atlas panorama. My final destination for probably the next days.
I did not know that the riad was located so steep up the hill. It's not called panorama without a reason.
Entering the place was amazing. It was such a awesome scenery. The mountains and the small villages around - a real different mountain scenery.
But somehow I felt nervous, not at ease and unsure. How would it be staying here for the next couple of days?
I met Rachid and Brahim and another berber man working in the riad.
Rachid was nice - But he did not had so much time. He was just telling me that there is another girl working as a workawayer and that the hotel was fully booked.
There was no real introduction.
One of the guys showed me, my room - pretty basic. The room was equipped with a bed and some typical plankets.
There was no heating, light was not working and the showers/ toilets where in the floor.
I went back to my brazilian friend. We walked a bit around the mountain path and set down to enjoy the sun and the view.
While sitting there we met a girl and started talking with her in french.
She was married with a man in Imlil but originally from the village: Asni.
She asked if we were married 😆
We made some images and exchanged numbers.
As we went back to the riad I still felt lost. "What the hell am I doing here? Why did I wanted to stay here? Why am I travelling alone?" All those thoughts arise.
I started crying.
The Brazilian guy was super nice. As he travelled a longer time alone - he definitely found the right words.
"Miriam- there is nothing to worry. You are in the right place. Don't you worry. It's okay it's normal to have those feelings. Those first weeks are always the hardest"
It really relaxed me a lot.
Finally i said goodbye to him and made my way into the riad talking to Brahim and Ria the other girl from UK who was working there.
Fortsetzung folgt 😊
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