We went to Morocco with the KITEFORCE band for the first time in 2010 as part of the expedition “Kitebugging in the driest places on the planet” and back then we drove through Morocco by car from north to south and from west to east and back, we made a big circuit through Morocco with stops in the planned kitebuggy locations.

This autumn, in the off-season, we decided to visit Morocco again. This time as part of a kiteboarding camp. The destination is the city of Essaouira, which has 70 thousand inhabitants and is the most popular kiting destination in Morocco (the only better one is Dakhla, 1200 km away) and whose medina (old town) is part of UNESCO.  

1 Dh (dirham) is currently 2.7 CZK (50 cents (20%) more than in 2010!)

The tickets from Berlin to Marrakech were slightly over 100 euros, even with 20 kg of luggage, and we left Marrakech after less than four hours by taxi to Essaouira, 170 km away. Here we went from 1500 Dh to 900 Dh, which we paid for the trip for 4 people with full gear (2x kitebag, 3x big pack, 3x small pack, 4 people). We take the old “mafioso” merble and stop for coffee on the way for 10 Dh.

On the way, we chat with the driver who speaks poor English and later we tell him our housing requirements (we had nothing from the Czech Republic, so it was fun to be there). So: close to the beach, cheap, for 4 people, apartment. We arrive in Essaouira and after a while we recruit a local who accompanies us to another local. We negotiate the price of the apartment I’m going to look at. The apartment is nice, big enough for about 7 people, bathroom, kitchen, balcony overlooking the beach and about 50m from the beach. It’s great! From 400 Dh a night I get to 300 Dh a night for 14 days, we’re in. Everything works out great and the first night instead of zevling on the beach we sleep straight in the apartment, awesome.  

In the morning we wake up to a sunny day and from 11am it starts to blow. The weather worked out perfectly and out of 14 days it blew on 9 days 10 and on the first day on 13 days. We skipped one day because we physically couldn’t take it anymore. On the beach we meet half the world and several local kite schools including locals who all teach. There are even kids kayaking, well a joy to behold. This must be where the stars are born, I think to myself. The beach is very wide, suitable for landkiting, the tide is also very wide and you only need about 150m into the sea, then not again. There are perfect waves, which are different every day in height and overall different because there is a sandy bottom. Sometimes it’s awesome motocross and it kicks nicely.   

On the seventh day, we rent an older Dacia for 250 Dh for 24h and drive south to Sidi Kouki, where there is a beautiful “surf and kite” beach and it’s practically just a base for surfers and kiteboarders. The waves are a lot bigger than in Essaouira so overall it’s more fun but also more challenging. We eat, ride for about an hour and a half, and drive north above Essaouira to see what it’s like. It looks good. Beautiful, wide and shallow beaches. On the way, apart from a few dogs, a little Moroccan boy, about 10 years old, jumps under our bikes and wants something, anything. Unfortunately, we have nothing. We left our pencils with two fine but extra pushy vendors in Sidi Kouki, who I hear went from Atlas to Essaouira with bags full of Berber jewelry. (In Morocco it is customary to take care of the poor and give them occasional gifts. This is instead of the welfare system we know in the Czech Republic. That’s why beggars on the streets also get some change or a cigarette here and there from the locals, and it’s good to occasionally smell a dirham, it’s fitting here).  

Almost every day we go for fresh fish on the pier where there is a fish market and for vegetables in the medina. Vegetables are very cheap here, others are not. We cook at home, sometimes go to Kefta or Panniny with chips and for a coffee at Le Murex where they have wifi. To illustrate, coffee and tea around 10 Dh, panniny and chips around 35 Dh, quarter chicken and chips 30 Dh, kilo of mandarin oranges 5 Dh, fish 40 Dh, tinned tuna 8 Dh, sardines 7 Dh, pita bread 1-2 Dh, water 5L 12 Dh.

And then also “hallo my friend first time in Moroko?”, “yeah you don’t have glasses?, you don’t want glasses, original RayBan, Oklay for 300 Dh”. . I end up buying it for 50 Dh and I exchange it (plus 50 Dh) for a cool Berber bracelet at Sidi Kouki the next day, which I don’t really need, unlike the glasses I don’t have anymore, but I enjoy it. Then they strip me of my t-shirt (plus 20 Dh to that) for a behemoth (kind of like a pipe), they’re a real hilarious duo, these merchants.

There is little haggling in the medina anymore and not much. Essaouira is very touristy and the locals know this and already know the possibilities of tourists, so it is good to tell them that we are “from Czechoslovakia” and some will associate it with “poor country” and give a better price.

Next day, back on the nines, yep, we have to. Trenal. We’ve all progressed, but when was the last time we rode so hard?

In the evening, we go to the medina, which is like a big mall, full of everything you can think of, with billions worth of goods (tons of carpets, leather goods, traditional and modern clothes, handicrafts, jewellery, jewellery, metalwork, foodstuffs, live chickens, fruit and vegetables, meat (not pork), countless cafes, restaurants, hostels and hotels, pastry shops, etc.). Wonderful, exotic, fragrant and fresh. Every now and then we buy something, go for a coffee and a sweet, and almost every time we walk through some new, yet undiscovered alley. In the medina we meet mostly Moroccans and locals who spend time and shop here. The medina isn’t more expensive than shops elsewhere, but it does sell a bit “in your face”. Of course we get ripped off, just a little to keep from being told. Hashish, I don’t know why, is offered to us about 20 times a day and it is obvious that this is also a commodity sought after by tourists. So to be offered nothing we have to look either totally drunk, or homeless, or stoned, or just looking at the ground. They’ll even accuse Mikyza of looking like an American actor. We tell everybody that we are Czechs and that we will definitely not give them the same money for the same goods as an Englishman, a German or a Frenchman, no no no. “Ah Czechoslovakia”, they understand and know where to put us. After a while of haggling he shakes his head, “those Czechs, it’s hard with you”, he doesn’t want to go down in price anymore. He doesn’t take objections that ten years ago there was a different league and laughingly says that a lot has changed in ten years. 

Morocco is developing dynamically, it is visible in practically all spheres. Prices are rising, they are reaching European prices and tourism is booming. New apartments and hotels are being built everywhere. Luxury cars are driving in the centres, the buildings retain a maghrib feel and everyone is nice and very friendly. Inshallah!