After breakfast-hard boiled eggs, breads, coffee and juice, we book a camel ride with the other family we have been hanging around with. Our guide helps set us up with a local guy, who we hope will show up at the appointed time. Sure enough he shows up-with a taxi. The taxi laws are strict here and only 3 can go in at a time. The dad’s each split up with 2 kids apiece. That leaves me and the other mom, Jillian and the guide. We squeeze into the last taxi and as we drive by the police on the edge of the town, I lay Jillian down. The taxi driver looked back at me and smiled saying something along the lines of-‘ah, good thinking.’
We pair up on the camels with Kaitlyn having to brave one on her own. She’s not too happy about that. Camels are strange creatures to ride on. We climb on as they are lying down and then they rise up one end at a time. Despite my legs were sticking straight out, stretched to their limit, it is actually a bit easier than the donkey. It is against the law to ride the camels on the beach now because of their poo and the risk to others on the beach, so we walk thru some brush instead.
Jason’s camel was in the lead-he was the head male, the only one not neutered. Every time a female camel walked by, his camel would make this strange noise and an enormous pink bubble of flesh would pop out of its mouth and the spit would fly. That wasn’t even the worst part. My camel was directly behind Jason’s. His camel decided to poo half way thru the walk, which was fine, except it felt the need to flip his tail as it pooped. I could only lean back so far, but little bits of camel poop found their way to me. Kaitlyn was behind me screaming that the poop was going to hit her and she wanted off. The stupid camel did this not once, but at least 3 times during the ride. These animals are absolutely disgusting and I think I will never ride one again. At the end of the ride the camel guide told Kaitlyn that when Angelina Jolie visits, she always requests the one she was riding.
We relaxed for 2 more days in Essaouria. The kids played on the beach, we walked around, went shopping for souvenirs in places we really didn’t have to bargain at. This is an intense vacation that makes us really miss America. One of the highlights over the next few days was going to the fish stalls. Despite it being street food, it was touted as safe. You basically pick a stall, pick your fish, they cook it and you eat it. Nothing like eating fish caught fresh that day and grilled to order, served with a side salad, chips and a drink. The kids were happy with chips and ice cream. Tomorrow we head back to Marrakech for the night and then back to our home in England.
