Back to the real world!

Hi all, I'm sorry for the lag in communication! Things got crazy again with work, and then Michael and I took a much-needed vacation this past week to the Caribbean.

Our destination was the island of St Martin/Sint Maarten, which has both a French and a Dutch side, hence the two different names. We were on a bareboat yacht charter, which means that we rented a sailboat for a week, and Michael captained it. The crew was myself and two of our couple friends, Miles and Sarah and Kelly and Letham.

The boat was our floating hotel and our means of getting from place to place. In the end, we visited both sides of the island, the country/island of Anguilla and of St Barths.

Michael and I originally got together as the indirect result of a charter he organized for New Year's 2006 in the British Virgin Islands. This was our first time back on a boat together...and most likely our last major trip before the birth of our child. So it had lots of special significance.

Here are some of my favorite photos from our time there:

Local restaurant in Marigot, St Martin. Supposedly, our fave traveler, Anthony Bourdain, had eaten here and recommended it.

Palm Sunday procession in Marigot, St Martin.

The procession continues down the hill.

Marigot bay

A taste of the turquoise water yet to come on the trip.

View from a patisserie in Marigot.

Closer look at the architecture and boats.

Sunset in Grand Case, St Martin -- looking towards the ocean

And looking in towards the bay

Gorgeous views until it got completely dark

And then the lights...

Boat life

Michael taking a break on deck

Michael as captain

An unexpected sign in Orient Bay, St Martin

Me in Orient Bay

Little bird and bananas at a restaurant in Ille Pinel, St Martin. Early morning, before all the people arrived.

Peace and quiet before the crowds arrive

Dinghy dock and cafe in St Barths

Michael in St Barths, mega yachts behind him

Anglican church in St Barths

Michael and I on the deck of our boat

My past life as a solo traveler

Long before I started this blog, I led quite a different life. I held a job where I only worked and slept, which resulted in two things: 1) I was single, and 2) I lived for my vacations.

I always wanted to share my travel photos and stories with the world, but I never really knew how I could do it back then. So, better late than never, I am going to start presenting some of these now, with the perspective of time.

Back before Michael and I got together, I loved the thrill of traveling solo. Why? There was nothing more exhilirating than being completely responsible for your own itinerary, from the planning stages all the way to getting off the airplane in a completely foreign country, knowing that thousands of doors were open to you. The success or failure of the journey lay firmly in my own hands.

I took three major trips back in that phase of my life, between when I came back from studying in Germany and when I started at my current place of work. They were:

• Mexico, September 2003


• Panama, February 2004


• Nicaragua and Panama, February 2005

The February 2005 trip was the longest, most ambitious, and also the one where I had a digital camera! So I will start with this one.

Now, let me preface this series with the fact that I did not really know about voluntourism back then, and it had not occurred to me that I could give back during my travels. If I were to do it again, I would definitely look into non-profits I could help, at least a little, on my way.

However, in keeping with the theme of my blog, these are tales of change, in addition to travel. I learned about parts of the world I had never really considered before, and I became a self-sufficient solo traveler. When I look back on 2003 through 2005, these trips are among my greatest personal achievements.

So, for the armchair travelers out there, I'm writing this with you in mind, and I will do my best to give you the fullest sense of what it was like to make these journeys. And for those aspiring world travelers, particularly those who wonder what it would be like to travel solo, I am writing this for you, as well. It would be an honor to inspire your future journeys.

Here I am in Nicaragua in February 2005 with my backpack and camera, ready for the adventure to start.

In my next post, the journey begins!

Morocco Trip Recap

It's time to wrap up my coverage of Michael's and my amazing honeymoon to Morocco last November. I hope you've enjoyed our photos and tales.

For those of you considering a trip to Morocco, I would highly recommend it. I think you'll find enough reason why in my blog posts these past two months.

Here's a recap:

• Morocco Part I: Accommodations


• Museum of Marrakesh


• Ali Ben Youssef Medersa


• Djemma el Fna by night


• Journey to the Atlas Mountains


• Road trip to Essaouira


• Jardin Majorelle


• Marrakesh Odds and Ends
  

Most things you can do in Marrakesh and the environs without prior reservations. In fact, not having a set itinerary can allow you to experience some of the details of life there, without the stress of being a tourist on a schedule.


One thing, however, I would recommend planning ahead: booking some time at Les Bains de Marrakech. This is a spa in the Medina where Michael and I were able to live like royalty. The highlight was the hammam (Moroccan bath) we experienced together. Normally, baths are segregated by the sexes. However, here we were able to have a private hammam. This consisted of sweating in a very hot room, being slathered down with herbal soap, scraped off with exfoliating mitts, doused with water, and then given a four-handed back massage.

The heat and sweating was quite intense, but it was all worth it. Afterwards, I felt more relaxed than I can ever remember being. We got to shower off the remains of the sweat and soap, and then wrapped ourselves in bathrobes, and retired to the soaring chill-out courtyard filled with comfortable low beds and decorated with candles, fountains, and rose petals. To top it off, we were served the most refreshing mint tea. It was heaven!

Check out the website (above) for a photo tour of the place. It's all the more amazing that this spa is tucked away in an alley so close to the dust and chaos of the crowded city.

And that's it for now. I hope you'll get to experience it one day! Feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email at gonnamakeachange@gmail.com if you have any questions or would like some advice on planning a trip to Morocco!

Marrakesh Odds and Ends

As I wind down with my coverage of our trip to Morocco last November, here are some things I haven't yet shown you.

Marrakesh's famous landmark is the Koutoubia Mosque and its minaret, which, interestingly, has served as inspiration for church towers and buildings the world over. The minaret helps you find your direction in Marrakesh, as you can see it from many places in the city. It's a particularly impressive sight at nighttime.

Just imagine coming back from a night out at the Euro-style clubs in the new part of town, leaving the high-rises and gardens and wide avenues for the increasingly narrower streets and alleys lined by ancient buildings and filled with people and streets stands, your compass being this minaret. That was our journey home one night.

Michael and I took a cooking class one morning. La Maison Arabe is a famous Marrakesh hotel and restaurant that has a satellite location 15 minutes outside of the center of town where they have their swimming pool, special event facility, and cooking school. Behind very non-descript doors, you find an unbelievable oasis.

We're talking gardens, an 18 meter long swimming pool, and unbelievably gorgeous buildings. If money were no object, I would throw a soiree here in an instant! Want to daydream? Then you must check out their website here to see their kasbah salon.

Michael and I, after we suited up in our aprons, got a chance to wander around the grounds. We saw rosemary hedges, as pictured above with Michael. Moroccans do not use rosemary in their cooking, so instead, it functions as shrubbery. Michael was aghast (it's his favorite herb). Various other herbs, though, were cultivated for culinary use in the garden. There were also bushes of tiny red, yellow, and purple peppers -- pictured with me, above -- as well as olive trees.


Mohammed, a professor at the University, was our translator, and our instructor was a dada, or traditional Moroccan cook. The dada showed us what to do, and Mohammed translated and helped us. We learned how to make a roasted pepper appetizer and the classic chicken tagine with preserved lemon and olives. (Once we got home, we purchased a tagine of our own and now enjoy making Moroccan tagine dishes when we have the opportunity.)

Michael and I each prepared our own individual tagine. It was fun and interesting, and the best part was the beautiful surroundings. When our food was finished cooking, a waiter served it to us outside.

We wished we had brought our bathing suits, so we could have taken a dip in the beautiful pool. But it was November, and the pool was not heated, anyway. I put my hand in and found the water bone numbingly cold. So, nothing really lost there.

After a walk back through the garden, we were at the gate and piling into the shuttle van. Time to go back into the fray of Marrakesh.

Back in the new (French) part of Marrakesh, there was a very popular McDonald's. I had to take a picture of their local special: the McArabia. Note: we did not actually eat at McDonald's on the trip.

Here was the doorway to a mosque in the Medina. You almost wouldn't even notice it unless someone pointed it out, which someone did. The narrow streets of the Medina are packed with so many details, I could've taken a million photos.

I found the artwork on the back of this truck interesting. Also, that there are words in English and bald eagle heads. Hmmm.

This was the door to the house across from our hotel. Earlier in the week, we had seen cuts of meat being wheel-barrowed into the house. We had wondered what was up. As it turns out, the Saturday night we were at the hotel, there was a wedding here. From our roof, we saw across to their roof, where servant girls were looking down at the party in the courtyard. We also heard the noise till the early hours of the morning. But it was all good (we had just gotten married the week before, after all).

If only we could have gone across and taken a peek at the actual celebration. Unfortunately, it would have been a little obvious that we were crashing the wedding. So we just heard their music and imagined what must have been going on.

The Djemma el Fna by day is filled with various tourist traps, including the ubiquitous snake charmers.

Yes, we paid money to have snakes draped on us and have our picture taken.

Michael even kissed the snake, as part of some good luck ritual.

So there you have it. These are some of the highlights I hadn't yet featured here. We saw and did so much in seven short days in Morocco. Unfortunately, we weren't able to capture everything on film. But at least we got a lot of it. The rest is for our memories!

Jardin Majorelle

One day in Marrakesh, we left the walls of the Medina behind us to find the famous gardens called Jardin Majorelle. It took us a while to find the place, despite our map. With all the dusty tan buildings in the newer part of the city it was hard to imagine that somewhere inside there was an oasis.

But find it we did. The gardens, previously owned by Yves Saint-Laurent, feature countless plant varieties, water features, and assorted fauna.

You could completely forget what is outside the walls!

The colors are absolutely brilliant. The blues and greens soothe, while the reds and yellows excite.

What a relaxing place to be!

What is this?

We took a closer look at the fountain.


I even made an unexpected new friend.

This is actually one of the few portraits of both of us on the honeymoon.

Can you believe the color saturation?

More color.

Turtles enjoy a pond.

I really don't have too much else to say about this site. It was beautiful and relaxing and the pictures tell the whole story!