Elizabeth at last!

After 9 months of living in Morocco, traveling and entertaining guests, it was finally time for my big sis Elizabeth to come visit. We had 2 weeks together and it simultaneously felt like a long summer break and a fly-by.

We started off with some downtime in Rabat, getting to know the area and my wonderful, welcoming friends. We went to the beach more than once and Elizabeth got to see how I live, day to day.A Tower of Fun: Elizabeth at home with me and Jess

Beach times with new friends (Khalid, Nabil and Moose)

On the way back from the beach, all piled in

With two whole weeks to spend in Morocco, Elizabeth decided she was up for some traveling. So we headed south to Marrakesh on a long, hot train ride that was made bearable by catching up with my sister and goofing around with each other.

Hittin the road

Happy happy Elizabeth on the hot hot train

We didn't stay long in Marrakesh because we had bigger fish to fry: the Sahara! This was definitely the highlight of our trip, going to M'hamid to see my friends and stay out in the dunes. We also took a day-trip out to the big big dunes, Chegaga, and rode camels with a British travel companion we met along the way.

With our nomad desert guide and good friend, Ibrahim

In the nomad tents where we stayed in M'hamid

Since it was pretty hot, most of our desert time was spent drinking tea and lounging under the palm trees at various oases. On our drive out to Chegaga, we were also treated to some fresh camel milk by our friendly guide, Omar. We picked up hitch-hiking Saharawi guys on the way and stopped to chat with camel-herders. The scenery was amaaaaazing and totally worth the scalding our feet took when we insisted on going out to the dunes before the sand was cool enough to walk on. Eh, what can you do? I guess next time we'll listen to our guides a little better!

Lounging at an oasis in traditional Saharawi garb

Omar made me the tea-maker

About to cook our feet, setting off to climb the dunes

Finally at the top! Holy crap, it was hard to get up there!

At the way waaaaay top, a long, hard walk but soooooo beautiful!


Camels are scary

Elizabeth on her first outside-of-the-zoo camel ride experience!

As a grand finale to our traveling time together, Elizabeth and I spent a day with a friend's family in Marrakesh. Hicham, whom I met at Jama al Fna (the big old square in marrakesh) with my OTHER sister in March, invited us to come to his sister's, who was insisting we sit and eat for several hours. We obliged:) We weren't really sure what we were getting into at first, but went with the flow and ended up having a lovely day of couscous, wedding videos, family photos, and playing with their three young girls in between group naps on the sofas.

Elizabeth with Karima, the youngest of the three daughters

Family photo over sodas after a day full of eating delicious Moroccan food

It was two weeks of adventure and relaxation together after 9 months apart, and it was just what I needed. We made it back to Rabat and said a teary goodbye at the airport, knowing that we'd have only 5 more months to wait until we saw each other again. But not matter how long or how far apart we are, the sporadic visits and phone calls keep us going on inside jokes and interesting stories enough to last us many lifetimes.