88 Kisses and 44 Smiles: Sweet Success of Project SOAR

To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty; To find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; To know even one…

Must Do in Marrakech: La Maison Arabe Cooking Class

La Maison Arabe Cooking Class Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.—Maya Angelou We are great believers that if you have peace, you have everything.                      …

A Typical Saturday in Marrakesh

My Saturdays in Marrakesh are spent hunting and gathering, hanging out and sometimes haggling.  Though I may have errands to run,  there’s no yard to keep, house to clean, or car to wash.  Shopping in stores, on the street, and in the market followed by lunch in the mix or above it is a time to stock up, catch up with friends, relax. Grabbing…

Gallery in the Sky: MB6 Street Art in Marrakesh

Some use walls to keep people out. Others use them to invite people in.   “Inclusion rather than exclusion is the driving force behind the festival,” says MB6: Street Art Curator Vestalia Chilton of ATTOLLO.  Responsible for a myriad of murals in the medina created for the Marrakesh Biennale Edition 6, Chilton said the global collaboration began at the Marrakech TED Talks a year ago.  There she…

Amazing Animal Sanctuary outside Marrakesh

Since meeting Charles Hantom and Susan Machin, Directors and Founders of Jarjeer Mules, last year at Café du Livre, I have wanted to see their sanctuary– a retirement home and nursery for aged, abandoned, and disabled equines and a learning center for visitors of all ages.  See their story below of how stray dogs changed their mission from building a guest house to sheltering…

Pepe Nero: A Place to Celebrate

When my niece, Emily, and her boyfriend, Andres, said they’d be visiting me in Marrakesh, I wanted a perfect place to take them for dinner our last night together. I sought somewhere signature Moroccan– mysterious, exotic, and beautiful. A place that practices hospitality and serves a mix of traditional and European delicious dishes. Pepe Nero, my new favorite restaurant in town, granted every wish…

Crib of Hope

Twisting my hair in her tiny hands, her brown eyes,–no–her entire body laughed. Even before I picked her up, she shook with glee, stiffened her legs, and tried to jump from the straps of her baby seat into my arms. I thought of my own little girl at six months so precious and full of life. One by one we unbuckled them from seats…

Paradis Plage Perfect for Solo Travel on Morocco’s Atlantic Coast

Here guests ride waves, climb camels, salute the sun as it rises…then watch it set from private homes with terraces opening to the sea.

Surf Berbere an Endless Summer Camp for Adults

As for all the campers, they were tenaciously teachable, grateful, and kind. Truly some of the nicest people I’ve met in one place. Wherever I am living a year from now, I’ll remember beginning yoga with sun salutations that were literal goodnights to the golden orb as it turned orange and melted into the sea. I’ll remember ending class with Savasana under a navy-black sky of stars above. And I hope I (and single empty nesters like me) remember the words of the instructor: “It’s not selfish to take care of yourself. It’s not selfish to love yourself. It’s necessary.”

Living Large (and Small) at Ouzoud Falls

Yesterday I was ambushed by monkeys, then drenched by a waterfall. The first incident felt like being on the set of Scarface as Tony Montana’s compound was seized by Sosa’s drug cartel. What followed was like playing opposite Harrison Ford in yet another Indiana Jones movie filmed in Morocco. Ok, maybe not that dramatic, but life here is sometimes like the movies–  a mix…

Essaouira…When Goats Fly

I spent my second Eid al-Adha, “Festival of Sacrifice,” in Morocco perched again in my favorite holiday nest above Essaouira. I love Jack’s Apartments–especially numbers 6 and 7–positioned above the medina and wall hailed by history, Hollywood, and HBO.   From the balcony all I see is sea. All I hear are seagull shrieks slicing through blue sky and roaring winds, waves crashing into…

Riad Hikaya…Balm of Beauty

Owner John Pittaway of Riad Hikaya says it is “very, very difficult to feel sad for long in Morocco” because you are surrounded by beauty. Working five years with Marrakech artisans, he has, no doubt, created a feast for the eyes and balm for the soul.