if only i spoke french, arabic, or berber...

The week before Christmas, we spent a week driving around Morocco. We arrived in Casablanca at about 7 AM, picked up our rental car, and were on our way down the coast by 8:30 AM. First stop, El Jadida.

Quick stop at the Portuguese Cistern, where Orson Welles shot the movie, Othello.
and where the old Portuguese walls are still up.


The Moroccan coastline was beautiful. Lots of agriculture, crashing waves, and clear blue skies.



For lunch, we stopped in Oualidia, a little seaside town famous for its oyster industry. Yum.

That night we stayed in Oualidia at a very cute, family-owned inn, and had dinner by a roaring fireplace at another cute hotel halfway up the hill.

Day 2: Onwards to Agadir
Poor Peter put in many, many hours of driving (I have yet to learn how to drive stick.) But, at least it was beautiful...

We stopped in Safi (uneventful), Essaouira (touristy), and finally, finally, made it to Donya and Greg's house (Donya is Peter's aunt's sister) outside of Agadir. Here's the view from their balcony:

From their house, we took a short drive to the beautiful Paradise Valley:


Below is a picture of us having the best (and most gigantic meal) in Morocco. Peter had a huge plate of couscous, topped with a hearty, spicy beef stew. I tried the pastilla, an amazing, plate-sized flaky pastry, filled with chicken, almonds, and raisins, and spiced with cinnamon and sugar. Pictured here with us are Donya and Greg.

After three lovely days on the Moroccan coast, we headed inland to the mountains...

cece beach

On November 15 (yes, I am blogging about something that happened two months ago) we threw an engagement party at Cece Beach, a private beach/restaurant about 45 minutes from our apartment. Peter's mother, Ellen, had come to visit, and it was a great opportunity to celebrate with her and with our friends here.

In the morning, Peter and I were both rushing around to get ready, and when we got home, we were absolutely surprised to see this beautiful flower arrangement sitting in our apartment...with a card from Peter's grandmother, Frances! Her handwritten card was truly sweet and completely unexpected. We were both very touched and had to pause to remember what this day was really about.
We got to the beach early, so we could set up before the guests arrived...


...and so we could take some fun photos.
Several weeks before the party, a flood (from a nearby river, apparently) destroyed some of the property on the site:
...but fortunately there was plenty of space on the beach side for the party. We had plenty of food, beer, and wine, and we had a great time.



Ellen gave a wonderful toast, as did our coworkers, Florence, Moses, and Mounah, and our roommate Jim.


All in all, a success!