A Photographic Diary of My Trip: Morocco

To make a long story short, here are the last few pictures of my week in Morocco:

The process of making argan oil at a women's cooperative - they say that argan oil is a great beauty treatment for hair and skin, and argan butter is a tasty alternative to peanut butter.

The town of Essaouira, where Hendrix reportedly vacationed in the late 60's

Essaouira's harbor

A majestic beginning of a 3-Day "guided" tour - and I put guided in quotation marks because that's a joke. Our "guide" was more of a driver than a guide, and he didn't speak English so good luck figuring out where they heck you are and what you're looking at. Thankfully, the van was full of international tourists who were able to translate our guide's French into English, Italian, and Portuguese.

Where Gladiator was filmed?

I got to ride a camel into the Sahara Desert! Here is a picture of the group heading toward the tents with our Berber guides. The desert trek was a magical experience. Some of the highlights - sharing a jumbo plate of chicken tagine with complete strangers and no utensils after having ridden camels and hiding behind a bush to pee. Liberating.

Everyone woke up bright and early the next day for the sunrise.

Back in Marrakech, we visited the Bahia Palace. The architecture is beautiful but the palace is in an obvious state of disrepair, with lots of taped off areas and overgrown gardens.

A view from a rooftop restaurant of Djemaa el Fna

Goodbye Marrakech!

Morocco was definitely an experience I'll never forget. Of all the countries and cities I visited, the people here are the most inviting and vibrant. I witnessed both good and bad, but in the end I found myself feeling settled in just when it was time to go.

Some words of advice for future travelers on clothing (this is a fashion blog after all):

It is a Muslim culture and women there usually dress conservatively, but many of the younger generation do not. I was told that women have the freedom to wear what they want, but many of them choose to wear the traditional jellaba. Most of the female tourists I saw dressed modestly. I did see one female tourist wear the most outrageous outfit - a see-through top, extremely short miniskirt, and sky-high heels - and heads were turning. I highly recommend dressing more modestly because you will get a lot of unwanted attention if you wear something low-cut, short, or skin-tight.

Anyway, I hope my photographic diary has inspired some of you to travel to far-flung destinations and live the nomadic life. Thanks for reading!