Sidi Ifni - Wild Coast

Reluctance leads to indecisiveness which leads to spontaneity.  I boarded a bus in Essaouira for wherever with a healthy dose of indecisiveness.  I could not decide where I wanted to go next.  All I knew was that the bus was going to the next major town and from there, well, I didn't know where to go.  With so much to see and do in Morocco, I am finding it rather difficult to make decisions.  It should be easy, but it's not.  

As the bus slowly made its way down the coast, I must have changed my mind a dozen times.  Ultimately though, my feverish body made my mind for me (I was nursing a cold); get off the lousy bus as soon as possible.  My body was certainly not agreeing with the windy road.  With my mind set on getting off at the surfing village of Taghazout, I anxiously waited for the bus to pass through the village.  With no indication of what village was what and with the guy sitting next to me sound asleep, I didn't know where to hop off.  Eventually, assuming we passed the village, I decided on plan B (plan K rather) and forgot about Taghazout. Then, the conductor rose, yelling Taghazout. I quickly raised my hand and moments later I was standing amongst pink buildings and sounds of crashing waves.  Taghazout it is.

Taghazout is Morocco's premier surfing spot with famous waves that even have names.  For the most part, that is why Taghazout was ever on my radar; I wanted to check out the surf culture.  Besides that though, Taghazout is a beautiful little village set on a hillside with most of the buildings painted in a gentle pink.  Even though a cold was putting me down, I couldn't resist renting a board for a few hours and testing my new found surfing skills on world famous waves.  Well, actually the world famous waves are for the big boys; the baby waves that I was catching are not worthy of names.  Over the course of an afternoon I went from blowing salt water out of my nose after every wave to awkwardly semi-standing on the board for a few brief seconds.  And what great seconds!  Almost more fun though is watching the pros shred the big waves.

 Taghazout beachfront.

With so much pink, the streets of Taghazout had a warm feel.

The waves around Taghazout were beautifully perfect; it's no wonder it is so popular for surfing.

Since it is surfing high season, accommodation was expensive and restaurants packed in Taghazout so I decided after one day to hit the road again.  South of Taghazout one starts to notice the great Sahara's influence on the land; it becomes more barren with a greater concentration of camels and cactus.  Then comes Sidi Ifni.  Ifni, for short, is a spectacular blue and white town perched above the ocean in between dramatic coastline.  Once again, I knew it was a place I would have to slow down.  Ifni is an old Spanish town which is noticeable in its architecture and instead of "bonjour" one is greeted with an "hola".  The town has a pleasantly sleepy atmosphere with streets that were almost eerily quiet.  The highlights for me were walking the wild coastline gazing at the giant red cliffs and arches reaching into the ocean and also surfing.  The surf is good in Ifni so I had to try catching some more waves.  After a couple of sessions I was able to dial in on my surfing and got to the point where I could actually stand and carve on one out of two attempts.  Surfing is indeed great fun!  I even had to be rescued after a strong current tried to bring me back stateside prematurely.  Not so fast, I say.

Within 10kms I passed under four arches; the coastline around Ifni was certainly the most spectacular I had seen.

In places, the coastline was almost fairytale-like thanks to the curvy red cliffs.

Early morning in Sidi Ifni.

Ifni.  

(Obviously I am caption-challenged today)