Welcome to Morocco! After having such an amazing time in Cuba, I teamed up once again with my wonderful client Yoga & Adventures Worldwide to document their authentically rich local yoga and culinary adventure experience in Essaouira and Marrakech. Throughout my life Morocco always had a very strong personal pull, so I jumped at the chance to travel there for a photography work assignment, the perfect pretext to finally know what this place would reveal. What I learned (besides the absolute necessity to bring an empty suitcase next time for all the incredible shopping!) was that probably some long time ago my ancestors must’ve hailed from Morocco… I knew it was a sign I’d get along with this colorful country when during my first moments in Marrakech airport I was informed by an amused immigration agent that my name ‘Anna’ means ‘I am’ in Arabic. Throughout my two weeks of travel in Morocco I had many hilarious encounters with this particular name situation as it created lots of confusion when I introduced myself to various local characters. Every time when asked for my name the people wondered why I kept saying ‘I am!’ We’d always end up laughing and I was repeatedly impressed by our same sense of humor about language, and generally by how simple and obviously heartfelt all the connections I made were. All in all, I just couldn’t help falling in love with this foreign yet somehow familiar land and the phonetic frequency of laughter and language I heard reverberating all around me in the streets of old Medinas. Then of course there were the camel rides, the trance-inducing gnawa music, the Yves Saint Laurent beautiful Majorelle gardens, the trip to Berber villages in High Atlas mountains, the hammam, the couscous, the sweet Moroccan tea and endless lamb tagine! And did I mention all the shopping?! Thank you Christina for bringing me closer to my roots, to Sofia for being my awesome hilarious roommate, and Andrea for your mind-clearing chants and unforgettable yoga Nidra sessions!
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