After the first lunch we had with our host family on Saturday, we went out to explore the city with our little host brother. This little bundle of energy proved to be more than we could handle on a couple of occasions, but overall was a blast!

We left the house in the Medina and he navigated us through the streets to the main road outside. The Medina is basically set up like a maze of houses, and until you get the hang of it, I could certainly see getting lost! Once he had guided us out to the main road, we saw just the beautiful beaches in the distance and the palm trees.

The sound of the petit taxis whizzing by us was quite the sound, but not nearly as obtrusive as the rickshaws in India! I was impressed by the hustle and bustle of the day, there were a lot of people out and about, and I was a part of it having the chance to walk around with my little brother and my friends Jon and Gopal.

We walked through the streets a little bit taking in everything, the sights, the smells, and all Rabat had to offer. Then we made it down to the beach and saw the beautiful waves crashing up against the shores. We paused here to take the opportunity to skip some rocks into the water. It was then that a gentlemen came over to us and asked us where we were from and engaged us in some wonderful conversation. He informed us that he was a student studying music and loved the violin! I could relate to an extent as a musician myself (trumpet player) and we each shared some favorite tunes. While doing this, he shared some names of Moroccan tunes with me as well that I intend to look up.

Upon finishing this conversation, we decided to walk further out onto the beach. It was then that our little brother decided he wanted to build a sandcastle! Of course we obliged and had a lot of fun in the process. The castle went through many incarnations, including many a time being destroyed by our brother! Some other friendly people came up to us and it gave us a chance to practice our Darija. Everyone was so friendly.

As we started to tire from the construction of the castle, the sun was starting to go down, and we watched the sun set over the beach. What a wonderful afternoon it was.