Aqua Mirage Resort

Monday, December 9 – Friday, December 13

Charlotte:

Today we woke up and went to breakfast. There were so many choices! We all got a delicious breakfast.

Each morning, there was a dance lesson we could go to, and I wanted to learn the salsa, so my mom went to do it with me because I was too little to do it alone. We first learned how to salsa alone. I was pretty good. Then we learned how to do it with a partner, I did not do that very well.

There was a heated pool that we went to every day after breakfast. Our room is close to the pool. We went swimming – it was pretty warm, warmer than we thought it would be! Each day we swam for a while.

The first day, Mom, Sam and I went for lunch together. After some pasta and other food, we got a little plate of desserts and shared. Then, on the way out, we got some ice cream cones for us and Dad for a surprise.

Sam:

The resort was really nice, with lots of gardens, trees, and activity buildings. Our room was big with a balcony and the hallway was very bright with windows all along the roof. There’s a bar beside each pool where you can get drinks for free.

The main restaurant is a huge buffet. Also, if you’re not in the mood for buffet food at lunchtime, you could get a panini from the panini bar right next to the cool pool. I liked the ham and cheese paninis and the Nutella paninis.

Every day there is a different theme for dinner and the food always has something to do with the theme. I liked the Italian night best.

Charlotte:

We loved the water park! Mom usually did some laundry in our room while Dad took us to the slides, but she could see us from the balcony.

The first water slide we did was the family slide. You go on a big tube, and it feels like if we had a magic carpet, that is what it would feel like. It was so much fun, but the big tube was very hard for Dad to bring up the stairs, so the next one we did was a blue slide that went down steeply the whole way. Then after doing that a lot of times, I did a rainbow slide that you go on a mat head first, and you can race other people down. That one was my favourite.

Sam:

The waterslides were really fun. We convinced Mom to go on them with us the second day. She went on two of them, but the water was pretty cold, so she didn’t want to go on any more of them. She liked laying on the sun loungers and watching us instead. We had lots of races in the rainbow slide. I beat Charlotte every time. Dad would give us a five seconds headstart, but he still always won.

Charlotte:

One morning Mom and I went to get a hammam treatment at the resort spa. We were so excited, but it was our first time getting a hammam so we had no idea what to expect.

First, we were taken to the women’s area of the spa by a lady who instructed us to remove our clothes. She filled them and put them on a shelf. She gave us flip flops for our feet.

Then she took us into a big, warm room that was all made of marble with big benches built into the walls. We took a HOT shower in the little nook to the side of the main room and then had us lie down on our stomachs on the marble benches. She spread something called “black soap” (made from olives) all over Mom and then spread me with chocolate mud soap. I smelled so good!

While I was laying there relaxing, she washed Mom off and then used clay and a special glove to exfoliate Mom’s skin (take off all the dead skin). Next she washed Mom off again and spread nice-smelling oil on her skin.

After that, she took me to the shower and washed off all the chocolate. She wrapped me in a fluffy, white towel and took me to another big room with a fountain in it to wait. She washed Mom one more time and put her in a robe.

We both waited and rested for awhile and then a lady came and took us to a new room with two tables. We got our massages at the same time and it was so calming. I loved that day so much. It was awesome!

Sam:

After breakfast one morning me and dad decided to try a game called boules, and turns out that it was very similar to bocce except that the balls were a tiny bit smaller and solid metal. We played against two staff members for about an hour, but then some other people came to play, so we let them take our place.

Charlotte:

One night, we went to the bar to do the kids disco but we saw that it was for very little kids. We stayed to watch and then I saw a girl my age that I wanted to meet. I was being really shy, so my mom walked me over and introduced me. Her name is Honey, and she is from Britain. We talked for a while; then we started to play and make up funny dances. Mom and Sam went back to the room, but I stayed with Dad until the bar closed! I thanked my Mom. Honey and I were getting to be really great friends! We wanted to see each other again, so we made up a time to meet at the hot pool the next morning. I had so much fun with her for the rest of the time at the resort!

Jenn:

On our last full day in Morocco, we took a shuttle from the resort into the Medina for a couple of hours to do some souvenir shopping. We made a list of items we wanted to buy so that we wouldn’t forget anything and got ready to haggle. We had such a successful and invigorating afternoon!

We purchased some beautiful scarves, earrings, argon oil, camel wool hats, a leather wallet, a wooden snake, and several mini camel and genie lamp figurines to make into Christmas ornaments. We stayed on budget, too! Together, Brad and I made a good team for haggling. I was proud of how we would discuss our final price before going in and would hold our ground. I was good at walking away, and Brad would linger behind a bit to close the deal. Although we did have some fun with the negotiations and see how locals almost treat selling like a game, we both prefer the more western shopping experience where items have a fair set price, the same for everyone, tourists and locals alike.

We popped by the apartment where we stayed at the beginning of our time in Marrakech to meet the concierge. He gave us a beautiful tagine that Hosni, our wonderful AirBnB host, had left there for us as a gift. We can’t wait to try cooking our favourite Moroccan dishes at home!

We walked along some of the wealthier, more modern streets of the area of Marrakech called Geuliz to get back to the bus.

Brad:

On the last night at the resort, we had dinner and then joined our new friends (Honey’s family) at the bar for the Michael Jackson tribute performer. We arrived about the same time as them (45 minutes early) and found only one empty table. It was much busier than the previous night! We moved a bunch of unused chairs together and had some great conversations with them about the UK election, politics, people and some differences between the UK and Canada. They were so friendly and the time flew by.

The Michael Jackson show was really entertaining as well. The dance team performed several popular songs and had short breaks to get their energy back. It was almost as tiring watching them but everyone there was having a great time. The girls were so excited and running around all night so happy to have a friend to play with. It was so nice to see them having such a fun night out as well.

Charlotte:

On the last morning, we woke up, head a buffet breakfast at the resort, and took a taxi to the airport. We stayed in the airport for a pretty long time. Then we flew to London Gatwick airport. I got to sit with Honey because her family was in the same flight as ours! We had a good time. It was 3 and a half hour flight, and for two of the hours I got to sit with her. It was hard to say goodbye, but we are going to email each other.