We started writing a social media post to update you all on the current situation and the future. It started with a lot of "we don't know"s and it sounded a little more depressing that it actually feels. It was also waaay too long for Instagram – so here you have it: our first blogpost! We are bloggers now!
It is a very different story than what we could have expected a year ago; even the worst-case scenarios didn’t involve a worldwide pandemic.
The three of us met while working together in Tamraght. We loved the village, the vibe, the community and the life we lived here and we started dreaming about how to bottle that feeling and share it with others. We thought about arranging trips for different types of groups, retreats, workshops and events. We considered different locations and other people’s homes, houses, riads and hotels. However, we always had a feeling that we needed our own space to really create the atmosphere that we all had in mind. So what do you do, when you are three Danish girls who do not speak Arabic (enough) or French? You need a superhero!
Luckily, we know the best, smartest and kindest superhero in the world, it’s Mr. Fantastic! And he was instantly excited! If he hadn’t been, we would not be here today. As we travelled back to Denmark, he started looking and talking to local landlords. In September Amanda and Cami went on a super intense house hunting trip with a clear mission: find a house! We agreed that we wouldn’t sign anything, we wouldn’t rush and Louise, being the responsible Architect, said “I can’t sign anything if I haven’t seen it!” Four days, 10 houses and a lot of video tours later, we saw the house that would become Villa X! It was love at first sight and all the caution went out the window! We paid a deposit and hurried to the airport. We didn’t tell anyone and we were SO nervous that something would go wrong.
We started simultaneously planning our first retreat, talk to collaborators and book a trip to go and make the house livable. When we announced our first retreat, the house was still completely empty and we hadn’t signed the lease yet!
In November, we finally got the keys and started shopping and decorating. We bought 11 beds on the first shopping trip! We had to fully equip the kitchen and create lounge areas, workspaces, and cozy rooms for our guests. It was hectic but we made it - sort of. We left mid-November and didn’t come back until one day before our first retreat! There are a lot of things to fix apart from furniture. Fire extinguishers, permits and papers, lightbulbs in the right color, warm blankets that are non ugly, yogamats, blocks and straps and so many trips to the plant man to get the photosynthesis going on the rooftop!
We were blown away by the positive reception to our New Year’s retreat! We had a full house. 10 girls from all over Europe coming together and having so much fun, we could not have asked for a better group to start the new year and all the new adventures in the villa! We planned a workation month, a yoga/surf retreat with an amazing French yoga teacher, a Reiki/yoga retreat with our super inspiring local healer. We had SO many cool things lined up for the spring, and we couldn’t wait to share them –but then came corona.
We thought “better wait, see what happens”. We were all in Morocco in March and decided we had to cancel the retreats coming up in March and April. Louise left to go to Denmark for work. She left all her summer-clothes and sandals in the house and said “Bye! See you in three weeks” and then things happened fast. The day she arrived in Denmark, the Danish prime minister closed the borders! A week later, the Moroccan government did the same. Cami and Amanda had to decide: stay, and hope for the best? or cut the trip short and go back to Denmark? They decided to stay. We have always felt very safe and at home in Morocco and besides, we had lots of stuff to do.
We thought it would be a couple of weeks, then a couple of months. In Morocco, they enforced a strict lockdown, meaning you stay in your house, unless you have a purpose like grocery shopping or walking your dog. You couldn’t travel between cities and you had to wear a mask when you went out in public.
So, Amanda and Cami had a lot of time to kill in the villa. We decided to paint a wall in the little lounge area on the first floor. We loved the result so much we decided to keep going. We have now added a bit of color in almost every room in the house and it makes such a difference. We never loved the tiles on the bathroom walls, so now, they are painted! The same tiles could be found in different places around the house – not anymore! We always dreamed of a tropical bar on the roof terrace, so our good friend Youssef came to the rescue and put in a palm leaf roof.
One day, two painters arrived in the street and started painting our neighbors’ house. We had to admit the bright blue details on our house were not the big love of our lives, so Amanda and Cami got them to come to our house the next day and paint a deep green instead. The girls painted the garage gates and the front door to make the little door stand out when you approach the house!
We also had some really amazing experiences as a result of the lockdown. We took part in the Ramadan, fasting from sunrise to sunset for a month and was then invited to Eid with Mr. Fantastic – a smaller version than normally, because it was not possible to have large gatherings. We started a virtual staycation via Instagram live, to bring a bit of Morocco to our friends around the world. We went live with a local skill every week and learned, yoga, drumming, meditation and home fitness. We organized a gofundme campaign to raise money to buy food packages for families who were struggling as a result of the lockdown, 5 months with no income has been really tough on the local community, depending heavily on the tourist industry. And we are still waiting for that to open up. We were hoping to raise enough money to help 30 families. That money came in a week!!! We raised the bar and hoped to help 100 families and we succeded! What a great feeling to drive up to the mountains with a truck full of food for the families up there. What an amazingly generous international network of friends we have!
We have updated our website, another thing we have had to learn. We have had exciting meetings with super amazing and inspiring collaborators and we are itching to tell you all about it!
So now, the borders are open for Moroccans to return home and for foreigners to leave. It’s time for Cami and Amanda to go back to Denmark and reunite with Louise for a while. We will use this time to fill the calendar and watch the flight situation. BUT one thing is for sure, unless everything goes wrong, nothing can stop us from repeating the success of celebrating the New Year with a full house and wonderful new friends – are you joining us this year?
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