Who would have thought that the world would stand still?

Morocco was no exception and very strict lockdowns came into force in early March, including mandatory mask wearing in outdoor situations, staying indoors, no walking on the beach, all parks closed and even no surfing!

Lots of news stories about things going on around the world and also in Morocco – with 22,500 people arrested for not following the rules and the State of Emergency imposed by the government.

Even a visit to the shops was an issue – we had to get a form from the local Caid (mayors office) for permission to travel just to Agadir (10km) for our shopping – all travel between cities was pretty much stopped too – again you had to have a very serious reason to travel and go to the Pasha (a senior government official in Immiodar) and be interviewed!

So what did we do? Well life kind of stalled for a bit – I really don’t think anyone would know the impact would be on life. Karen took the chance to do puzzles that came from England and had sat in a box, she also started painting rocks – again we had to sneak out on the beach before the police arrived each day to collect them!

I did everything I could to go surfing, we were told it was OK to do so, but then one day it was banned – I had a board confiscated by the local police (not my fault as I lent it to a friend) but it took me months to get it back.

We also had a house guest at the start of lockdown – our friend Lena. She happened to be doing a Yoga retreat when all the flights got grounded and Morocco closed its borders. We thought a few weeks but it ended up being months.

I also did a lot of hiking in the mountains – I would leave really early and just go for the day. You never saw a soul so probably the best place to be, well away from any risk of infection.

We tried to keep active, so despite being chased up and down the beach on horses, quad bikes and police just running about, we got out and about hiking and also skating too. Karen tried skating for the first time in our garden, so we needed to get out and do it properly.

Then as quickly as everything was closed down in late June 2020 – everything was almost back to normal – just ready for the internal tourist season…..but we would pay a price for sure.