We are in El Jadida. Never heard of it? Us neither. In doing our research, there were a few things that jumped out at us in this seaside town: the cistern, a community oven, a Portuguese inspired settlement, ramparts and a beach. When we told people in Casablanca that we were going here, we were met with a few confused looks. It is not a popular spot for tourists. Perfect, we thought.

There is definitely a different vibe here. It is just as chaotic, but quieter somehow. We were able to take our time walking through the Portuguese ramparts, walking the wall and with the sun beating down on us, we got a little taste of heaven.

The beach was filled with people clamming, boats coming in and out of harbour, a few souls braving the polluted water and a lot of really nice people just out for a fish, a tan and a good day. Just because there are barriers, a locked gate and a nothing but a dangerous side path does NOT mean you can’t enter. Trust us. We met one nice man (on the other side of said gate) who insisted I try his home brewed olive oil remedy – at least I only had to rub it into my skin, no digesting it needed.

Unfortunately, the cistern was closed for renovations. I guess the roof collapsed and they figure it’ll take about five years to repair. That was unfortunate. We did see the community oven, however, once again Ramadan messed things up for us. Nothing was being cooked in it when we were there. Still, it was neat to see.

All in all, a pretty good day. You may be asking yourself: “Where the heck are the treasured moments?” I call these the moments that you can’t plan for. They are the moments that will stick with you and make you smile for years to come. They usually happen to us when we truly embrace the ‘different country, different rules’ concept.

We needed a taxi to the train station and our hostess at the riad insisted on having an employee come with us to help us hail one. Huh. Okay, but, I mean, we’ve definitely done that before and know how to get cab to stop for us…

Within 30 seconds, we were so relieved that he was with us. Here, just because somebody is already in a taxi does not mean that it is taken. Often a driver will double or triple his customer base on one trip, as long as we are all going in about the same general direction. It took our guy a good 15 minutes to find the right one for us.

We entered the cab that already had a woman and her young son in the back seat. I hopped back there with them. This little boy was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Big brown eyes, chubby cheeks and the brightest smile. We learned that he was 21 months old. Here he was, casually standing on the car floor, between the two front seats having the time of his life. He would throw himself back onto the seat and just giggle with glee. I played peek a boo with him, showed him my phone, let him play with my camera and his mom and I had a great time trying to find a common language to communicate.

It is important to note that driving here is not linear. Nor is it steady. Lots of hairpin turns at speed, brake slamming, heavy accelerations, more jerky starts than a new driver learning to drive stick makes and this kid was being tossed around the back like a rag doll, his mom’s arms or mine protecting him as much as possible. Completely foreign to how we do things back home. Not a 5 point harness in sight.

But what a memory.

We let them out first and I got a nice wet kiss on my cheek from the kid and a grateful squeeze from the mom as they said good-bye.

El Jadida may not be a touristy hot spot, but it sure made Morocco one of my favourite places.

I will end it by alluding to the fact that we learned more about Moroccan train travel as we journeyed for HOURS to Marrakech – more core memories were made.