On this week’s episode of Why Morocco I traveled to the Sahara Desert to visit fellow Canadian Michelle Fletcher and her partner Kamal Yassine at their sand castle – Kasbah Ait Isfoul – on the edge of Erg Chegaga, a rather untouched area of southern Morocco. Michelle and Kamal have spent the last year and a half restoring and renovating a kasbah originally built by Kamal’s grandfather.

I had the pleasure of staying in one of the newly renovated suites and woke up each day to the sun rising over the sand dunes and nearby village of Ait Isfoul. After coffee with a view, Michelle and I spent the days wandering through the communities, heading to the weekly souk, and just enjoying the quiet and simplicity of life in this part of Morocco. As always with my trips to the desert, I stayed longer than originally planned, just totally mesmerized by local life, the slow pace and beauty of the Sahara.

But also because Michelle and I had so much in common, most obvious that we both left Canada for the unknown in Morocco, having faith that things would work out here. As Michelle said during the podcast, “the other side of fear is freedom”, a quote I absolutely love. Because let’s be honest, life as an entrepreneur can be freeing, and I wake up excited about what the day has in store, but occasionally an element of fear lingers.

So listen in as Michelle and I chat about building a sandcastle in a big sandbox, slow travel and slow living and what we’ve learned since moving here: https://mandyinmorocco.com/podcast.