Your heart knows the way. Run in that Direction.–Rumi
Write what should not be forgotten.–Isabel Allende
Travel to have more to remember.–Cindy McCain
Do you need time away to jumpstart or finish a writing project? Do you have travel tales you need to tell?
Did you vow in 2020 pandemic lockdown that you would make travel a priority? Do you need to feel alive on new adventures… meet kindred spirits… fulfill new or old dreams?
Whether you’re a novice writer or pro honing your craft, on this retreat you’ll journal your journey with proven tools, inspiration, and a creative, supportive community in an exotic land. You’ll tell your best story and leave with the ultimate souvenir (remembrance). Your personal essay or memoir chapter will transport others and you back to Morocco (or whatever place you need to write about and never forget).
Though I’ve journeyed across 27 countries, nowhere like magical Morocco has provided me as much rest, adventure, creative energy, and beauty. While living there 2014-16, I fell in love with diverse landscapes, rich cultural experiences, and wonderful people. For me, the time was a life reset. If you follow this blog, you know that I returned to Marrakesh during the summer of 2018 and began planning this retreat. The pandemic placed it on hold as it did so many of our dreams. More than ever, I want to return and see the rest of the world because I’m not getting any younger and who knows what the future will bring.
I hope you’ll join me for opportunities your soul might need…
Imagine yourself with journal or laptop perched on the ramparts of the Atlantic coastal town, Essaouira , formerly known as the Port of Timbuktu. Anything’s possible here, where goats (not pigs) fly.
Imagine wide, open spaces to breathe … like the mountain terrace of a Berber village overlooking Toubkal, highest peak of the Atlas Mountains and northern Africa.
Free your inner child (creative unconscious) to play in pools and secret gardens on a week-long artist date.
Photo walks. Cooking classes. Discovering ways to volunteer/support Project Soar, Center for Abandoned & Disabled Children, The Amal Center, and Jarjeer Mules.
Journaling to the sound of courtyard fountains and on outdoor terraces of a private riad. Reading your work at a literary salon by the sea.
Truly, Morocco has been a creative hub for generations of artists, each meeting his or her respective Muse there. Edith Wharton, Tennessee Williams, Paul Bowles… Josephine Baker, Jimi Hendrix, Cat Stevens … Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, George Lucas. Here Laurence of Arabia, Indiana Jones, Gladiator, and Game of Thrones came to life. Teaching, writing, and wandering there, my life felt epic, too.
Join me in Morocco for some of my favorite local experiences from the Atlas Mountains to Marrakesh to the African coast. Choose what your soul needs.
Package Includes:
- 4 Workshop Sessions: Craft Study & Workshop with Feedback
- Inspiration & Free Time for Writing
- Copy Edit by Instructor
- Literary Salon Reading by the Sea
- 7 nights Accommodations in private rooms w/ baths (5 in Marrakech medina riad and 2 in Essaouira with sea view )
- Airport Transfers
- Private Transportation to Essaouira, High Atlas Mountains, and Palmeraie
- Mule trek and lunch in a Berber village
- Luxury Resort for Lunch, Botanical Gardens, Pools, and a Camel Ride
- Medina Guided Tour, Bargaining Assistance, Photo Walk, and Entrance to Bahia Palace and Ben Youssef
- 7 Breakfasts, 2 Lunches, 2 Dinners
- Tips
- *Does Not Include:
- Flights
- Travel Insurance (required)
- 3 Group Meals (order from menu): Rooftop Lunch in Medina, Dinners in a Former Pasha’s Palace and on a Rooftop by the Sea
- Alcohol
- Free time options and transfers (Suggestions: Amal Cooking Class, Lunch at Museum of Confluence, Hammam/Spa Day, Jardin Marjorelle, Lunch at other locations with gorgeous pools and gardens, volunteering if possible)
Price: $1495
Deposit Due by Dec. 15 to Reserve a Space
Contact cindylmccain1@gmail.com for all details.
*FEEL FREE TO SHARE RETREAT BROCHURE BELOW.