Our 130km drive to Marrakech turned into 2 or 3 hours, of course, with
all the traffic, and then it took a while to find the Riad Africa which
turned out to be four or five twisty turns on foot through dark alleys
with many cats skulking about. All we saw were stone and stucco walls
but when we opened the iron door into our Riad, it was an oasis.
Two
small refreshing looking pools (one the size of a hot tub) and nicely
decorated rooms. Our room I shared with Brittany and Cathy was small but for two days of just
sleeping and showering, we thought it would be fine. All good till we
actually tried the shower and the drain clogged, and water backed up
onto the floor!
We went out into the cool evening to a huge square
with throngs of people milling about - it was wild. From vendors of
fruit juices and street food to snake charmers and horse-driven
carriages, it was a scene right from Indiana Jones.
We took pictures of our 'entrance' back into our alley to our Riad so that we wouldn't get lost in the square and not know how to get back. Little did we know that this arch looks like all the others.
I'm constantly amazed by how the cats just hang out with all the noise,
people, scooters, and craziness. They are just used to it.
A great night's sleep with air conditioning that rocked! It was good to be cold once again. It'd been a while since we felt that.
We woke up Saturday morning to a lovely, slow breakfast on the terrace
and then the rest of the group went to tour the palace while I decided
to explore the medina.
We would hook up at lunch. I was determined not
to buy anything until Prashant was with me, as he is the master
bargainer in our group. He actually enjoys the process of haggling. Here
is a quick tutorial: ask the vendor for the price of something and he
will probably start telling you all about the quality and how the item
is made by hand. Interrupt as much as you need to, asking again for the
'opening' price. When he finally gives to a price, no matter what he
says, look offended and say "No, way too much. I will find another shop"
and walk away.
He will be sure to follow you, "Madame, madame, viens. How much you want
to pay?" at this point you take his price and cut it in half, minus
10%. So if the bag you wanted was quoted 800 ($125) to start, offer 350.
Now he will be upset and start talking again about the quality. He
might even shame you by telling you the work was done by an old blind
woman or a child. That's when it really begins. From there you can nickel and dime up and down a bit but don't come too far from your 350, and you'll end up at 400. Maybe 375 at the end. I don't find this fun at all, especially when he looks hurt. So I let my friend, Prashant, do the bargaining for me. He loves doing this.
This is a view of the spice market from where we had lunch. The umbrellas are REALLY needed. It got so hot I couldn't bear it. Around 100 degrees F. I don't know how they can do that day in and out, and it's apparently not even hot yet!
The avocado juice is surprisingly lovely. A bit of lemon and sugar - it's very refreshing. My new favorite. But not all the time. It's quite filling. So maybe instead of lunch, it's good, or if you're really hungry.
Ahhhh, le savon noire. Black soap. This is what's used in the Hammam to soap yourself up and then use a very strong, coarse mitt to literally take off the top few layers of skin. See my first blog about that. This stuff looks gross but smells delicious. I got four pots of different fragrances. I'm hoping to be able to get enough steam going in my sauna at home to show some of my friends how it works. Makes me want to open a Hammam in Boulder. I think it would go over really well there, given how dry it is.
The nuts and dried fruits are amazing, and plentiful. Every morning at our hotel there are dates, raisins, nuts, figs, and something else special - it's beautiful all piled up like this.
These are literally cats on a hot tin roof. These kittens were playing on the roof at the restaurant, crawling up and down the rugs that hung between floors. They were adorable! Of course I fed them the leftovers after our lunch.
At night we went to La Tijane and had drinks before they kicked us out for not ordering dinner. We had eaten at the souk and weren't hungry. Too bad, we'd have probably spent as much money on beers and wine if they'd allowed us to stay. These lamps are everywhere. I love them, but it's one of those things that, if I brought it home, I'd say "what was I thinking?" because it wouldn't match anything in my house.
Evening - 8:30ish - in the main square at Marrakesh.
Beautiful sweets that look better than they taste.
I am not sure what this is - a door to a mosque in the medina or possibly to a school, but it's absolutely gorgeous.
This is the view of the terrace at the top of our Riad. There are places to sit all around the square, and a resident cat who's lovely.
The little kitten below is sleeping in a pile of discarded leather, at a leather shop with an amazing amount of noise all around.
This must be the above cat's sibling - they were all together. S/he's just about to fall asleep.
More shots of the shopping.
More herbs and things to burn, and some spices.
I think this is sandalwood on the right, and musk on the left. Can you smell it just by looking at it?
Note the bodyguard at the bottom left of the doorway to this pretty restaurant or tea room. These cats are everywhere, and at night you see plastic bottles that have been cut off half-way up, one filled with water and one with cat food, all around every street in every city we've been to.
#ibmcsc, #morocco, #ibmcscmorocco5
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