Friday, December 18, 2009

Sensory overload in Marrakesh

We arrived in Marrakesh Tuesday night and took a taxi which dropped us off outside the old part of the Medina. We then had to walk about ten minutes to get to our Riad. Not gonna lie, I was a bit scared seeing as we basically were walking through a different world and a different time. Our eight year old escorts pointed out the local mosque and hammam on the way. Our Riad was amazing and the owner was so nice and got us another escort to take us to dinner.
The next day we walked to the market in the center square. All the shopkeepers would hassle us and say things like,"hello my friend! Bonjour! Hola!" which was fun at first but got a bit old. We drank fresh OJ and ate couscous and tajine at a restraunt with a terrace overlooking the insane scene below. That night we ate dinner at the food stands in the center. The waiters there can hassle in English, French, Spanish, German, and Berber... I was very impressed. Then we went on another terrace and drank more OJ and watched the night scene. The theme of the day was, "Oh life is tough."
The following day we checked out the Jewish part of town, which was... Depressing. To say the least. We got so lost, and it doesn't help that the locals think it's hilarious to mislead tourists either by pointing you in the wrong direction or by saying, "road is closed!" when it is clearly not.
Then we did dinner at the market again, but at a different stand. Wanted a drink, (not easy to find) and wound up at the fanciest hotel I've ever seen with the worst piano man I've ever heard. I thought of you, Bethy, he played "Once, Twice, Three Times A Lady."
This morning we packed up and decided to fly south. Well, bus south. That brings me to now. Chillin in the train station because it's way nicer than the bus station, just waiting for our bus. Jeff taught me how to play bridge and is letting me use his iPhone.

New discovery: too many to list. Let's just say that after two tours through spice shops I now can identify many different spices by their appearance and smell.

Frequently used phrases:
"No merci, no thank you, no gracias."
"Can we get a drink in this town?"
"I don't know, let's find out!"
"I'm Canadian."
"I'm English."
"We're from California."
"More tea, please."

Peace out, Marrakesh. Hello, Agadir.

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