Jamaa El-Fna

The hostel is gorgeous; there's a little Garden of Eden courtyard at the centerpiece of the open-air hostel. Ripe orange trees dripping with great big fruits rise up to the sky, and surround this pool of water filled with rainwater. Up above are balconies to the guestrooms- and then the ROOF! Which I love because there are 2 seating areas with benches, pillows and hot tiles. We immediately strip of our 14 jackets, shedding both layers and tension. Ahhh. Shoes off! Barefoot! We take in the sun up their on the roof and just feel it healing our problems. Headache? Gone. Sore throat? Gone. Pale as ghost? Well, not quite gone but we'll try.
The windows in our room look straight down to the alleyway down below, as voices carry straight up, along with the drumming in the distance.
We venture our into the market after composing ourselves, where I am so reminiscent of India's vendors, shouting at you from the other side of the street: "Madam! Yoo hoooo! Have a look! Maybe later?" But it soon becomes overwhelming being there in the souks because we become the prey of the shopkeepers. Claire is not at ease at all, granted it's a very different market than she's used to. But it's the snake charmers that freak her out the most cuz they practically stick them in your face!!! She's so jumpy she even jerks 10 ft back when a guy is holding a belt in his hand hahaha. At lunch, we saw a guy weaving in and out of the table with a snake and of course the two of us are attempting to hide under our table- until we realize that the snakes are fake!!! For lunch, we eat at a touristy restaurant for some gooood couscous+chicken, delicious. Then back to the hostel (cuz the souks are too much) for some relaxation on the rooftop and some MINT TEA. We just bask in the sunshine streaming through, until we fall asleep like a cat in the sunlight. The sunset afterwards is gorgeous, as are all the colors everywhere- just incredible. Up there, you can spy on all the rooftops around, look into other's courtyard (and compare your orange trees to theirs..pfffff)
We go for Round #2 in the souks after our repose- it's different at dusk, a little jumpy, although everything is just as vibrant, all the fabrics and spices and silver and leather. I haggle for a mirror and some Moroccan slippers but unfortunately get followed by this dude whose shop I was in before (and left uninterested). You can't even enter without buying anything! They won't let you leave, or they follow you!
We have some more mint tea on the rooftop of the restaurant and admire the chaos of Place Jamaa El-Fna down below.
Back at the hostel, I start up a conversation with some cool New Zealanders, all fashion-y and kinda full of themselves. Claire and I start talking to Chris, a 30-something year bloke from London who's here traveling. We share some very similar experiences on trying to find this hidden gem of a hostel, and share some good laughs. New day and new adventures tomorrow!