Claire and I start the day off right- as soon as we awake, we go up to the roof to sit in the sun and wake/warm up. HAPPY. Feel slightly shit-tastic as we explore the new Cyber Garden, down Avenue Hassan II and allll the way to La Gare ONCF to buy the train tickets to Tangier.
Afterwards, we get a quick bite at a local stand for chicken kebabs plus bread plus rice. THEN I got maybe the best massage...of my life. I think I died and went to heaven. A local the hostel hires comes by to work on me and Claire, and gets out alllll the knots that have been building up in my back, shoulders and neck. Wonderful! Talk about treating myself...Afterwards, while Claire is getting her massage, Chris and I walk to a restaurant Chez Chegrouni for a quick bite, mint tea and some good chatting. I feel like my old self again, talking about my adventures in India. Chris has been to Egypt/Thailand/Australia so we exchange stories and some good laughs. He's such a quintessential English bloke. We meet up with Claire after and enjoy another sunset up there on our terrace haven.
The best part of the day though is when Chris joins us to explore the souks- WHAT A DIFFERENCE! We are barely pestered! We get hassled so much less. The usual markets in the main square are just so colorful and RICH, and it's nice to actually enjoy it and take it in without being on your guard. We get to the dyes section of the souks, and explore an old drum and instrument shop where the 2 guys in the back are clearly smoking hashish haha. We bargain with him over some Berber drums and tambourines and marrocas.
Chris is quite good at haggling, unlike me, but we work together so it's O.K. We keep going down these dark alleyways, with dyed wool hanging from above, black/silver/hammersmiths souks where they make the lanterns at night. It's cool to see the market at the end of the day, when things calm down and people close up their shops, or you see shopowners sewing up dresses..I realize that tomorrow morning every will start again! And that's just how life goes here.We wander down some of these dark alleyways, where the locals come out and we lose the tourists. Yes! We both feel so much comfortable/safer with Chris around. We get down some dark alleyway and find some hillbillies! AHHH! Creeeepy...but just went straight straight and wind up at a main road and wander wander wander aimless through the food markets. Great big wagons filled with heaps of abricots, figs, dates, almonds, pistachioes, litchies, cashews and sweets. Mmmm! All the locals are out buying their food, while the tourists (except us) are in.
But the highlight of my night is walking past the turnoff of our road and just keep going straight past meat shops, spice vendors, random-ass stuff on the ground to a totally non-tourist area. Bingo. This is Marrakesh, the real Morocco. We dodge the crowds, weave in and out and avoid the motorbikes and bicycles inching past us through the throngs of people. But I love every minute, it's so..invigorating. We wind up all eating some baklava sweets (and joking that we better not all get sick from it cuz there's only 1 bathroom!) , and then check out the big vats of frying meats and veggies in Jamaa El-Fna, as well as the drumming circles with an old Arab storyteller in the middle reciting an old tale to a watchful crowd, to the beat of a drum and a horn.
I haggle for a tambourine, cuz it would be awesome to have :) Back at the hostel, we all sit in the courtyard, sipping beer with Jordon the cool Canadian now studying in South Africa, and traveling to the corners of Africa over break (Morocco, Egypt, S.A.) Conversation flows freely, between Canada and Montreal to the metric system to the incredible inequality Jordon tells us about in South Africa- and then wordl even. I want to research the history of South Africa and see if it's a place that interests me next year. Chris and I stay up even later, talking about mariage and inevitably..divorce.
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