Marrakech - Shopping, Shopping and more Shopping!

When we arrived in Marrakech, after an exhaustingly hot train ride, we had no idea where we should stay because all of the hotels in the guide book within our price range were full. We decided that first we needed fuel and stopped at Mickey D's to collect our thoughts. We jumped in a cab after dinner and tried desperately to explain to the taxi driver that we were looking for a cheap but nice hotel. Despite our efforts we were not able to succeed and the driver had to stop and ask someone on the street to translate. We finally got it figured out and although the meter said the ride was 4 pounds he asked us if we would give him 50 pounds. I guess the translation was worth a lot of money??? We ended up settling on 20 pounds (less than 3 bucks).


After a good nights sleep, we headed down to the Medina where we had wanted to stay the night before...the heart of it all. The guide book had turned out to be completely correct about the hotel in that it was great and was a minute walk from Jamaa El Fna, which is the main square in the Medina where all the fun goes on.


Our first day in the Medina we decided that we should head out and see what was around for shopping (Katie's favorite thing...that being said the shops here were great). While shopping we discovered one great thing...fresh orange juice. This was not orange juice that had been prepared somewhere else but was prepared right in front of you. The oranges had not been pre peeled but were cut and juiced in front of our eyes. It was the most delicious oj either of us had ever had and even better was that it was only 40 cents per glass. The only downside was that it was served in glasses, that from what we could see, were only rinsed in water between people but that didn't stop us and we had glass after glass after glass.


By the end of the day we had purchased enough to warrant another shipment home. Because Morrocco is the leather capital of the world (the small part I have visited) we bought numerous purses and briefcases. We also got slippers and about a total of twenty kilograms of souvenirs. After fully exhausting ourselves with shopping we dined at one of the makeshift restaurants that are set up every night in the square. It is really hard to decide which restaurant to eat at because as you approach you are not given a chance to think. Immediately upon entering the food area you are crowded with menus from competing restaurants and that all claim to have the best food and will serve you a free glass of mint tea.


We settled on one where the type of food was recognizable and looked delicious. It must take a lot of effort on the part of the staff because each restaurant artistically presents its food for their customers and the aura of the glowing lights sets a romantic mood. But once seated the romanticism ends and you are a number in a huge group of people. I have never seen so many people squished into a small space and such a small table. Once we had decided on a restaurant, we figured we would have to wait until someone sat up because there was no where to sit. But sure enough, we were found a spot at the end of a table with a small gap of 20 cm between us and the table next to us. The space was to small to accommodate anyone but the smallest people and was proven on a hundred of occasions as the staff constantly bumped into us as they went to serve others.


The couple next to us added an air of excitement to the evening because when we sat down the female was in the middle of getting henna done on her hand. Kind of a weird time to get henna done...especially since you can't move the area for like twenty minutes after. The girl doing the henna was ripping through it and putting it on thicker than what seemed to be normal. When the girl was finished she asked for 150 pounds and the couple said that was ridiculous. It would seem that they should have asked for the price before hand but that is where the excitement came in. So the man would not agree to give anything more than 20 pounds which is probably even a high price for the work that this girl did. After much debating another woman came over to the table and in no time at all there was a fighting match between the two woman soliciting the henna, a man (possibly the man who owned the business) and the couple. The whole argument was broken up by the police who asked if the girl had agreed to get the henna done. It turns out that the henna girl had asked the woman if she could do it and the girl said not now I am going to eat. But whether the girl couldn't understand or just wanted to ensure business she just grabbed the girl's wrist and went to town. Needless to say there was no point saying no after half her hand was covered in henna. After hearing the woman's story the police officer ran the henna girl away and told them not to worry about paying them because what they did was wrong. This didn't stop the henna girl because she came back glaring about ten minutes later but didn't stop to say anything...just to glare!!! I felt bad for the girl because it kind of ruined her meal as she had to eat one handed and even more she was going to have the ugliest henna tattoo I have ever seen (it was dripping all down her hand).


After dinner we went and watched some of the shows. We got to see the weakest boxing I have ever seen between a girl and a guy because the man running the show just kept shouting to people to bet (I am guessing because I couldn't understand but money was constantly exchanging hands). I tried taking a picture but after the flash went off realized that was a bad idea...he stopped talking and just put out his hand toward me. I was in the spotlight of fifty spectators and had to fork over some cash - doh!! After deciding the boxing was going nowhere we went to see some acrobatics.


Hint: If you go to watch a show at square such as this one beware that a visible camera is likely going to attract a lot of attention. For example, in the morning we were watching the snake charmers and he noticed the camera. Sure it was neat to get some good pictures of the snake charming but it was not fun to have to contest that three pictures (although priceless...Katie was sure scared of the snake) was not worth three hundred pounds...he got twenty and although he didn't think so, it was way too much.


The acrobats immediately noticed that I was wearing a camera and singled me out as the potential candidate to give them money. He asked where I was from and then the other guy jumped on his back. He told me to take a picture but I knew where this was going and so I said I didn't have much money on me. “Of course, don't worry the picture will be free my Canadian friend” but after I snapped one he told me to take another picture. What a con because he knew that he had told me that one would be free but by taking pictures our agreement was no longer valid. After his partner had jumped off his back he was right in my face asking for money.


Our last stop of the evening was fishing for cokes. I was addicted to the game before I even started. Katie was a little hesitant at first but after watching me play a round she was right in there having a ton of fun. After completely failing and getting no where close to winning a coke we headed for another orange juice (about number 5 for the day) and then went back to try again. Despite getting about twenty five minutes beyond what I had paid for (he must have had a crush on me) I still had nothing to show for my efforts and headed back to the hotel. That was not before being asked by random strangers to buy hashish.


Hint: If a man walks by and whispers something that is barely audible, do not flinch or turn your headed even the slightest bit. A slight turn will indicate that you are interested in buying whatever drugs he has to offer, or so it seems. It seems worse when you are walking by yourself because when alone if you flinch they think that is good reason to follow you for five minutes and ask you the same question over and over...”do you want hashish?”. And it doesn't matter if you are walking they will even try to solicit while you have a fishing rod in your hands!!


The next morning we were super tired and got a slow start to the day just catching up on emailing and picture sorting (this is a big when you take a thousand pics a week!!). At around noon we headed out to take a walking tour guided by the lonely planet. This one was not nearly as nice as the one in Fez and halfway through, our excitement completely faded and we headed to shop. We decided that we should try a hammam (Moroccan massage and cleanse) and considered one of the many pamphlets we had been given the day before. Katie decided that the one given by Mostafa (who was the nicest) was the best and it turned out to be the bargain for the buck.


We booked our appointment, slammed back a pizza and headed to the massage parlour. It was difficult to find not only because it was down winding streets but because it was hard to find someone to ask directions who wasn't trying to peddle a different hammam parlour. Questions just led to “it's closed” or “ours is much nicer and cheaper”. This cheaper part was easy to prove as they were holding a flyer and after comparing to the one we were holding, it surely was not. Although, we got there on time we had to wait for an hour long 'twenty minutes'. When we finally got in they had a nice little bag prepared for us that consisted of slippers, a robe and disposable underwear.


When it was our turn to hit the steamer we were a bit surprised. There was a woman in the steamer who was fully clothed and dripping wet. She got us to sit down and strip of our robes. Besides the uncomfortable disposable underwear we were completely naked (looking back on it now we should have just went naked). She came over and started by getting each of us to stand up, drenched us,with hot water and then got us to lay down where she lathered us from head to toe in oil. Once finished, we were left in wood fired steam room. She returned later to rinse us, lay us again on the bed and scrub the dead skin off of our bodies...nasty! This was followed by a full shower including a shampoo and a lather of body gel followed by a good rinse. Next was our massage where we had to strip again (no problem by now) for an incredible one hour massage (or so they say it was one hour as there were no clocks in the room and it definitely did not feel like one hour). Although, we are not sure we would do it again, it was good to try. It would have been much better however, if it would have been a little better organized.


Our massage was followed by a browse of the dvd store (cheap copies), confirm and pick up our rental vehicle and lastly, a movie in bed. In regards to the rental vehicle, we had seen pictures of this really rad looking place in the lonely planet guide book and right from the get go we had been excited to see if we could make it there. The bus would be possible but because we were running short of time awe opted for the car rental.


We awoke early the next morning, so we could beat the crazy traffic in the square, and headed on our way. I am not sure if we were lucky or if the signage was better in Morocco but we were soon on the highway and headed in the right direction. We managed only to get lost twice in the major towns/cities along the way and only stopped once to take pictures of a herd of goats chilling out on tree branches...it was worth the stop!