Goodness me! Marrakesh is a wild place! Here are some highlights:
Jamaa El Fna
This the most famous square in all of Morocco. It is everything a square should be; it has nothing in it. Well, that is until it is filled with wild excitement. Almost 24 hours a day, every day of the week something is going on there. First, there is the 'entertainment' section. This part of the square is filled with street performers, acrobats, snake charmers, fortune tellers, story tellers, musicians, street boxing matches, hema artists, magicians, witch doctors, and on and on. Crowds of people surround each sight and clap and cheer, and of course give money to the performers.
--- Just a side note here, I was ALWAYS the first person that was asked for money. In fact, most of the time I was asked for money within 15 seconds of arriving to watch. There are a few things to consider however. These performers are aware that tourists are good money. About being a tourist: I think I dressed pretty normal. I had no straps, fanny packs, cameras, stupid hats, flags, pins, or anything that should have separated me from any other man there. The problem arises with my skin colour, but even more so my hair colour. I was the only blond for miles. I got stared at from miles away. SO, all that considered, I had to turn down many a street performer's request for money.---
The snake charmers were almost like you see in cartoons. There is a man playing a horrible sounding oboe type instrument (one of which I now own - for all my snake charming needs you know...), other men playing drums or just making noise to grab your attention, still other men who are putting snakes all over themselves, putting them on tourists, kicking at the cobras, pretty much doing anything to make a crowd gasp. They even had snakes in a box (I know, not a clay pot, but close) which they would tease. Now, you could feel free to take a picture, but almost without a doubt, one of the above mentioned men would see you, and then bring a snake over to you so you could pose with it and take more pictures. At this point, you are trapped. Once you are satisfied, they ask for money. Feeling obliged, you offer some change. No matter what you give them, it is not enough and they make a scene. One snake charmer repeatedly yelled 'MONEY' at me for about 2min straight because he wasn't happy with what I tried to give him. Too bad for him, he ended up with none. You learn very quickly to avoid the snake charmer bullshit no matter how dramatic they are.
The dentist man is unbelievable. There is a creepy old man in with a small old cart sitting in one part of the square. On his cart he has a mountain of teeth, some animal, many human. Next to the tooth mountain are some crude dentures which he has constructed. Locals come to this guy when they can't afford anything else (I assume...) to get a tooth pulled. He only had a few things to get the job done: pliers, knives, and some sort of stone that he puts in your mouth once the tooth is out (to stop bleeding or pain I suppose). Then (and I am speculating somewhat here) if the tooth is usable, he places it into a set of homemade dentures for another customer.
In another part of the square are the food and drink vendors. Every night around 100 food vendors set up a tent and portable kitchen and cook up everything under the sun and sell it to the public for cheap. There were probably 20 identical orange juice stands side by side, all selling glasses of orange juice for 3 dirham (about 40 cents). Oranges grow all over here - in some places they are falling off the trees and rotting on the ground. Other rows of vendors sold fresh fish, squid, kababs, salads, and breads. Still others cooked up Tajine. Tajine is the name of the dish that the food is cooked in - a pyramid shaped lid on a shallow bowl all made of clay and cooked on fire. There are many types and flavours of Tajines, all called by the name of the dish. One night I ate dinner for 8DH. I had a bowl of 3DH soup at one stand, liked it so tried another stand selling the same thing. Then I was generous and tipped the man 2DH because he took a picture for me. 8DH is about a buck. I then paid 20DH for a coke to gain access to a roof top terrace to see the square from above. It was worth the over priced coke. Other things being cooked up? Whole sheep heads, cauldrons of snails, and other unknown Moroccan delicacies.
Hamman
A Hamman is a public bath. Sort of. There are many types of Hammans, they range from a room with a tap with warm water for washing yourself, to a full on day spa with all the luxuries. We asked our tour guide which place he recommended. Without doing any further research, we headed to our Hammam. Now, there is the tourist price and the local price. The local price grants you access to the Hammam and that is it - you'd go there to wash and bring your own soap and towel, etc. The tourist price includes the soap, towel, wash cloth, and your own masseuse.
Three of us guys went for the full on experience. After paying, we were ushered into the change room where we left everything but our bathing suits. We were then ushered through a few empty but steamy chambers until we reached the last one. A guy splashed a bucket of water on the floor and then told us: "Dormir" which I translated for the other two: "lay down!" So we lay on the floor of an empty hot steaming room for a while until we began sweating like mad. We were then ushered into another empty, wet, but somewhat cooler room. Again, we were told to lay down. A man came and dumped a huge bucket of water on my head.
Since there were three of us, and only two dudes to massage us, me and Terry (a great Aussie on my tour) had to share. I had the pleasure and the horror of watching him go first. Our masseuse was an ever so slightly balding, mostly naked, ever so slightly chubby, ever so slightly moist Moroccan man. First, Terry got rubbed down with the 'soap'. The soap was a black ball of slime. He then got half pinched / half tickled all over. At this point, I was starting to giggle, but unsure of the etiquette of a Hammam, I just lay in my puddle on the hard floor and stayed quiet.
At one point, the guy pulled Terry's arm straight back in the air and started making a very loud puckering kissing sort of sound while slapping Terry's muscle. I watched in horror as Terry groaned in pain. This happened over and over for each limb in a whole number of different positions. The guy put Terry on his stomach, pulled both his arms back in the air, then stepped on his spine with his foot! Then, he grabbed Terry's leg and pulled it up behind his head so far that Terry started sliding accross the slippery wet floor. To get Terry back to his spot, the guy just grabbed his foot and drug him back. At this point I burst into laughter - the sight of Terry being drug around on the wet floor coupled with the fear of going next was unbearable, I had to react.
My turn was much of the same. That guy stepped all over me, slapped me, kicked me, made lots of kissing sounds, poured many buckets of water over me, and even let his armpit drip in my face. I came out feeling kind of clean, kind of beat up, and kind of confused...
Those are a few highlights of Marrakesh. There are many more, but I have to jet. I'm on my way home now! See you soon!
Saturday, 15 August 2009
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Southern Morocco
From Fez, the group headed south to the dunes of Erg Chebbi in the Sahara desert. We stayed in the town of Marzuka (I think) in an Auberge, which falls somewhere between a hostel, a hotel, and a trailer. The auberge sat right on the edge of the sand dunes: the front of the place was all rocky with some palm trees, and the sand dunes came right up to the back of the place. We wandered around the dunes in bare feet for a bit, looking at the mountains of sand. We arrived in the evening so the hottest part of the day had past, but it was still in the high 30's. After dinner, we were treated to some traditional Berber music, from a bunch of Berber brothers (Berbers are the native people of Morocco). One of the guys asked me to play with them (so cool) and then he spent some time teaching me some different rhythms.
The following day, after a small amount of sleep (it is too hot to sleep well), we saddled up our camels and headed straight into the desert. Let me tell you, camels are not comfy - you sit right on top of the hump. OH, and by the way, we actually didn't ride camels at all, we rode dromedaries. The difference? Camel - two humps; dromedary - one hump. Nevertheless, we called them camels, they are just the Arabian type. SO, we headed straight into the dunes. As far as you could see there were mountains of sand, some up to 300m high! We went up and down, over and around the sand dunes on our camels for about an hour and a half before reaching our desert camp for the night. The camp consisted of a couple Berber tents and a cooking shack. I decided before I left that nature would not call me while out there, and luckily it did not. We ate dinner under the stars, then curled up on a mat in the sand. There was really no need for flashlights (or torches that is, if you're from Austrailia) because the moon was so bright. I was generally comfortable, but a little concerned about the desert creatures. We saw some sand bettles on the way in - they were huge. I didn't know what other types of huge creatures were around, so I tucked my pants into my socks to protect myself. We rose with the sun and rode our camels out of the desert very early in the morning.
We spent two nights in the Torda Gorge - a beautiful oasis compared to the desert. We learned how the very precious fertile land is divided and shared amoung the local families. The land in the valley is good for growing crops because it is irrigated by the Torda river. Growing crops otherwise is near impossible - too hot and dry. Our hotel here sat right on the river and we ate breakfast and dinner on the patio by the pool while listening to the river flow by. Our entire group made a special effort to obtain beer and wine - we had to send our driver into town on a special trip. I had two local Moroccan beers.
Leaving the green valley behind, we headed back into desert territory to Ait Ben Haddou - a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The old Kasbah (fortress) is sits on a the side of a hill next to a dried up river. There is still no power or water (and likely never will be) but people still live in this fortress just as their ancestors have for the last 1000 years. I may or may not have bought myself some cool dishes here...
Now we are in Essaouira which is on the Atlantic coast. The temperature here is much nicer - it was 25 when we arrived. This is a real typical coast town - there is a fortified, old section of city with a big wall built to protect the place during times of war. There is a port with tons of fresh fish, boats, and shady people. And of course the long stretch of beach. We've had some time off, and I have just found myself wandering around the old medina (city) in awe of the way of life here. Within one block you can find, chickens dead or alive, butchers, fruit stands, shoes, clothes, restaurants, drug stores (kind of), spice shops, etc... you should see the electronic stores!! There are people right in the middle of the street selling anything and everything - remote controls, mint leaves, pants, little packs of tissue, drugs, cookies, melons, cactus fruit...
Thats a small taste of what I've been up to. Tomorrow to Marakesch!
The following day, after a small amount of sleep (it is too hot to sleep well), we saddled up our camels and headed straight into the desert. Let me tell you, camels are not comfy - you sit right on top of the hump. OH, and by the way, we actually didn't ride camels at all, we rode dromedaries. The difference? Camel - two humps; dromedary - one hump. Nevertheless, we called them camels, they are just the Arabian type. SO, we headed straight into the dunes. As far as you could see there were mountains of sand, some up to 300m high! We went up and down, over and around the sand dunes on our camels for about an hour and a half before reaching our desert camp for the night. The camp consisted of a couple Berber tents and a cooking shack. I decided before I left that nature would not call me while out there, and luckily it did not. We ate dinner under the stars, then curled up on a mat in the sand. There was really no need for flashlights (or torches that is, if you're from Austrailia) because the moon was so bright. I was generally comfortable, but a little concerned about the desert creatures. We saw some sand bettles on the way in - they were huge. I didn't know what other types of huge creatures were around, so I tucked my pants into my socks to protect myself. We rose with the sun and rode our camels out of the desert very early in the morning.
We spent two nights in the Torda Gorge - a beautiful oasis compared to the desert. We learned how the very precious fertile land is divided and shared amoung the local families. The land in the valley is good for growing crops because it is irrigated by the Torda river. Growing crops otherwise is near impossible - too hot and dry. Our hotel here sat right on the river and we ate breakfast and dinner on the patio by the pool while listening to the river flow by. Our entire group made a special effort to obtain beer and wine - we had to send our driver into town on a special trip. I had two local Moroccan beers.
Leaving the green valley behind, we headed back into desert territory to Ait Ben Haddou - a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The old Kasbah (fortress) is sits on a the side of a hill next to a dried up river. There is still no power or water (and likely never will be) but people still live in this fortress just as their ancestors have for the last 1000 years. I may or may not have bought myself some cool dishes here...
Now we are in Essaouira which is on the Atlantic coast. The temperature here is much nicer - it was 25 when we arrived. This is a real typical coast town - there is a fortified, old section of city with a big wall built to protect the place during times of war. There is a port with tons of fresh fish, boats, and shady people. And of course the long stretch of beach. We've had some time off, and I have just found myself wandering around the old medina (city) in awe of the way of life here. Within one block you can find, chickens dead or alive, butchers, fruit stands, shoes, clothes, restaurants, drug stores (kind of), spice shops, etc... you should see the electronic stores!! There are people right in the middle of the street selling anything and everything - remote controls, mint leaves, pants, little packs of tissue, drugs, cookies, melons, cactus fruit...
Thats a small taste of what I've been up to. Tomorrow to Marakesch!
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Morocco!
So much has happened!
I arrived in Gibralter on Wednesday, found my hotel and headed towards the rock! Gibralter is a British coloney situated on a huge rock on a peninsula in the southern most part of Spain. You need to show your passport as you enter because it is considered a seperate country. Not only that, the instant you have crossed the boarder, everyone suddenly speaks English and with a thick British accent! Amazing! I took the bus to the cable car and went to the top of the rock. The views were amazing! Equally amazing was learning a little about the long and complicated history this place has had. It was a stronghold in nearly every thinkable war for the last few hundred years. During each war, caves and tunnels inside the rock were used for a wide variety of purposes. I toured St. Michael's Cave - the formations inside were impressive, along with the space used as a concert hall!
The next day I took the ferry from Algiceras, Spain, to Tangiers, Morocco! Arriving in Tangiers, I realized that I only had a vague idea of where my riad was (riad means 'rich house' in Arabic and many of them are kind of like hotels or hostels). On exiting the ferry terminal, several men approached me asking if they could show me around, take me places, etc, etc. I got a local guy to take me to my place. He winded me up and down tiny streets, crowded markets, and through alleys. Finally I arrived. He wanted money of course, but I had realized that he was trying to turn me around along the way and then wanted me to continue to use him. This pissed me off so I told him where to go and got rid of him. My place was FANTASTIC! The most beautiful place to stay. I wandered around the Medina of Tangiers overcome by the spectacle! Shops and salesmen, liter small streets only big enough for pedestrians. I was in awe! I did nothing but wander around all day!
I met up with my tour in Casablanca. There are 10 of us in the group, plus our tour guide. The group is great - a couple from Austrailia, a couple from New Zealand, four other girls from random English speaking countries, and my roomie from New York. We toured the Hassan II Mosque which holds 25 000 worshipers normally, and during special days, 80 000 more can fit in the square outside!
Yesterday we did a city tour of Fez. Another amazing experience! We walked up and down and through the markets or souqs as they are called. A souq is a working market where the things that are sold are made right in the street. We toured a pottery place, a textille place, a tannery, and a carpet store. The tannery was AMAZING! hundreds of basins built centuries ago where hides are washed and dyed are crammed into a small square. Workers get right inside the basin with the hides and work with them. The carpet stores are an experience too. The merchants are very good at their jobs and try various techniques to get you interested in thier rugs. I had been through several of these experiences already, but somehow, I ended up buying myslef a magic carpet.........
Today we toured Volubilis - some ancient Roman ruins. Very similar to Pompei in Italy. I enjoyed it alot - I like using my imagination to reconstruct the ruins and picture how life was 2000 years ago! Also went to Meknes today and did some other sight seeing.
The Moroccan food is tasty - cous cous is a very popular dish and I have certainly eaten my share of that! Tagine is the name of a dish named after the name of the dish it is cooked in (if that makes any sense). Had a bunch of that too! The fruit juices here are amazing, and I have only shit my pants for one day so far! Since this is an Arabic country, alcohol is not common. There are many cafes, but the drink of choice is mint tea (which is pretty good, but not on a hot day when you'd love a beer). Speaking of hot, it gets down to about 30 at night and the daytime temperature has been about 38.
Tomorrow we head to the Sahara dessert. Last week it was 56C there. I've heard that it has since cooled to about 45 so that is good...
I arrived in Gibralter on Wednesday, found my hotel and headed towards the rock! Gibralter is a British coloney situated on a huge rock on a peninsula in the southern most part of Spain. You need to show your passport as you enter because it is considered a seperate country. Not only that, the instant you have crossed the boarder, everyone suddenly speaks English and with a thick British accent! Amazing! I took the bus to the cable car and went to the top of the rock. The views were amazing! Equally amazing was learning a little about the long and complicated history this place has had. It was a stronghold in nearly every thinkable war for the last few hundred years. During each war, caves and tunnels inside the rock were used for a wide variety of purposes. I toured St. Michael's Cave - the formations inside were impressive, along with the space used as a concert hall!
The next day I took the ferry from Algiceras, Spain, to Tangiers, Morocco! Arriving in Tangiers, I realized that I only had a vague idea of where my riad was (riad means 'rich house' in Arabic and many of them are kind of like hotels or hostels). On exiting the ferry terminal, several men approached me asking if they could show me around, take me places, etc, etc. I got a local guy to take me to my place. He winded me up and down tiny streets, crowded markets, and through alleys. Finally I arrived. He wanted money of course, but I had realized that he was trying to turn me around along the way and then wanted me to continue to use him. This pissed me off so I told him where to go and got rid of him. My place was FANTASTIC! The most beautiful place to stay. I wandered around the Medina of Tangiers overcome by the spectacle! Shops and salesmen, liter small streets only big enough for pedestrians. I was in awe! I did nothing but wander around all day!
I met up with my tour in Casablanca. There are 10 of us in the group, plus our tour guide. The group is great - a couple from Austrailia, a couple from New Zealand, four other girls from random English speaking countries, and my roomie from New York. We toured the Hassan II Mosque which holds 25 000 worshipers normally, and during special days, 80 000 more can fit in the square outside!
Yesterday we did a city tour of Fez. Another amazing experience! We walked up and down and through the markets or souqs as they are called. A souq is a working market where the things that are sold are made right in the street. We toured a pottery place, a textille place, a tannery, and a carpet store. The tannery was AMAZING! hundreds of basins built centuries ago where hides are washed and dyed are crammed into a small square. Workers get right inside the basin with the hides and work with them. The carpet stores are an experience too. The merchants are very good at their jobs and try various techniques to get you interested in thier rugs. I had been through several of these experiences already, but somehow, I ended up buying myslef a magic carpet.........
Today we toured Volubilis - some ancient Roman ruins. Very similar to Pompei in Italy. I enjoyed it alot - I like using my imagination to reconstruct the ruins and picture how life was 2000 years ago! Also went to Meknes today and did some other sight seeing.
The Moroccan food is tasty - cous cous is a very popular dish and I have certainly eaten my share of that! Tagine is the name of a dish named after the name of the dish it is cooked in (if that makes any sense). Had a bunch of that too! The fruit juices here are amazing, and I have only shit my pants for one day so far! Since this is an Arabic country, alcohol is not common. There are many cafes, but the drink of choice is mint tea (which is pretty good, but not on a hot day when you'd love a beer). Speaking of hot, it gets down to about 30 at night and the daytime temperature has been about 38.
Tomorrow we head to the Sahara dessert. Last week it was 56C there. I've heard that it has since cooled to about 45 so that is good...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)