Marrakech! – part 1

THIS is what I “dreamed” Morocco would be like. Colorful, exotic, old, beautiful. The busride to Marrakech was rather awful – it seemed like THOUSANDS of flies in the bus! I was killing flies for the entire 4 hour ride! Smarmy tour-guy had us stop at a roadside cafeteria/craft market for some food on the way. He told the students that this would be “the ONLY place to get Moroccan pottery, they don’t have it in Marrakech!” Lots of people bought lots of stuff. I bought a fossil stone ashtray to use as a spoon rest in the kitchen, I even bargained for it, but I did not buy wads of pottery as many of the others did. As we were leaving the reststop, Jack noticed that smarmy tour-guy was “not allowed” to pay for his food and coffee. Ahhh backsheesh.

The weather during the trip varied from bright sun to torrential rain. By the time we arrived in Marrakech it was raining steadily. That put a slight damper (hahaha) on Jack’s and my plans to head down to the Djamma el Fna (the main market/square) for some people watching. Our excitement about Marakech plummeted like the rains around us. We went to the “Fixed Price Moroccan Craft Shop” near the hotel, to get an idea of what we would see in the market AND what was the MOST we should pay for any of these items. I found a lovely pair of babouches (slippers) that fulfilled my wishes for a hideously marvelous pair of house shoes. Thru all this, it continued to rain. Unsure of how to proceed, we decided to sit for a moment, have a coffee, contemplate our options.

As is so often the case, and as is written on the entry page of our blog, “An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered”. As we sat, watching the first rain we’d seen since….probably May, in Seattle, we were approached by one of the ubiquitous street vendors. Jack initially shooed him away, but then we realized – he’s selling UMBRELLAS!!! We bought an umbrella from him for a few bucks and revised our strategy. We would, indeed, head to the Djemma el Fna, DAMN the rain!

This was a turning point, not just for the day, but for the entire trip. We’d ventured off in Rabat, on our own, as we were used to traveling. But we were still on this TOUR! Going to the market, in the pouring rain, laughing, eating steamed snails from a vendor wagon, getting soaked to the bone, this was how Jack and Kaddee travelled! This was WHY we travelled – not to be stuck on a bus, being told what to do and what to take pictures of. The trip/adventure really BEGAN at this moment.

There was practically no-one in the square when we got there. The rain had abated slightly, but everything was wet and quiet. We looked in some shops, we ate from the food carts, we relaxed into Morocco. Although it was a slow night in the market, we did some shopping, Jack bargained for things he wasn’t even sure he wanted, we got some good deals. I even managed to do some bargaining – I didn’t get the prices Jack would have gotten, but I didn’t pay asking price. (This is a marked improvement for me) By the time we got back to the hotel, we were relaxed, happy, energized and completely soaking wet. Few of the others had ventured out. They thought we were crazy, but were also quite impressed that the two “old” people on the trip had been more adventurous than the college students.