Day Three - Essaouira back to Marrakesh

Friday 4th June 2010

Up at 8am and did some exercises – check us out! We went out for breakfast in the Medina and found it in a VERY authentic little crepe/bread/tea joint. Two ladies made the bread,and cooked it fresh on a hot plate flipping it by hand, we had one each with plenty of honey poured on and a pot of mint tea to wash it all down. Three men sat down at a table near us and ordered the same, they were pouring their mint tea from the pot into a glass and then back into the pot (to cool it down) getting more and more theatrical when they realised they had us as an audience. It was a great breakfast and half of what we paid for only D's the previous day.

From 1 Essaouira

It is very difficult to get by without the language, D is doing an excellent job with the little French he has but all I can do is think 'I know how to say this in Russian' and why did I not listen to my French teacher once in my four years of lessons with her!

We went back to pack and then left our backpacks at the hostel. Walking round the town again we bumped into the little guy who first showed us to our hotel and was then stood up by us twice, once for tea and the other for beer and music, er oops. Anyway after a small admonishment we followed him to his friends shop where we had real Berber tea, which was surprisingly delicious. The guy who owned the shop and made us the tea spoke English and gave us an education into natural remedies for different problems. Into the tea went, dried mint (good for the nose), small rose heads (good for the skin), star anise (good for something), some other kind of anise, some small balls which smelt a bit like lemon, something else which smelt like lemon grass and other very fresh and therefore very pungent ingredients, all pushed down into hot water with an enormous block of sugar. The tea was surprisingly good and so was the education, it was of course an opportunity to buy the things he was telling us about but it was done in a very nice way. He also brought out some argan oil some for cosmetic use and other for cooking, we couldn't get him down from his 'very good price' to a very good price we could afford, so we left it behind, thanked him for the tea and when went on our way.

We spent the afternoon wandering about taking more pictures, having lunch and buying some snacks for the bus trip back to Marrakesh. Our daily spend is going down (thank goodness) the decline is mostly due to the fact that we haven't been gorging ourselves silly on restaurant food. Instead we had a really good shwarma plate for 2 from a little shop in the Medina and sat on the top floor which was open but covered and watched the people go by while we ate our lunch. Buying food from the market is so much cheaper, which shouldn't be such a revelation, but it's so cheap and good! We got olives, fresh bread, juicy apricots (from a man with a cartful of them all fresh, ripe and juicy), 3 bananas, some almonds and a big bottle of water all for less than $5 bargain!

From 1 Essaouira

Essaouira was a great introduction to Morocco, I really can't imagine jumping straight in without a little warm up before going somewhere like Marrakesh, which is where we headed for as I type! It's quite difficult adjusting to another culture where people are so open to conversation and to helping strangers, it's difficult to place the people who want to be paid for their help and those who are genuinely friendly and have no ulterior motive, that said nearly everyone who stopped us to talk or ask a question wanted to know if we were interested in something to buy – even if the things weren't theirs but a friend of a friend of a friend. Coming from a place like Moscow; where people would actively ignore you as soon as talk to you, to England; where everyone minds their own business but will help you if you ask, to Morocco; where you have the pleasure of someone else's company whether you want it or not, is so socially confusing it's hard to know how to be without being taking advantage of or missing out on opportunities.

Marrakesh, WOW! The heat is intense, 38 degrees in the evening! We arrived at the bus centre, just outside of town, around 6.30 and got a petit taxi to the centre, we shared the road with bikes, scooters, the skinny motorbikes (this time with wives and children hanging on), horses (apparently a viable means of alternative transport there were so many) and plenty of other mad ass drivers in little cars. Getting a place to stay was easy...ish. Obviously new in town we were approached by two men who tried to steer us down an alley (not as dubious as it sounds, all the cheap hotels are down little alleys) which smelt of cooking tajine (delicious!) and ended up following one of them to a cute little riad, very nice but just out of our price range, and then onto one which is, which is where we are are staying for the next couple of nights. Unfortunately we forgot to ask about sleeping on the terrace and were very disappointed with ourselves (it's much cheaper and cooler and just plain cool).

From Marrakesh, Morocco

We went for a walk around the huge square, Djemma al Fna, which is like the central hub of the Medina and was absolutely packed with Moroccans, tourists, street entertainers, henna ladies and shops. It was all quite a bit to take in, the air got much cooler after the sun went down but the energy from all the people was immense. Through all the noise of people talking, selling, chatting and begging was the sound of music, loud and constant. I can't even begin to describe the atmosphere it was just crazy - we had no idea where to start. The Medina is huge and easy to get lost in (unbelievable amounts of streets, alleys, houses, riads, carts and hole in the wall shops) so we played it safe and stayed in or near the Djemma al Fna. We had some delicious, refreshing and freshly squeezed orange juice from one of the many orange juice stands all lined up in a row (cheeky buggers fixed the price I'm sure no-one was prepared to haggle over the price) and were accosted by a henna artist who grabbed my hand and started doodling with her henna gun despite me trying to pull my hand away constantly. When she finished her little flower scribble she held out her hand for payment and when we didn't give her any money she indicated that she was deaf, smudged the henna all over my hand and disappeared back into the swarm of humanity. Not the nicest introduction to Marrakesh but a very common approach, do first and then insistently request (or angrily demand) payment later, very uncool and very unsettling.
We wandered round a bit more dodging all the people on mopeds and scooters and then decided to get some motions shots of them (we amused ourselves for a good hour doing this). It was too hot to eat and we weren't hungry so after D dragged me away from the scooters we got an ice-cream and headed back to our nice but small and stuffy hotel room for some z's.

From Marrakesh, Morocco

Day Two - Marrakesh to Essaouira - SPONSORED BY ANA GALLEGO

Thursday 3rd June 2010

We woke up early this morning after a good nights sleep. D had read about some small ruins at the other end of the beach so we decided to go and visit them, but not until breakfast – pancakes! We took our time and strolled through the little Medina (where our hotel is) to the beachfront where we walked to the 'ruins', D had told me they were small, but I didn't realise how small they would be! All that's left now are the foundations which a small fortress was built on, still good for a climb though, while I was waiting, a man with two camels strolled up and stopped behind me. I only became aware they were there when one of them (man or camel, not sure) snorted and a camel started weeing casually. After D finished his monkey business we wandered back along the water's edge thinking how marvelous life is, cue a dip in the Atlantic ocean – fresh! I waited further up the beach while Djalma made videos of himself going for a dip, dribbling everywhere and losing his sunglasses. What a peach!

From 1 Essaouira

We decided to get some lunch at one of the many little grill restaurants that are lined up just outside the Medina, near where the catch of the day is sold on the waterfront. Walking and looking at everyone's (identical) offerings meant we were accosted plenty of times by the men who worked there all of them insistently friendly that we eat there and under the impression that D was Spanish. We settled on the last one and had an enormous seafood platter with scampi (I never knew they looked so ugly and were so tough to get into), prawns, squid, calamari, sea bream, red snapper, sardines and something else I can't remember the name of and all of it freshly cooked and accompanied by salad and bread. Delicious!

After a little stop back at our hotel for a nap we headed to an internet café (emailing family and friends and posting my first blog entry of the trip!). We strolled around looking for a nice rooftop café to sit and watch the sun go down but instead of a café we found the ramparts (loads of postcards of it) where we were sold some home-made biscuits and special cookies (which turned out to not to be all that special just more expensive, doh!). We were then on a mission to find a couple of brews, cripes! We knew it would be difficult considering the culture but not that difficult. We asked several people and were pointed in the direction of several local bars (who wouldn't sell 'take-away'), until a man, who must have overheard our question, came running after us and lead us down a street taking us round different corners until we came across a huge, low lit and well hidden bar which was happy to sell take-away beers. Joy! Back up to the ramparts to find a little cove for ourselves and our beers and enjoy the sunset, which although not dramatic was very pretty and Djalma's first over the sea, ahhh.

From 1 Essaouira

We headed back to our hotel and watched 'New in Town' with Renee Zellwegar an awful, awful film, fortunately for me I fell asleep part way through it.

Day One - Aldershot to Gatwick to Marrakesh to Essaouira

Wednesday 2nd June 2010

'Adventure is just bad planning.' Roald Amundsen (a good motto for our trip)

It has begun!
We touched down in Morocco just after 10 this morning, neither of us really believing that, finally, we were on the road (and not just walking down the road from my house to the train station).
We left home late last night, bags packed, goodbyes said, moisturisers decanted into plane friendly bottles and a bottle of champagne in hand (with plans to drink it at the airport). After a little blip en route to the Airport, where we ended up getting off at the wrong station and had to detour to get a later, and the last, train to Gatwick Airport (it wasn't the best feeling that we had stopped before we even got to the Airport) we got there. We made ourselves comfortable on the floor and opened the champagne which gave Djalma a little bath when it opened and fizzed all over his lap - it had to happen, a little blessing for our trip! We played a couple of uninspired games of 'I spy' whilst drinking our bucks fizz and had a quick snooze.

One four hour plane ride later with some very friendly crew and lots of uncomfortable snoozing, and here we are on the first leg of our trip. Marrakesh Airport is really pretty especially when you get outside except that is, for the taxi drivers. We haven't read much about Morocco since we finished planning it 4 months ago, so no french, certainly no arabic, no idea of bus times or departure locations we were feeling pretty much at the mercy of the taxi hounds all waiting in a big group talking and chatting next to their beige cars, until, a tourist. Sniff sniff, money! We ended up getting a taxi to the bus depot where we kicked back for an hour and waited for our (air conditioned – hooray!) bus to Essaouira.

First impressions of Marrakesh from the little we've seen – it's hot and still, almost no breeze to lift some of the heat. Lots of people on skinny scooter/motorbikes, from young men in suits, to a middle aged couple with the wife hanging on at the back, from old ladies going about their business to young women with their headscarfs waving in the wind.
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It's almost 10 in the evening and we have spent the evening wandering around the little Medina in Essaouira trying to take it all in. We arrived just after 3pm to find the 'little' coastal town covered in a heavy sea mist, so heavy it looked like someone had been having the mother of all barbeques for at least a week. A short friendly man dressed all in white befriended D and took us to our hotel, which did not live up to the images they had put on the internet, but, hey man, we're in Africa, it's real life (as one of the men working in the hotel told us when D brought it up) at least there aren't any bugs and there is hot running water, well more of a slow ambling rather than running, we also have electricity and our own bathroom... at the top of the hotel, 5 floors up (needed to get fit anyway).

From Morocco

The town is really pretty, very photogenic, very crumbly, very fragrant and full of cats and kittens.

From Morocco

On the way into the centre and to our hotel from the bus station we traversed a wide range of smells, from very strong wizz, to old fish, to bird poo, to mint, to the salty sea air and variations in between. In the medina it smelt strongly of the sea and loads of different spices and perfumes as well as mouthwatering cooking wafting out from the many little food stalls, cafes and restaurants that were tucked in the walls and alleys, just like all the other stalls and shops. We had lunch in one such restaurant ordering enough food for three people although D did very well and polished off pretty much everything I left. We had vegetable couscous, kofta tajine, vegetable salad, a massive baked potato filled with 3 cheeses and sweetcorn as well as the most beautiful olives I have ever eaten, bread, chilli water?! And a little pot of mint tea. It was really too much but utterly gorgeous and the man in charge was very happy that he had provided our first meal in Essaouira. Everyone is very welcoming and friendly, some a bit pushy, some out to make money from you but on the whole, really nice and genuinely friendly. As the afternoon wore on the streets and alleys started to fill up with more and more children running around and playing together, especially boys of about 8 or 9 sitting in noisy groups playing knuckles.
We spent a little while finding the seafront because it was so foggy but we did find it eventually, we spent a while wandering around and checking out the harbour and the fish sellers. Really cool and despite all the seagulls overhead we didn't get shat on once!

From Morocco

I was desperate to get rid of my jeans and so on our way back to the hotel I bought a pair of hammerpants, despite having been secretly mocking the people who wear them for the last few months, which are so comfortable and roomy that I just don't care if I look like I've pooed my pants – you might not want to but 'you can't touch this' dah nah nah nah HAMMERTIME! And time for bed.

From Morocco