**Note: weird keyboard... cant find punctuation keys!
My first introduction to Morocco was attepting to find my hostel and getting good and lost in the madena in Marrakech. The madena is the old part of the city where all the markets and souqs are. Lucky me, I was proposed to twice on my way to the hostel... *come to my house and be my wife*.... *I come to your country and be your good husband for you*... How could they possibly tell I am desprate for a husband right now? It must be written across my forhead or something. Must look into getting that removed. Kidding.
The Moroccan people are very friendly and willing to help show me where to go. I was warned about this as they want a tip after they help you so I was very determined to find my own way. I also didnt have small change so couldnt actual tip if I did get help. Fail. I got very lost deep in the souq which is the crazy markets where all the shop keepers are yelling to get you into their shop.
One nice man must have felt very sorry for me as I passed him probably 5 times in my lostness. He actually gave me good directions and said *you Canadian... I help you because you people are very kind very very kind*. Lucky me. I must have looked distressed when I knocked on the hostel door as I was greated with a *my you look relieved to be here!* and I very much was. I was offered lots of tea and told to relax on the roof top terrace while they got the paper work in order.
This is one of the best hostels I have stayed at so far. The staff is amazing and so helpful. The people I have met are all awesome as well. I ended up going on an *excursion* into the desert for 3 days and 2 nights. It was amazing! We stopped at some wonderful places along the way including the town where the scene from Gladiator was filmed... you know... when he first becomes a slave. Very cool. We got to ride camels over huge sand dunes while the sun was setting over the Sahara desert and slept in Berber tents for the second night. The tents were freezing cold though. May have had something to do with the fact that it was +27 that day then dropped to +5 when the sun set... big change in temperature feels colder than it actually is. We got back on the camels bright and early to watch the sunrise over the Sahara. Some of the best times I have had yet. The sunset goes on the *best* list for the best sunset so far.
Riding a camel: bumpy up and down and major rocking side to side that gets worse when the camel is walking down hill. The guys on the trip said it was the most uncomfortable 4 hours of thier life. I dont envy them at all but I enjoyed the ride. It was tons of fun. My camel was named John Lenon but I renamed him Fenton after the hilarious youtube video of the dog. Google it. So funny!
Funny part of the night in the desert was watching the Berber guides attempt to start a fire. They had it going pretty good but then it was dying out and instead of adding smaller pieces of wood to keep it going, they poured it out with water then soaked the logs in gasoline, added candle sticks right out of the packages, and lit a match! That got the fire going but scared the crap out of the rest of us! Next they poured some whiskey on the fire which was probably the dumbest thing I have seen.
The food in Morocco is amazing if you like couscous and tagine. Tagine is a mix of meat and veggies baked in those pyramid shaped dishes. The food here is amazingly inexpensive. A whole roast chicken with all the fixings plus a starter, drink, and dessert goes for about $10 Canadian. Of course I cant eat all that so have been opting for tagine or couscous with meat which is about $3 Canadian. Its cheaper to eat out than to buy food from the grocery store and prepare it yourself. How am I going to handle going back to Europe?! Alcohol on the other hand is very hard to come by and will cost about the same as what youd pay in Canada or the States... ie very expensive. Hash or other drugs are sold like candy in the streets, however.
This was in a kasbah house where we were told about Berber rugs and drank tea with a Berber man. They then tried to sell us rugs. Beautiful but no thanks. Too expensive for me this trip. Maybe next time. Note the camel pants I am wearing. No, they are not made from camel, rather are designed for riding camels. Big and baggy with too much room in the crotch. Just what I need.....kidding. They were only the equivalent of a dollar so I bought them.
After dinner around the gasoline and whiskey fire with our guides singing. It sounded like the one guy knew all the words and the others were making it up as they went, kind of like when you sing karaoke and dont know the words. I was trying so hard not to laugh.
I have more pictures but they dont seem to be loading very well. Tomorrow I am headed north to a city called Fes. I have heard good things about it compared to Marrakech so looking forward to that.
Happy Holidays! Its easy to forget that its almost Xmas as there is no sign of it in Morocco, being a Muslim country.... I dont mind :) Time to drink tea and work on my tan!! I will brag... you all are with your families this weekend so I will let you know just how warm (+27) and sunny it is here :P
Miss you all,
Kylie
My first introduction to Morocco was attepting to find my hostel and getting good and lost in the madena in Marrakech. The madena is the old part of the city where all the markets and souqs are. Lucky me, I was proposed to twice on my way to the hostel... *come to my house and be my wife*.... *I come to your country and be your good husband for you*... How could they possibly tell I am desprate for a husband right now? It must be written across my forhead or something. Must look into getting that removed. Kidding.
The Moroccan people are very friendly and willing to help show me where to go. I was warned about this as they want a tip after they help you so I was very determined to find my own way. I also didnt have small change so couldnt actual tip if I did get help. Fail. I got very lost deep in the souq which is the crazy markets where all the shop keepers are yelling to get you into their shop.
One nice man must have felt very sorry for me as I passed him probably 5 times in my lostness. He actually gave me good directions and said *you Canadian... I help you because you people are very kind very very kind*. Lucky me. I must have looked distressed when I knocked on the hostel door as I was greated with a *my you look relieved to be here!* and I very much was. I was offered lots of tea and told to relax on the roof top terrace while they got the paper work in order.
This is one of the best hostels I have stayed at so far. The staff is amazing and so helpful. The people I have met are all awesome as well. I ended up going on an *excursion* into the desert for 3 days and 2 nights. It was amazing! We stopped at some wonderful places along the way including the town where the scene from Gladiator was filmed... you know... when he first becomes a slave. Very cool. We got to ride camels over huge sand dunes while the sun was setting over the Sahara desert and slept in Berber tents for the second night. The tents were freezing cold though. May have had something to do with the fact that it was +27 that day then dropped to +5 when the sun set... big change in temperature feels colder than it actually is. We got back on the camels bright and early to watch the sunrise over the Sahara. Some of the best times I have had yet. The sunset goes on the *best* list for the best sunset so far.
Riding a camel: bumpy up and down and major rocking side to side that gets worse when the camel is walking down hill. The guys on the trip said it was the most uncomfortable 4 hours of thier life. I dont envy them at all but I enjoyed the ride. It was tons of fun. My camel was named John Lenon but I renamed him Fenton after the hilarious youtube video of the dog. Google it. So funny!
Funny part of the night in the desert was watching the Berber guides attempt to start a fire. They had it going pretty good but then it was dying out and instead of adding smaller pieces of wood to keep it going, they poured it out with water then soaked the logs in gasoline, added candle sticks right out of the packages, and lit a match! That got the fire going but scared the crap out of the rest of us! Next they poured some whiskey on the fire which was probably the dumbest thing I have seen.
The food in Morocco is amazing if you like couscous and tagine. Tagine is a mix of meat and veggies baked in those pyramid shaped dishes. The food here is amazingly inexpensive. A whole roast chicken with all the fixings plus a starter, drink, and dessert goes for about $10 Canadian. Of course I cant eat all that so have been opting for tagine or couscous with meat which is about $3 Canadian. Its cheaper to eat out than to buy food from the grocery store and prepare it yourself. How am I going to handle going back to Europe?! Alcohol on the other hand is very hard to come by and will cost about the same as what youd pay in Canada or the States... ie very expensive. Hash or other drugs are sold like candy in the streets, however.
Lunch at a cafe before heading to the desert. Sylvia, who took this picture, insisted I pull a peace sign... she is from Bali so does this in every picture taken of her. Note the matching camel shirt. This one was actually made of camel.
Camel ride! This was the second day before sunset. I am in the purple on the 5th camel from the front. Sylvia at the back here is sporting the entire camel outfit with coordinating pink scarf. Dashing!
After dinner around the gasoline and whiskey fire with our guides singing. It sounded like the one guy knew all the words and the others were making it up as they went, kind of like when you sing karaoke and dont know the words. I was trying so hard not to laugh.I have more pictures but they dont seem to be loading very well. Tomorrow I am headed north to a city called Fes. I have heard good things about it compared to Marrakech so looking forward to that.
Happy Holidays! Its easy to forget that its almost Xmas as there is no sign of it in Morocco, being a Muslim country.... I dont mind :) Time to drink tea and work on my tan!! I will brag... you all are with your families this weekend so I will let you know just how warm (+27) and sunny it is here :P
Miss you all,
Kylie
All VERY cool and exciting. LOve the pics; was the guy on the drum a good drummer? The gasoline fire is so typical! We had a couple of tire fires(started with gas).
ReplyDeleteXO Mom