Marrakech turned out to be a worthy, pleasant stopover intermixed with "adventures". We would venture out, tell those offering services that we were just fine until we were mentally exhausted, then find a refuge (e.g. Café), and continue onward. On Monday we found another oasis amidst the jumbled souk shops. We had been wondering around looking at scarves to possibly shield off the sun on our upcoming camel trek. We had grown both mentally and physically tired, and I even commented to Dani that I would like to just sit down right there in the market just as the shop owners did. We trudged onward with aching feet. Within five minutes, a man in his early thirties with suave black hair and a crisp white shirt sitting on a freshly made chair offered us seats and hot lemon-mint tea (which he described as "Moroccan
Whiskey"). Although our immediate instincts told us to use more caution, our tired legs were delighted to rest so we accepted.
Habib's family owned the neighboring Berber rug souk and there we sat, in a craftsmen shop with the fresh smell of wood, new doors and chairs surrounding us. We had a pleasant conversation and continued it on the roof top from which we could see the Atlas mountains as well as the shops below with men dying silk in various colors of red, purple, and blue. Habib told us about his job of helping decorate local Riads with their beautiful rugs and how he had studied abroad for over fifteen years, but his family business needed his aid. It was heart warming to have such a nice conversation with such a generous person. He told us how women of Morocco hand make each rug which included their villages symbols and each was a unique work of art. You'd likely never meet the person making the rug, but they certainly do have a beauty of their own. We took a business card and he wished us a most pleasant day after recommending a place to eat in the market. His card had a website address, which I have not visited, but will include here in case you'd like to look it over: http://www.chezlesnomades.com Habib, thank you for such a nice gesture!
We set off, refreshed for the evening to do some haggling for two scarves and were shown how to tie them so that we could look like a true desert Berber. We'd love to include a few photos, especially of the one with the kid in the background showing off his belly. It's a classic, but will have to wait.
The riad remained as the highlight, even though we had to pay once again to have someone help us find it (although we left it our last night for a hotel closer to the bus station), and the dinner at booth number fourteen (Habib's recommendation) turned out to be both amazing and extremely cheap.
From DANI:
Our dinner of freshly fried fish, eggplant, a salsa-type dish, fries, and bread was amazing...until about 3am. I awoke in our rather dingy, close to the bus station (my pick) accommodation with a churning stomach. I checked my watch a little after 3. I made my way to the toilet down the hall...I won't get into the details but I believe I picked up a touch of something at dinner. It was quick and strong and coming from all directions! Thankfully, Mark was mostly able to sleep through my getting up and leaving for the bathroom several times as I would need him to lead me through our day of travel across the country.
From MARK:
I got up Monday morning realizing Dani wasn't feeling the best. After I got the details that were not included above, I realized two things: 1) I could not get sick as one of us needed to be sharp, and 2) I simply could not get sick. So, off we headed for the bus station, and just to be safe, skipping all options for food. We arrived with plenty of time and were glad to have made it that far. However, when we showed our tickets to one of the drivers we were shuttled to the side and then (in much fewer words and more gestures than anything) were told that Morocco had shifted in their time by one hour on June 1st, and therefore, we had missed the bus. Uh oh. Crap would better describe the feeling. I had one sick wife and two worthless bus tickets. The other option/bus was the indirect route, 10 hours, no a/c in the approximately 90F weather, which left in one hour from the other bus station. So, we caught a taxi and headed over. After buying ickets we approached the bus with some skepticism, as two legs of a man on the ground laid out of the rear of the bus. He had an array of tools beside him and didn't seem to be employed by Jiffy Lube. Well, we made it, through a day that I can only describe as minimal eating and a steadfast will to arrive at our destination. The only "highlight" of the trip I'll mention is a quart size ziploc that I handed to Dani. Luckily it was early on in the trip, and Dani seemed on what-could-be-interpreted-as the positive side, as she mentioned that there was nothing more left. We did meet and entrust the bus attendant, who smiled and expressed some concern for Dani by
offering her hot tea and giving us the finger tick-tock when rogue guides boarded the bus and tried to tell us they were Ali. We enjoyed the personal connection although no words were exchanged and in response gave him our inflatable neck pillow since he had worked the entire eleven hour day. There are really great people in this world, but you sometimes have to look a little harder to find them.
We arrived at the "Nomad's Palace" shortly after noon on Tuesday (with another local shuttle bus connection plus one taxi), and were welcomed by the one and only, Ali. I'll include another website, which is where we booked our overnight Sarah camel trek, which should have some
photos of Ali: http://www.adventureswithali.com He has been very nice and even gave us an amazing salad for lunch which our stomachs have welcomed.
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