Marrakesh, Morocco

We left Rome Ciampino on our cheap flight to Madrid, hoping all would go well. We were not pleased to discover my sleeping bag had fallen off my pack and was MIA. The baggage people were rude and unhelpful, giving unwanted info instead of calling the other airport. I guess that´s what happens for paying $40 for your flight! Needless to say, it has not been returned :( Thankfully it had been used 25+ times on the journey already! We had a five hour layover in Madrid, before flying on so we took the metro into town and dined on paella, a cheeseburger and pizza. There was a sign in the restaurant warning that professional pick pockets worked there!! More than once, we've been told of the number of thieves in this city. Beautiful city though, which we hope to see more of in a few days!

Our flight to Marrakesh, Morocco was enjoyable as was our haggling with the local taxi driver in French. Nina and I are so pleased to be using the language we learned in school. Surprising how it comes in handy. For the life of us we couldn´t find our Riad (concrete house with no roof over the middle) in the dark. We finally allowed the group of young boys that were FOLLOWING us around for twenty minutes to take us there. We gave them a euro and a half for a five minute walk and they complained for more money. Nice introduction! The owner greeted us in true Muslim hospitality with mint tea and a briefing. He took us to our room which we immediately fell in love with. Lavishly decorated in Moroccan style with pictures and lights as well as a window looking inward to the center of the house. There are two rooftop terraces to relax on.

The next day we set out to discover the city after a lovely breakfast of bread and Moroccan pancakes, which aren´t really pancakes at all but pastry cooked with honey. We found the square with all the brightly adorned shops of lights, shoes, purses, scarves, pictures, mirrors, jewelry etc. The shop owners are crazy too, "I give you good price", shouting at you as you pass. "Lovely jublee" and "wow, you lucky, two wives!" One guy even called out to Joe, "Hey Tarzan whatcha looking for?!!!" They all loved his beard and called him Ali Baba. We had a good laugh.

Our wanderings took us to the famous Majorelle gardens just outside the walls of the city center. Beautiful flowers and plants from five continents of the world, mixed with unusual bird sightings and typical Moroccan style buildings in bright blue and yellow. Unbelievably stunning. The rest of the day was spent shopping and enjoying the ambiance of this small yet winding city full of surprises. We found this little square and all around us they were selling baby turtles and chameleons, smaller than your palm. I said we couldn´t take them home and the man insisted I could just take one in a cigarette box onto the plane. Very humane.

A rest landed us into the evening and we set out for dinner in the square. At night they put up lots of tents and lights, and have a sort of tourist smorgasbord of little restaurants. They are very aggressive and shove menus in your face, if you don´t look they call you "s**t tourist," so delightful! We chose number 12 and enjoyed scrumptious kebabs, couscous, salad of many veggies, bread and olives. Most of the restaurants are the same menu and are all enjoyable. Really it's the ambiance that makes it so special.

We rose early for our trip to the Atlas Mountains. It began with a stop to a typical Moroccan home in the "suburbs," where the affluent, house a cow under their home. If you don't you're considered poor. Fresh milk would be great, but oh the stench. We also saw their outdoor shower for washing up in the front yard. It looks like a little brick teepee, and they light a fire underneath for hot water. We have decided against putting one in our front yard! The woman showed us how to properly make mint tea and bread. Very enlightening and beautiful since the house overlooks a local village. We enjoyed fresh honey with our bread (yum), fresh strong olive oil and fresh homemade butter that was grainy. The next step of the way took us on a camel ride of a beautiful hillside. This was Joe´s first time on a camel, but Tarzan was brave!

We made our way further up the mountains until we reached a small village, and from there we hiked up to see the falls. Very beautiful and the hike up was exhilarating. We Canadians, as usual, were in the lead. We had one overweight girl slowing us down and I chose to accompany her back the same way we came so the rest of the group could climb higher and see the whole view of the valley. We dined at an outdoor restaurant with traditional Moroccan food overlooking the mountains. Did I mention it is 26 degrees here?! The day ended us back to the Riad for relaxing and another dinner in the square, compliments of Bonnie, before shopping and bed.

I must describe the atmosphere in the square at night. Very hectic with live shows and people trying to sell you things. Live bands playing Moroccan music. Men luring pythons from inside their jars. Some man threw a monkey on my shoulder and wanted money to take a picture. I wanted the dirty animal off me. They think we want pictures of everything and will PAY for them. Some drunk guy threw a baby kitten on me (that I was looking at) and asked if I wanted a picture. The kitten was crying profusely and the mother was not happy. Very sad the way they treat the animals. Dogs and cats littering the streets looking mangy and sick. I wanted to rescue all of them. Such an interesting culture. The next day we enjoyed sleeping in, sunbathing on the patio and enjoying this wonderful country. We also visited a palace which is no longer inhabited, but is still in very good condition.

We got two of the Riad maids to take us to the local Hammam, a bath where Moroccan´s go to scrub down with black soap, a scrub brush, henna for your hair and a body mud mask. Women and men are separate and most people wear only their underwear. You are placed in a hot steaming room during this procedure and generally women scrub themselves and their children. It is preferable to get a friend to scrub your back. We enjoyed the experience immensely, although it was a bit weird and not altogether clean the way we would have preferred. You can go to a tourist hammam, but they cost three times as much and are not very authentic, but at least you’re worried about catching a disease!

After exploring the city and buying way too many cool things in the souk, it was time to leave. Out of all the third world countries we've been to, this has been the best. The sanitary levels are much higher here, most likely due to the heavy French and Spanish influence. But that said, it is still a third world country and the differences do not go unnoticed. The men still leer and shout things out, and there were MANY people begging for money. Still the ambiance far outweighed any negatives and we would all gladly return.