I departed Chicago on the 24th (my birthday), and met up with Mike and Sarah (my companions from Panama) in JFK. Together we arrived in Madrid at 6:30 on the 25th, and then in Marrakesh around 11:30. We found our way to the hostel with the help of a local boy (who obviously demanded money for his help, not an uncommon theme here). It was pretty nice, and we were soon eager to head out to see the city. Of course before we could Sarah had to call her bank, and Mike needed to transfer money into his checking account.
Once in the city, we found it to be by far the most confusing winding roads any of us had ever seen. This was like Venice, except every house is exactly the same. We wondered the markets, which were incredibly expansive, and eventually ended up buying hats to combat the staggering 120 degree heat. That is not a typo....it was 120 here, and we are told this is about normal. The sun baked on us, and we all became irritable, and very tiered.
We tried for hours to find the Jewish area, but obviously had trouble due to the haphazard nature of the streets. Eventually a man helped us find it, but led us to a carpet store. In the store Mike demanded to leave for fear of having to tip more people (not unreasonable at all, everyone wants us to give them money). So we awkwardly gave our guide 50DH (6ish USD) and left as he complained that wasn't enough.
We went back to the hostel an met a nice guy from Boston (also named Mike) who went to dinner in the city center with us. Dinner and the city center were cool, a rip off, but cool. We saw story tellers, and snake charmers, multiple drum circles, and a host of other entertainers. Unfortunately, they won't let us take pictures unless we pay them, and they demand quite a lot for a picture (30dm or $4). Overall it was a very tiring day, and while its cool to be here, we were too tiered and hot to really enjoy ourselves.
Today (26th) we went out with Mike (the dude from Boston)to a really cool garden outside the city walls. It was weird, because there were no flowers, and it was more of a forest than a garden, but I suppose in the middle of the desert, this is the best they have.
After that the four of us went to the Palace that wasn't a palace. It was a house that a former king commissioned not to be lived in, but to be a piece of art. It was really cool...a little run down, but you could tell it used to be cool.
The three of us (Boston Mike didn't come) went to a pool. It wasn't that big of a deal, but Sarah was getting angry from the heat, so we went mostly to appease her, although I did enjoy it as well. The real fun was getting there. We hired a taxi, who obviously ripped us off, and he took us to one place, who wanted to rip us off, so the taxi guy took us to another one and ripped us off in that fair as well. Overall we payed 440DH (55ish USD) to go swimming for an hour or so.
Right now we're off to buy pants to ride a camel in the saharatomorow.
No comments:
Post a Comment