Day 18 (it may get hard to track these days) - ESSAOUIRA!

When we first decided to come to Morocco I was doing very brief research online and read a short paragraph about Essaouira and was instantly enticed. Now we are here and we are in love.

We arrived Tuesday morning and immediately found a penthouse flat near the bus station and outside of the medina. We negotiated a good rate and we think we got quite a deal for a full apartment with a kitchen and private bathroom for the grand total of 120 dollars for the entire week. That day we slept and slept. We laid down for a nap and woke up 16 hours later... I think we needed to catch up because we have been moving quite a bit.

Having a kitchen that has basic supplies in it is awesome because we get to cook and having an apartment outside the tourist area is also awesome because we get to buy the freshest produce and groceries and we are not getting ripped off with "tourist prices". So besides having fresh avocado and tomato salads I got my first chance to cook a TAJINE. This is a moroccan dish that actually refers to the contraption, if you will, that it is cooked in. It is clay/ceramic, i suppose, a deep dish that has a lid that is like a funnel, cone shaped but the point lets air out. You put all kinds of vegetables in there, pile them like you would kindling for a fire, drench them in oil, spices and herbs, cover them up, put it right on the fire and then like less than a half hour later you have a heavenly meal. I think I did pretty good for my first time but you can ask Rue for a less biased yet still biased review.

After eating this beautful and very cheap meal we came back to the medina to meet some musicians in front of their shop that were to take us to a party. We got distracted in a few shops, only chatting and well one gus tried on my sneakers and wanted to trade something but they are my only pair of shoes besides a pair of rubber slippahs. Anyhow, when we got to the shop it was already locked up and no guys but as fate would have it we ran into another guy, Mohamed and we went to his shop and now we have a posse of friends, we hung out with them until after they closed the shop and then still hung out by candlelight playing music and singing. It is so peaceful and relaxed and actually a lot like meditating. They walked us home later because we all stay in the same neighborhood, or I should say that their families live where we are staying and since it is Ramadan they stay with their families. We did have a chance to see their apartment in the medina. I could totally live there. It is two stories and like a small castle, i think it is like a miniature riad or something. the middle is an open air patio and the kitchen bathroom and bedrooms are set to the sides and above. It is beautiful and seems unreal. Last night we stayed at their shop until closing as well. I actually really dont know how these guys earn a living because I havent seen them sell anything... they basically invite travelers in and play music for them, I could be missing something, who knows.

There arent many Americans. French, spanish and germans mostly we have met in the shop. The guys are stuck with us, we just wont leave! Today I was kitten sitting for one of them, the kittens name is Toma and she is grey and super curious.

Mohamed seems to run the business and there is Omar who plays the gimbri and guitar and has a gentle smile. He told me he has seen my smiling face in another life or a dream. I told him we call that De Ja Vu and I too feel as though all their faces are very familiar, this makes me know that this is where we are supposed to be. There is also Noradine, who has very long dreads and is very skinny and wears glasses. He is a fisherman and a wonderful drummer. there is a second Mohamed that does not speak english but actually makes the Gimbris that are for sale in the shop and he plays and sings magically. His voice is dark and mysterious but he leads and the rest follow up the chant like singing behind him.

Gnaouan music! Everyone... please download some, one good group is Gnaouan Diffusion. This music is rhythmic holiness... (SJ, if you dont already know, this is it) The gimbri is like a three string bass but much more of a piece of artwork. It is made of rounded wood bottom that is covered with camel skin, I will take a picture. Rue even offered to trade his guitar for one but they are too expensive. If I ever open my own shop, i will have some of these in it. There are also moroccan castanettas, not like spanish but similiar. There are two in each hand and you clank them together but instead of two round pieces, one piece has two round ends and a bar in the middle, they are made of metal completely and if not played correctly can make quite a racket.

The sunsets here are beautiful and we will get ready to watch another one soon. I have written so much and it is alot of information that I just regurgetate on all of you that are reading. I apologize for not having a better flow of stories and of course for the lack of proper punctuations.

Next time I will up load photos. Not sure how they work on here but I will put them somewhere. It is also just dawning on me that these blogs are open to viewing from anyone and that makes me nervous so I may start setting them to private so you may have to subscribe to read them next.

Until next time... Salaam

---

---