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Published: September 10th 2010
The clocks in Morocco were set back an hour. We had no idea! We were an hour early to camel riding yesterday; however due to the language barrier we thought the lady told us the wrong time. We went to dinner pretty late last night (or so we thought). When we got to the restaurant we were surprised it was pretty empty. It was packed by the time we left.
We set the alarm for 9am this morning as we wanted to attend a cooking class which started at 10:30am. We didn’t have reservations so we called this morning. I woke some guy up and I thought he said to call back in 10 minutes. When I called back, he didn’t speak English so well, so I asked someone in my riad to translate. Basically I was told to call back in an hour. Betsy and I decided to just walk to the cooking place. It turns out there was availability; however the class didn’t start for another hour. That is when we realized we were on the wrong time for the past 2 days! Oopsies. Thankfully we didn’t have any buses, trains or planes to catch.
The cooking class
was marvelous. I learned how to use spices I have never used before. We made a salad (zucchini w/ coriander and about 10 other spices). The main course was beef tagine with carrots, onions and tomatoes along with garlic, spices and more spices. Tagine takes about 2 hours to cook. We were given a notepad to take notes. The one thing I would like to take away is how to make perfect Moroccan mint tea. YES - the tea here is brilliant and I have never enjoyed tea before. Then again, the amount of sugar placed in the tea is embarrassing… so that surely helps the situation. Either way, it is a good aide for digestion. Apparently, the Moroccans also use cumin as an aide for an upset stomach. They mix the cumin with boiling water and honey and you drink it. I think it’s definitely worth trying.
Today is our last day in Essaouira. Tonight is the first night we have dinner reservations. It is a place that was recommended by the NY Times. What the heck - worth a try! We ended up meeting 5 Harvard grads who were sitting at the table next to us. They were
all between jobs or getting ready for grad school. They invited us to play some cards and drink some wine... truth is Betsy and I were pooped!
We head to the mountains tomorrow. I am not sure if we will have internet service, but we will certainly find out soon enough.
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