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Djemaa el Fnaa
drums The train ride from Meknes to Marrakech was interesting in that for a good distance the terrain was vitually barren with some sparse vegation scraping out an existance among stretches of hills covered in various hues of sand from grey to red. Occasionally there would be a river or small train station to break up the monotany of the last few hours of the trip. The train got in in the early afternoon and I got a bed at Hotel Ali in the converted crawl space/storage room/dorm right above the kitchen. The ceilings of the dorm were barely high enough for me to stand up in and though there were air conditioners they looked like they hadn't worked in years. On top of that all the heat from the kitchen rose into the room and the small windows made a bad joke of air circulation but at 60 DH a night I could live with it and besides I could always sleep on the terrace.
After paying for my bed in the dorm/furnace I started walking around. Hotel Ali is practically right on the main square in the medina, the famous Djemaa el Fnaa. Which, technically, is more of
a trapeziod than a square and is lined on the sides with orange juice stands, which sell a damn good glass for 3 DH. Toward dusk all the food vendors and their carts fill the space in between leaving the rest of the space for the performers, storytellers and musicians. I walked around the medina and the areas surronding it just checking things out. I looked in some of the shops but I wasn't really in the mood to bargain and I didn't have a lot of cash to spare. I spent the afternoon in the medina and then headed back to the square to get something from the food vendors when they opened. I got a bowl of harira with bread and kebabs for 30 DH. The soup with bread was good as always and the kebabs despite being half gristle weren't bad.
I stayed until the square until late walking around and checking out some of the performers and musicians. Some of the guys were hammering out quality beats and rhythms on the drums and other instruments and it was interesting to hear the different music mix and intermingle as the sounds reverberated around the square. When
I finally left the square I didn't feel like going back to the furnace just yet so I walked down some of streets in the area and used my camera to take some short movies of the traffic at night.
The next day I met a guy from Australia and we went around just walking wherever felt right and not really caring where we were or where we were going. Later in the day we ran into a group of English girls and after spending some time with them decided to join them for a barbecue on the terrace of the place they were staying. We ended up walking for at least an hour just to get to one of the big supermarkets in ville nouville to get all the supplies. By the time we got everything and took a cab back it was dark. Then when we got up to the terrace the wind was blowing and there was no light so we had to "borrow" a couple of lanterns from the entranceway. It wasn't easy but we got the charcoal going eventually and it ended up being one hell of a barbeque with lots of good food
and people sitting around, talking and drinking cheap vodka.
After spending a couple days slow broiling in the heat of Marrakech I decided to head to the coast and catch some of that ocean breeze. I took one of the local buses to Essouria and saved a few DH over supratours and in hindsight paying a little extra for some air con and shocks would've been worth it as the three hour ride was one of the bumpiest yet in a bus that might as well had tire iron for shocks. I usually don't mind paying the 6DH baggage fee (price of a large bottle of water) or so for the guys who do nothing but take my big pack from my shoulder and throw it in the underneath storage areas. This time the guys were being extra shady and trying to get every coin out of me that they could by wanting to charge me extra because of the size of my pack and various other bullshit. I just pretented to be an ignorant foreigner, smiled and acted completely oblivious like I didn't know what they wanted. I ended up not giving these guys anything because I knew
they were trying to screw me over and just waited until the bus was ready to leave before tossing in my pack and hopping on.
When I got to the bus station I was immediatley swarmed by all the touts looking for a quick commision. I ended up following one guy who took me to a place that I never would have found myself (and wouldn't have been in any guidebook) right outside the medina that was nice and a good deal. Another tout who I didn't talk to at all also tagged along and also wanted a commision for doing nothing but following me to the place. Since I didn't need two people to show me the same place I gave the first guy 10DH and sent the other guy back to the bus station empty handed.
It was very windy when I got here and has been the same way for the past couple days until today which has been a perfect, clear day with just the right amount of wind to keep cool. The medina is bordered on one side by the ocean and during the day bus loads of tourists come to walk around
the medina have lunch in a cafe or at the grilled fish stands and then take the tour bus back to wherever they came from. It almost seems like I see more tourists here during the day than in Marrakech but that must be because the medina is much smaller here. I got some decent pictures of the ramparts, the sunset and the museum. Essouria is a very laid back place and is definently my kind of style. The last couple days here I've enjoyed just wandering around and checking out the boats, beach and some of the wood carvings and art galleries etc. Tomorrow I head south to Agadir and then Tiznit and into the Ameln valley.
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