Suprising Snort

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We hired an English speaking guide this morning to take us around the Medina in Marrakesh. His name was Mohammed. Mohammed is ½ Arab and ½ Berber which is a slight scandal. Even though his parents were an arranged marriage - the mixing of cultures is typically not the norm. We got a huge education and learned the differences between the Arabs, the Berbers and the Jews. We started at Medersa Ben Youssef. This was absolutely breath taking. The tiles, the wood, the surroundings, the history were all mesmerizing. We saw the old palace within Ben Youssef where we learned that a very wealthy man had lived there with his 4 wives. In Moroccan culture, if a man wants more than 1 wife, they need the 1st wife’s permission. We also learned the fatter, the more desirable the woman are to marry. Mother’s feed their girls nothing but bread and more bread to fatten them up.
We spent a majority of our time walking through the Souks. Here we passed raw leather (stinky), learned about the dying of fabrics (and got a head scarf), rug making (from every single origin of Moroccan history - OYE was that a pushy man who told us we should have courage to buy a rug). Last stop was the spices - some of which are located and ran by pharmacists. We tested their natural herbs. I inquired about the one for headaches and he crushed up some black seeds, wrapped it in a hanky. I thought he was putting it to my nose to smell, but he pushed it in my nostril and held my other nostril and told me to suck it in! OYE again. I didn’t know what happened - it was funny - kinda. We walked out with some oils and lotions.
After our 3.5 hours was up with Mohammed, he dropped us back off in the heart of the Medina. We ate at a lovely restaurant that sprayed mists of cold water every minute. Did I fail to mention that there is NO air conditioning anywhere? We have in our Riad otherwise we would have melted by now. So from 8am until bedtime, we are slimy, greasy, sweaty creatures who brave the 100 degree weather.
So after a quick nap, we hired Aziz (some buddy of our host Abdul) to drive us to the Majorelle Gardens. It was pretty - but nothing spectacular. It was an oversized, colorful, cactus growing place that pays tribute to Yves Saint-Laurent as he was the owner of this land that he made public years ago. Last stop was the Koutoubia Mosque. Even though people go there 5 times a day to pray, when we were there and it was completely desolate. As we are not Muslim, we are not allowed inside. It is pretty… but nothing compared to some of our morning sites.
We headed back towards the heart of the Medina for dinner. What we realized is that the streets are filled with families, small children - which you don’t see during the day. The streets are like a mosh pit with men on mopeds still honking to get through. I am still uncomfortable with this as I walk as close to the wall as possibly. I probably jumped 4 times today. We ended the night with some great eats. We tried something new - these meat filled pastries called Pastilla (similar to Jamaican beef patties - except they are normally made with Pigeon meat). Off to sleep as we have a day trip to some waterfalls tomorrow.

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