Day 20: McFlurries are no match for 50 degree weather

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Well, we had the best of intentions to see the palaces today... butttttt the heat got the best of us. We spent the afternoon reading and enjoying the heat from inside the riad. Em sat on the roof and took in the heat, while I contented myself on the ground floor/lobby which is still open but fully in shade.

We headed out at 3pm thinking it would be a little less deadly... and by less deadly it was an ever so cool 50 freakin’ degrees. Like baking our everything in every way imaginable hot.

We walked up to McDonald’s to get a McFlurry – the amount of sweat we pooled is just beyond ridiculous. Again, 50 degrees. Not. Good. News. Some taxi driver saw us and was like “too hot for you to walk” ... no kidding!!

After McDonald’s we walked back towards the main square – and by walked, we sort of slowly meandered. We only made it about 75% of the way before we pretty much collapsed in one of the shady squares – after much water, we pretty much decided to go back to the hostel rather than have heat stroke. Even in the heat, we bartered for our taxi – aw yeh. First some guy got mad at us for not going to the stand and trying to wave one down, but then he got more mad when we told him we wanted to pay 7 dirham to go back to the gate we wanted. (We were told by the hostel that’s the price). We got another one no problem but we had to keep fighting to get it down to 10... for 3 dirham, whatever... that’s like... less than 50 cents hahaha.

We vegetated in the hostel for quite some time after that. And by vegetated I literally mean vegetated. And did nothing. At all. For a few hours. Oh my goodness.

We went to look at the weather again and nearly died laughing – it was now a slightly cooler 46 and “sand”. Yes. Sand. Way to go google weather, way to go.

Finally around 7pm we headed back out to the main square to grab some supper – it’s a totally different vibe at night, the city really comes to life and it’s amazing. Also since there are so many people you almost have less people bugging you about stuff because there are so many other people to bug 😉

I wanted to try some fresh orange juice (the stalls are EVERYWHERE) but I had heard a lot of them water down the water... so we wandered around to find out that was already kind of busy. Stall 49 – if you’re ever in the Medina of Marrakech, that’s your man! It was the absolute best orange juice I have ever drank and it was 50 cents. Loved. It. He let me take a photo of the stand and then told me to come up behind the stand with him for another photo (for free!) . Afterwards I’m like I’ll be back – I’ll be back! Haha. Em also bought water, so good business for him.

We had supper up on a terrace with a beautiful view of the main square – with all the food stalls lit up. It was so beautiful. The food wasn’t as good as in Essaouira, but it was still good. Em had a veggie tajine which didn’t live up to expectations though. I enjoyed my harira (Moroccan soup) and kefta and egg tajine (basically minced meat meatballs haha). It was good but oh so filling.

After that we wandered around the stalls for quite some time – I went to buy water from my orange juice guy – he laughed when he saw us coming. We got approached by a guy with a macaque (monkey). Saw a guy selling half dentures. Saw a bunch of sideshows/comedy shows that were in Arabic so.... not exactly funny for us. Saw a lot of snails being eaten.

In the food stall section everyone and their brother was trying to get us to eat at their stall – our answer was always “we already ate” because they’ll somewhat let you off the hook. The typical response is then: “but you look so skinny, you can eat again!” No, no we’re full. So full. “Ok, promise next time? Yes?” and they’d tell you their stall number. It was interesting.

It was also interesting hearing their different approaches – most people guessed we were from the UK again, so we heard “fish n’ chips” again. We heard a lot of “ello. Ello. Misses. Misses.” followed by a disgruntled sigh or Arabic word as we ignore them. The absolute best to day though was a guy who guessed we were Canadian!!! We excitedly said yes, then he’s like “ah, poutine!” Oh my god, we literally burst out laughing.

Em got some baked goods (I was way too full!) and then went to get some dates and nuts from the stall beside our orange juice guy. I decided I might as well have another orange juice... I mean... for 50 cents... really... how could I not? He laughed again when he saw me – I’m like ok last time! I leave tomorrow morning! Haha.

We had a convo while I drank this time – this other guy working with him asked if I was French – no Canadian – “oh vous etes Quebecoise?” ... sigh, no haha. So we talked a little about that – how I’m from just outside Quebec, then we talked about Morocco and the vibe of Marrakech and stuff. It was really nice – a good way to end our trip I suppose 😊

Back at the hostel we had a good night – we only got back around 10:30pm – oddly enough, you feel super safe at night just because there’s still tons of people around. Anyway, at the hostel we hung out and chilled with two London girls, an Aussie guy and a Vancouver guy for a bit, along with one of the hostel staff – it was a great convo about all our travels, about Canada, about Morocco and about the culture here and being Muslim. I really, really, really love the staff here.

So to sum up if you’re even in Marrakech, stay at Riad Massine (I or II, both awesome) and go drink orange juice at stall 49 in the main square. That is all.

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