Scrub a dub dub... I have no tub

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Imlil turned out to be relaxing. I didn’t do a trek, nor did I force myself to try to get down to a valley just to climb my way back up. I enjoy hiking… maybe 2 to 3 hours of it. Once I am told a certain path will take over 4 hours in 90+ degree weather, I will shy away. I read gossip magazines and started to get into a book. It was a well needed day of nothingness. It went by quickly. The next morning, we ate another carb filled breakfast and got out ride back to Marrakech (as there is no public transportation from Imlil).

This night in Marrakech was our splurge night. We wanted somewhere with a pool and hamman. We pulled up to our riad (more like a hotel) which was about 10 minutes driving distance from the medina. It was heavenly. The rooms, the common areas, the pool, the spa - all beautifully decorated. It was practically new. The kicker - no one else was even there besides 4 other people that we met. The place probably had around 30 rooms in total. We lounged in comfy chairs by the pool and ordered some lunch. We read, swam and gossiped with two older ladies from Manchester. We took a quick walk in the afternoon followed by dinner around 9pm. Their restaurant is apparently very popular as it was packed with people - both Moroccan and European. The dinner was quite nice; however we were both pretty full from lunch time.

Off to sleep when we realized our beautiful room lacked one important thing - good AC. It probably cooled off to about 80 degrees (as it was about 105)… but still very sticky. I moved my bed under the blowing air when Betsy started laughing at me. It was worth a shot.
We woke up to a marvelous breakfast by the pool. It had all the top pickings - yogurt, both types of Moroccan pancakes (I still have no idea what they are called) and my favorite - the fig jam (among 4 other types).

Off to the Hamman which was the bottom floor of the Riad/hotel. Hmmmmm. They request that you are butt naked. You lie on a waterproof cushion on the hot marble floor. They start by dumping buckets of warm water on you. Then you are slathered up with stuff that is slippery and smells like olives. The exfoliating gloves are put on and off they go - scrubbing your entire body (neck to toe) removing dead skin from places you didn’t know existed. Following the skin removal, more buckets of water are thrown on you… Then I am asked to sit up - mind you I am still naked. She starts to wet my hair. Before I know it, she is massaging my scalp and washing my hair. I felt like a kid in a bath, but without the bath. I now know what my niece feels like when you wash the soap out of her hair! It isn’t the most pleasant thing. Then I finally get to stand up - butt naked where she lathers my face up with soap and uses a gentle exfoliate. Then my body is lathered up in soap and more buckets of water are dumped over me to get the soap off. I am literally being bathed by a Moroccan woman standing up - can you say Awkward? Now that my skin is peeled and my body is clean (including my belly button and in between my toes) - I get to put my robe back on. Poor Betsy - was laying face down the entire time on the hot stone waiting her turn. When I called her name, I realized she fell asleep!

Now it is off to the massage room where I did receive a lovely 30 minute massage. I was escorted back to the staircase once everything is completed. This was an interesting experience to say the least. Everything was on the floor vs. a proper massage table (as we have). When Betsy made it back to our room, we couldn’t stop laughing about the whole thing. YES, our skin is fabulous, but being bathed was both a shock to us!
I think I might stick to a massage only next time as I like to wash my own hair, boobs, armpits, and bellybutton.

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Comments

[deleted_457]

Sounds almost like the Turkish bath I got in Turkey.