Sheryl Update

The Jemma el-Fnaa market is a huge crazy market in the center of Marrakech. I had read that there would be pick pockets, aggressive vendors, people putting monkeys on your head, and women grabbing your hand and doing henna tattoos without asking.

The walk to get there was mellow. We saw more tourists and people in shorts in ten minutes then we did in the previous week.

There were cool doors and tiles.

I didn’t take any photos in the market because I read that if you took a photo people would demand money. I’m not sure if that is true but didn’t risk it. This photo is from above.

The below photo is from the internet. I didn’t take it.

The above photo is from the internet but similar to what we saw.

I saw a monkey wearing a little red dress on top of a tourist’s head. She was laughing so I guess paid for the experience. I can’t think of something I would hate more. There were two other monkeys without dresses trapped in a tiny cage. I’ve read that they are treated really poorly. So even if I did want to pay for a monkey on my head I wouldn’t have.

I took this photo because I wanted to buy one. These were little salt holders. But vendor wasn’t around to take our money.

There were also snake charmers. I didn’t take photos because I didn’t want to pay. There was a crowd and one guy who took a photo from pretty far away. The charmer forgot all about the snake he was charming tore through the crowd and demanded money.

The below photo is from the internet.

This is from the internet but pretty similar to what we saw. I read that the snakes are also treated poorly, so I was glad not to have paid money to have them charmed.

After a walk around the market we went through this arch and up stairs to a rooftop restaurant to watch the market from above.

For the price of a mint tea we could sit in the shade, take photos and not see monkeys and snakes being mistreated.

On Saturday we visited the Koutoubia Mosque. Jeff was not feeling great but agreed to go for a “quick visit.”

The mosque was built in the 1100’s and was the model for the tower we saw in Rabat and also the one in Sevilla. There were a lot of doors.

Jeff was not feeling well. I tried to stop taking door photos but it’s like an addiction. You can tell he doesn’t get the allure.

Non Muslims can’t go inside the mosque but you can take photos of the doorway.

We sat in the shade for awhile. Then the call to prayer started. Jeff was ready to go at this point. I left about 500 doors (that really did all look alike) unphotographed.

Jeff has been doing a lot. Not only has he been carry all our luggage. Due to my hernia I can’t lift anything over ten pounds. He’s also arranged all the taxis. They don’t have Uber here. They have a similar app called In Driver, but it’s in French and all in cash. So while I’m goofing around with my phone he’s doing all the logistics.

Jeff want feeling great, so it was a, good day to just hang out. Our Airbnb is in a modern, lively neighborhood with lots of cute stores and restaurants.

The highlight for me was eating this delicious salad. It sounds dumb when there are all these new interesting did to rest. But sometimes you just need a salad that is familiar. This one was perfect. It had lettuce and tomatoes but also fruit.

Cats, are so ubiquitous here that I have gotten used to seeing them everywhere. I counted 10 cat sightings in a ten minute walk. They are treated well here. They don’t run away and are well fed. I took pictures of all ten, but you get the idea.

One of my walks in the day was to the walls of the old city. The walls go on for miles. I just walked a few blocks.

On Thursday we took a train to Marrakech. The four hour trip was smooth quick

A really nice taxi driver showed us how to use Google translate for the Moroccan dialect of Arabic they use here.

Dinner was chichen pastilla. It’s like a sweet/savory meat pie. Phyllo dough on the outside, ground chicken, onion and almonds on the inside. The entire thing is sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon. It sounds weird but was really good.

We went to small store where I found this cute little bucket of Tide. How cute is this with the little handle? It was a little weird pouring it into the washing machine. I was expecting powder not a thick liquid that was like wallpaper paste. But turned on the washing machine and searched for a drying rack. I found a nice clothes mine on our balcony.

I went back to the store to buy clothes pins and found then in a different section away from the buckets of Tide and with other brands of laundry detergent.

It was then that I learned that Tide makes floor cleaner in Morocco. And I learned that if you do wash your clothes in Tide floor cleaner your clothes will be clean but smell strongly like floor cleaner.

We started the day at the Rabat kasbah. This one we really did rock. Well if you consider walking uphill slowly, having Jeff act as a human handrail on every step and stopping to photograph every door rocking.

The kasbah overlooked the ocean.

We had lunch on the shore where I ate the healthiest meal I’ve had on this trip. Quinoa and finally some spinach which was in my juice.

Next up was Hassan Tower and the Mausoleum of King Muhammad V.

It’s guarded by the royal guard. They look menacing but they were really nice. I asked if I could photographer them and they stopped smiling and posed.

The tower is part of a mosque that was under construction in the 1100’s. An earthquake toppled everything but the tower and these columns. We got lucky that few people were there when we were. Tour buses were just pulling up on our way out.

At the other end is the mausoleum which was built in the 1960’s.

We couldn’t go inside but it was incredible to see from the outside.

There were a few more things on our site seeing to do list but we skipped them and went back to our Airbnb for a nap.

Tuesday started in Tangiers with a beggar placing a curse on me. When I wouldn’t give him money, he waved his fingers at me, stared intently and said some menacing sounding words.

The curse took some time to kick in. The high speed train to the city of Rabat was great.

Although we did get on the wrong train car with all our luggage, have to get off and run to the correct car, with all our luggage.

Lunch was great. These were tagines (Morocco stew). I had the meatballs in tomatoe sauce. Under the pile of fries Jeff had chicken in preserved lemon.

The curse kicked in when we got to our Airbnb and the electric doorlock wouldn’t open. After some waiting the owner showed up with a key and a promise to come back and fix it. Once inside we realized there was no toilet paper.

Undaunted, we walked around the city.

The curse was still upon me when I picked a place for sunset drinks.

I didnt realize it was in an entirely different town until the cab went over a bridge. I didn’t realize it was a hoity toity hotel until the doorman ran a metal detector underneath the taxi.

After expensive drinks, on the way back to our Airbnb I bought toilet paper…

Which turned out to be paper towels. Our door now opened with the electric keypad. But it also set off an alarm.

Frustrated and annoyed we went to a nearby restaurant/karaoke bar. Turns out the best way to lift a Moroccan curse is with two gin and tonics and a bowl of olives.

This is the view from our Airbnb. The medina and kasbah are the old part of town, but there is also the modern part with large buildings and busy car-filled streets.

There is also a nice beach with a nice walk along it. The hills across the water is Spain. The plastic chairs are what you can rent. They seem so uncomfortable compared to the beach chairs we’re used to renting.

There are also horses you can rent.

The area along the water is really modern. Lots of apartment buildings and hotels.

There were also camels to rent. I joked that we could rent them and crop photos to make it look like we were in the desert. Jeff said we could do it on AI. The below is AI.

This is completely AI. We did not take camels into the desert. One way to know this is AI besides the fact that we are not camel riders is that I look like I’m 4 ft tall and Jeff looks maniacal.

After we did not ride camels we went to a really nice modern coffee shop. We tried Tanzanian and Rwandan coffee. Both were really good.

I’ve been really careful to be respectful and not photograph people. But sometimes they end up in my shots.

I had to say it at least once. Now I’ve gotten it out of the way. Besides being a great song from the 80’s, a kasbah means fortress and or old city. It’s also spelled casbah as in the song. The kasbah in Tangiers is built up on a hill overlooking the water. You can’t walk through it but you can walk around it.

And then you are back in the markets.

And more doors.

On Saturday we walked around the medina which means old city. I went photo crazy which also drove Jeff crazy.

These arches are the way into the medina. There are five of them, each one interesting and photo worthy.

Inside it was very narrow streets with lots of people and stores selling all kinds of things. The above is a type of soap you bring to the hammas which is like a traditional spa.

We were a bit overwhelmed so we stopped for a cup of mint tea at a famous Cafe where the Rolling Stones and writers and poets hung out.

So many doors…

After the tea we needed more of a break so went to a quieter part of the Medina.

We had lunch and then walked out of the medina to a park.

It was overwhelming but a good day.

We said goodbye to Rolf and Samuel and got boarded the ferry for Tangier Morocco. The ocean was really rough so I had to clutch anything I could to stay upright. I couldn’t look out the windows so did not see us pass by Gibraltar.

Thank God for sea bands. Without them I would have been really seasick. With them I was too ill to stand but not too sick for a selfie. It was only one hour. Crazy to think you can get from Europe to Africa in an hour.

We took a taxi to our airbnb. It’s in a big modern apartment building, but does have some interesting Moroccan touches like the curtains and sofa.

This chandelier is pretty amazing. There are also two tangines in the kitchen. Tangines are clay pots that they cook Moroccan stews in. We have one in our Seattle storage locker.

This one was high up on a shelf and too heavy for me to try to get down. Jeff had to do some last minute work. I felt that asking him to stop in order for me to take a better photo of the tagine was ill advised.

And there was this smaller one to photograph.

We were both worn out after a week of sightseeing so we took the day as a rest day. I mostly napped, read, and did laundry.

You can drink the water here, but they did leave us some bottled water. I assume it’s water. It tasted like water. Hard to tell though with the label.

Same thing with the kleenex. There is a lot of Fench here. Jeff has been learning French on Duo lingo which is good because after years of French in school and a summer spent in France in high school, I remember nothing.

The are two things we always do when we get to a new country. Number one -nap. Number two – figure out how to order food in.

This was chicken, cous cous and vegetables. It wasn’t as delicious as we hoped but it was easy, inexpensive and healthy.