Scallywags and Whiskers

And here we are, on the outskirts of the Sahara desert in the dead of summer on the first day of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Marrakesh, forever conjuring up images of the exotic, the mysterious and the surreal, as it turns out, is a big fat disappointment. We have managed to avoid (seemingly) the tourist scene since our time in Morocco until our glorious nine hour train ride in a sweltering compartment with the sometimes French speaking, sometimes whisker plucking, and all the time smelly six rotating chamber mates pulled into its final stop of the day at around 9:30 p.m. Enthusiastic to be finally given the opportunity to escape from our railroad of despair, we hurried into the station, glad to be alive and well, and breathing the fresh air....of french fries and burgers! That's right, our reward for enduring the experience was a long anticipated (by me at least) treat of McDonalds...and a happy meal it was indeed! Surprisingly, finally fed up with tajines, mystery couscous, and the lure of gaily "trying new things" and the accompanying disappointment in my reluctance to do so, Ksitlyn was also eager to score some Golden Arches. We downed a meal, then another, and elatedly hailed a cab to the much anticipated Djemma el Fna, the historical epicenter of this supposedly magical city. Now as previously mentioned, a map or guidebook, we have not. "Just winging it..." I tell people with a nervous grin. As such, we headed down a side street to evade the massive spectacle of lights and smoke before us to find a place to crash for the evening. Without going into further detail, we found a place for 150 dirham, the equivalent of around $17.50, by far, the most inexpensive place we have stayed in thusfar. Borrowing from my favorite show Seinfeld, yadda yadda yadda, we are now staying in a different place which has afforded us our first opportunity to use wireless internet and upload some pictures.

Marrakesh reminds me of the New Jersey shore (no, not the show...definitely no guidos or guidettes here and based on our experiences thus far in close quarters with many of these people, the L of GTL is definitely missing [gym, tanning, laundry, get with it people!]) There are tourists galore and each souk (market) seems to exist solely for tourists to peruse through and glare at in wonder. There are motor bikes aplenty ready to run you down through the narrow passageways and swaths of humanity aimlessly wandering about. Today is the first day of Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims in which "good" Muslims are to abstain from eating, smoking, drinking (even water) and any other pleasures of life for the entirety of daylight. We have seen many shopkeepers sleeping in their stalls, reading the Quran, and dousing themselves with water to take their mind off the reality of the harsh heat around them.

Kaitlyn and I didnt know what to expect for Ramadan. We had no idea if we were even going to be able to get food or water anywhere, expecting the town to shut down. Instead, it is business as usual here, only without any of the locals really taking part in any of the eating or drinking. Tourists are too important to their economy to close shop altogether. Perhaps what irks me the most about the sheer abundance of tourists here is their inability to be the slightest bit considerate of the locals. It is considered impolite to eat or drink in public, not to mention in poor taste and a cause for unnecessary attention to wear revealing clothes. No matter though for most of these tourists....go ahead Maria from Spain, smoke that cigarette and munch on a kebob while you wear those tiny shorts and tank top and talk that old sweaty, thirsty Arab man down 2 dirham (about a quarter) for that souvenir you want. You're staying at Club Med....he's sleeping in that stall....Oh well! It's just obnoxious and I feel only adds to many Arabs' feelings of hostility towards the West.

But enough ranting.... Fes was one of the coolest places I have ever been. No trip to Morocco would be complete without a trip there. The old medina (walled city) is one of the largest car free environments on the earth. It was real Morocco, raw and unfiltered. There were toursists, but more locals than anything else. Locals doing everything from getting their meat for the day (camel heads, fresh chickens being slaughtered before our eyes, random hooves, ), to collecting vegetables and other daily necessities. The medina was impossible to navigate, with winding passageways and alleys through every twist and turn. Locals continuously offered to "guide" us...for a fee of course. I would mumble nonsense with different pitches of my voice to get them to leave us alone which they often did. People here speak Arabic. Most often know French and also bits and pieces of English and Spanish, enough to conduct whatever business they are trying to tout to tourists at least. Kaitlyn often likes to pretend she's Spanish to communicate with people whereas I prefer not to communicate other than the intelligble grunting and ignoring of others (I knew these traits of mine would come in handy!). The touts in Fes were a lot less pushy than they are here in Marrakesh, well other than one gentleman who had the audacity to call Kaitlyn a "scallywag," which according to wikipedia is a "southern white who supported Reconstruction following the Civil War," to which I must fault him for his backwords ideologies.

We're having a great time...pictures are posted and will continue to be posted while we are here in Marrakech. We will soon head to Essaouira along the coast for some down time along the waves and ocean breezes before catching our flight to Cairo on August 18. We love seeing your comments and knowing that people are as excited about our journey as we are! Keep them coming!

Hope everything is well with you all!   

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