It never rains in Marrakech...

Well we’re back from a long but action packed day in Marrakech and after a solid 14 hours of sightseeing, rather than rest our weary heads we’re writing to our beloved friends and family – aren’t we lovely?
Our day kicked off at 6am where we had the nice surprise of bumping in to an English couple who we met when transferring from the airport when we first arrived. They’d decided to our second tour as well which is through the Sahara desert sand dunes on Saturday. After that we’ll probably head to the English pub here to watch England’s kick off match.
Marrakech is a four hour drive away from Agadir, which goes up through the High Atlas Mountains so we weren’t short of things to look at. We stopped halfway at a Berber village where we made friends with a little cross-eyed shepherd boy!
The tour through Marrakech focused on the old city, and saw us visiting the old palace of the king (built in the 12th century), as well as an old Medusa (where they study the Koran), a traditional herbalist, a huge souk (crazy labyrinth market), and the big square on which the city is surrounded.
A highlight for both of us was lunch as we ate at a traditional Moroccan restaurant on a rooftop overlooking the old city, complete with Moroccan red wine.
The lowlight? The fact that Marrakech only has approximately three rainy days a year and is nearly always 30 degrees minimum... What are the chances that after dressing for exhaustive heat, we end up wet and frozen? Everyone was in the same boat though and it did provide amusement as the sunhats, sunscreen and litres of water were nothing but a waste of bag space! All the brits were shocked – it was warmer in England. To be fair I did consider the idea that I perhaps brought this on ourselves after our smug boasting about the ‘hot African sun’ last update... Well rest assured everyone as I certainly got my comeuppance!
The square was like something out of a movie scene – monkeys running around rampant, cobras and snake charmers galore, piles of olives, every spice under the sun and leather to Africa! You have to pay for absolutely everything (even taking photos or using the toilet in a restaurant you’re having lunch in) so you have to be quite careful when dealing with the locals. Brad had a run in with a couple of monkeys after the owners thrust them upon him despite his protests, and then have the cheek to hold out their hands demanding cash. I had a similar encounter with a henna tattoo artist who grabbed my hand and squirted her henna needle at me. I jumped back in fright and it went all over my pants – blimmen witch ran away as quick as the wind I can tell you! Needless to say after our donut incident we didn’t pay for either of these. I did manage to take a sneaky photo of a snake charmer which you can almost see if you squint in the right direction!
We’re also trying to track down the perfect man-bag for Brad (we know what you’re thinking - not gay, EVERYONE in London has one!) and we had some interesting experiences with the leather salesman. This cheeky beggar started the bidding at 650 dirham then screamed 50 dirham as we walked out the shop. The trouble is you have no idea how much things cost, so even asking a simple query around cost, basically means in their eyes you’ve already brought it. We’ve learnt to only ever ask if you love it, and even then be prepared to walk away as when you transfer it back to NZ$ or £ it’s never that cheap anyway.
After today’s weather we’re keen to soak up the sun tomorrow and head to the main Agadir souk to track down Brad’s man-bag, which he wishes to assure everyone is in no way a fashion statement, rather it will be very practical when commuting on the tube!
Also might head to the local Golden Arches at some stage to try out the infamous McArabia, which we have high hopes for and at the very least it should stand miles ahead of the McPork Samurai in Hong Kong (like munching on a flavourless heart attack)!
Love to all and thinking of you (and not just when we look at cross-eyes shepherd boys!)
xx