Another day, another bus. This time to Marrakesh. About 4 hours in the pouring rain, we slept.
We had a rest stop about half way to Marrakesh for a “quick” bathroom break. They had an bakery there making bread in a stone oven.
The tour agent informed the group that this rest stop sold pottery that can only be found there. “They don’t sell it in Marrakesh, so if you see something you like, you better buy it here.”
Snork. I observed both the bus driver and the tour agent getting a little bahksheesh from the owner/manager of the restaurant/store.
The rains parted about the time we made it to Marrakesh. We consulted the guide book and decide to go to a fixed price shop run by a government sponsored arts and crafts association. We figured it was a good way to get a sense of prices before heading into the market.
Then it started raining again. We had wanted to go to the Place Djemaa El Fna.
We sat in a coffee shop on the corner near our hotel and watched the rain while we debated whether or not to go to the square in the pouring rain. As we were debating, a young man came by selling umbrellas. After some haggling and checking the umbrellas (many were discarded because they broke the first time he opened them) we bought one. We decided it was a sign from Allah that we were meant to go.
Into a taxi and off we went.
The rain kept most of the locals home and many of the tourists away. We ate snails and fried fish. in the square under tarps put up by the food vendors. We decided to stay away from sheep’s heads and brains. We had a grand time.
We also did some shopping. The rain made for some good opportunities to haggle, since there weren’t many buyers out. We bought some scarves and slippers.
We got lost and actually paid 10 dirham to a kid to get us back to the main square. Heh!
With our stomachs full, our shopping needs sated and our wallets slightly less full, we decided to head to the hotel.
That was when we witnessed the Kingly Hand Loving on the TeeVee. More on that later.