Marrakech
Thankfully, all of the laundry dried enough to stick it into the packs, but not 100%. What lie ahead was a 3 hour train ride into Marrakechm up against the High Atlas mountains.
Up until now, we were quite content with the train service and the AC that was provided on it. Up until now. The day started out fine in Casablanca, not too cold but mildly cool and without need of AC. The train of course had the AC on when it pulled in to Casa Voyageurs station. The problem occured some 1.5 hours into the train ride where the AC decided to fail. That wouldn't have been a problem if Marrakech didn't hit some 35C that day, and a train full of people can generate some fierce heat. When we pulled into Marrakech, sweaty and dehydrated, we hoped that finding a place to crash wouldn't be hard as was the precedent in Morocco. Nope. No rooms to be had at 5 places, and we walked away from one vacant place but they wanted 1,200 Dirhams for a triple for the night (about 120 Euros). My cheapness gene kicked in and we kept walking until we found a relatively good deal for less than half that almost in the middle of the tourist area. Clean and comfortable with a nice bathroom.
Nothing else of note, except we picked up Chucky at the airport and the cab drivers seem to not want to turn on the meter but rather to negotiate a price beforehand. Having not paid more than 12 Dirhams for ANY cab ride before in Morocco, one guy wanted 30 Dh before I asked him to turn on the meter. Future Moroccan travellers beware.. always ask the cabbie to "mettez le compteur" or turn on the meter.
Anyway, after bringing Chuck back and settling him in, we head off for a walk to the souks and the medina of town to see some action. It was dark by the time we went and you would be surprised at how nocturnal Moroccans really are. But come midnight, they all scurry off back home and desert the streets.
The souks were very active with all kinds of snake charmers and musicians and food stalls. Unfortunately there are no photos to show because if you take a photo of anybody performing, some guy will come up to demand payment for it. So you'll just have to take my word for it.
After wandering around the souk, remember that its dark out by this time, we head into the twisty walkways of the medina and, as expected, we got lost. Not to miss an opportunity, some young kid notices us and starts to offer his services for guiding us out. Being close to 11pm, we figured a couple of Dirhams would be a good investment in our safety so we passively follow this kid. Then all of a sudden, the kid gets anxious and asks for the money right away. He's got this look of fear in his eyes when someone who looks like his big brother grabs him, starts screaming at him in arabic and smacks him around a bit. Well, we umm... slip away into the darkness and fortunately we were close to the outside so at least it worked out for us.
One shot from the medina and the souks of Marrakech. Tomorrow, we head into the Sahara.
Up until now, we were quite content with the train service and the AC that was provided on it. Up until now. The day started out fine in Casablanca, not too cold but mildly cool and without need of AC. The train of course had the AC on when it pulled in to Casa Voyageurs station. The problem occured some 1.5 hours into the train ride where the AC decided to fail. That wouldn't have been a problem if Marrakech didn't hit some 35C that day, and a train full of people can generate some fierce heat. When we pulled into Marrakech, sweaty and dehydrated, we hoped that finding a place to crash wouldn't be hard as was the precedent in Morocco. Nope. No rooms to be had at 5 places, and we walked away from one vacant place but they wanted 1,200 Dirhams for a triple for the night (about 120 Euros). My cheapness gene kicked in and we kept walking until we found a relatively good deal for less than half that almost in the middle of the tourist area. Clean and comfortable with a nice bathroom.
Nothing else of note, except we picked up Chucky at the airport and the cab drivers seem to not want to turn on the meter but rather to negotiate a price beforehand. Having not paid more than 12 Dirhams for ANY cab ride before in Morocco, one guy wanted 30 Dh before I asked him to turn on the meter. Future Moroccan travellers beware.. always ask the cabbie to "mettez le compteur" or turn on the meter.
Anyway, after bringing Chuck back and settling him in, we head off for a walk to the souks and the medina of town to see some action. It was dark by the time we went and you would be surprised at how nocturnal Moroccans really are. But come midnight, they all scurry off back home and desert the streets.
The souks were very active with all kinds of snake charmers and musicians and food stalls. Unfortunately there are no photos to show because if you take a photo of anybody performing, some guy will come up to demand payment for it. So you'll just have to take my word for it.
After wandering around the souk, remember that its dark out by this time, we head into the twisty walkways of the medina and, as expected, we got lost. Not to miss an opportunity, some young kid notices us and starts to offer his services for guiding us out. Being close to 11pm, we figured a couple of Dirhams would be a good investment in our safety so we passively follow this kid. Then all of a sudden, the kid gets anxious and asks for the money right away. He's got this look of fear in his eyes when someone who looks like his big brother grabs him, starts screaming at him in arabic and smacks him around a bit. Well, we umm... slip away into the darkness and fortunately we were close to the outside so at least it worked out for us.
One shot from the medina and the souks of Marrakech. Tomorrow, we head into the Sahara.
posted by Wally at 2:33 p.m.
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