I left Naples Thursday night with some friends and arrived in Milan late Thursday night. We spent the night in the airport (I couldn't sleep in the uncomfortable benches in the airport, so I stayed up and read a book all night) and flew to Marrakech on the early flight out. We arrived in Marrakech around 8am and made our way to the Riad (hotel). We checked in, ate a Moroccan breakfast (mint green tea, breads, jam, fresh squeezed OJ) and made our way out into town to look around. Around town people were constantly trying to get a buck from us. I was constantly bombarded with "my friend my friend, come to this store, look at what I have here, this is very nice, I give you a good price, you like it" and various other phrases. The people for the most part were very nice, but everyone wanted a handout. You couldn't look at anything in a store without the guy standing almost on top of you telling you how nice the piece of shit you were looking at was. And if you didn't have any merchandise in your hands, they would shove things into your hands. So forget about going around looking at what you want, they show you what they want. I eventually got fed up and basically told them to fuck off and leave me alone, but they just didn't get it, so I don't feel bad.
I was walking through the Djemaa el Fna square (where you can get henna tattoos, fresh squeezed OJ, and see all kinds of entertainment and browse various vendors) when some guys grabbed me and pulled me over to their show. They put two snakes in my hands and one on my head. I'm not a fan of snakes, so this wasn't all that fun for me. But people got some pictures, and it was an "experience". Then they tried to tell me to give them 1000 dinar (roughly 100 euro). I told them politely to fuck off, they kept persisting. I gave them 20 dinar (2 euro) and told them to get the hell away from me. I swear, they stand right in your personal bubble and demand money, its so annoying. If this was the states I'd have no problem pushing these smelly retards away with force, but since I was in a foreign country, and wasn't aware of all the rules, I played nice.
The next day we went on this tour through the mountains, seeing the various Berber villages and riding mules. Our tour guide told us all about the towns, and I snapped some good photos. After the mountain tour we went to some place where Moroccan women make some special oils used for skin, soaps, perfumes, etc from a fruit that only grows in Morocco. Later that night we had dinner at this place with belly dancers and Moroccan music and of course I forgot my camera.
The next day the water was out in the whole area. So our Riad offered to pay for us to go to an ammam. They said it was like a Turkish bath with a massage. I had no idea what this was but it sounded awesome.
I'm not sure if they sent us to the poor local's ammam, or all these places are like what I experienced, but it was awful. I had flashbacks from SERE school.
First off the place just seems dirty. We go into a big humid steamy room and we are the only white guys there, thankfully everyone is wearing a swimsuit. We are taken over to a corner and told to sit. We sit there for a while observing. There is another SKINNY guy in our room that looks like he hasn't eaten in 3 years. After a while and a bunch of hustling back and forth some guy comes in with a bucket of water, and some black goop. He doesn't speak english so he pantomimes to me that I need to pour water on myself and rub the black shit all over me. As far as I know, I am a POW and this is my torture. I rub the black stuff all over. He then comes in, throws a bucket of water on the ground where the SKINNY guy had been and basically manhandled me to the ground on my stomach and started scrubbing my skin really hard and rough with something that felt like sandpaper. Of course my friend Nate decided to mention to me that where I was laying on my stomach, the SKINNY guy was blowing snot all over the places. At least they splashed it with water first. Very sanitary. No staff infections here.
So I have this skinny Moroccan guy in a speedo straddling me and scrubbing me down with something that felt like sandpaper. He had me sit up and sat next to me and scrubbed my chest and belly, which was VERY awkward for me. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but that's just not normal in America. He scrubbed every inch of my body (minus where my swimsuit was thank god), gave my a quick massage (like 3 minutes), and gave me another bucket of water to clean myself with. I left feeling violated and dirty.
It was an "experience", and one I won't ever do again. At least not unless its at a nice resort, not some local punjab shithole. After that nightmare, I went and swam in the pool in the Riad. Its a very small pool if you can't tell from the pics, and it was 19 degrees Celcius (VERY COLD). But not as bad as wakeboarding in high altitude snow fed lakes in Colorado. So I could handle it no problem.
The rest of the day we spent at some nice place with a roof terrace watching the people walk by, listing to Moroccan Music, eating food, and relaxing. That night we went to dinner at an old palace from the 1700s turned into restaurant called Dar Esslam. It was the first restaurant in Marrakech. They also filmed a scene from "The Man Who Knew Too Much" there. The waiters were funny and joked around with us. They had a band, and some interesting performances, including a belly dancer which I DID get pictures of this time.
All in all it was a fun trip and the food was great. There are a few pics of me with a drink, and in the background you can see a mosque. I'm not expert on the muslim religion, but I don't think you're supposed to be able to be within vision of a mosque in a bar. Seems like they may have overlooked that rule in Marrakech.
Without further ado, the pictures:
Morocco - Album - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting
my personal faves:
the pool
breakfast
sweet store
snakes
ride through the mtns
salad
lunch
mr happy face
mtn town
artsy
making some shit
small load
hits from the bong
Marrakech
Assassain's Creed perch
mtn town
I was walking through the Djemaa el Fna square (where you can get henna tattoos, fresh squeezed OJ, and see all kinds of entertainment and browse various vendors) when some guys grabbed me and pulled me over to their show. They put two snakes in my hands and one on my head. I'm not a fan of snakes, so this wasn't all that fun for me. But people got some pictures, and it was an "experience". Then they tried to tell me to give them 1000 dinar (roughly 100 euro). I told them politely to fuck off, they kept persisting. I gave them 20 dinar (2 euro) and told them to get the hell away from me. I swear, they stand right in your personal bubble and demand money, its so annoying. If this was the states I'd have no problem pushing these smelly retards away with force, but since I was in a foreign country, and wasn't aware of all the rules, I played nice.
The next day we went on this tour through the mountains, seeing the various Berber villages and riding mules. Our tour guide told us all about the towns, and I snapped some good photos. After the mountain tour we went to some place where Moroccan women make some special oils used for skin, soaps, perfumes, etc from a fruit that only grows in Morocco. Later that night we had dinner at this place with belly dancers and Moroccan music and of course I forgot my camera.
The next day the water was out in the whole area. So our Riad offered to pay for us to go to an ammam. They said it was like a Turkish bath with a massage. I had no idea what this was but it sounded awesome.
I'm not sure if they sent us to the poor local's ammam, or all these places are like what I experienced, but it was awful. I had flashbacks from SERE school.
First off the place just seems dirty. We go into a big humid steamy room and we are the only white guys there, thankfully everyone is wearing a swimsuit. We are taken over to a corner and told to sit. We sit there for a while observing. There is another SKINNY guy in our room that looks like he hasn't eaten in 3 years. After a while and a bunch of hustling back and forth some guy comes in with a bucket of water, and some black goop. He doesn't speak english so he pantomimes to me that I need to pour water on myself and rub the black shit all over me. As far as I know, I am a POW and this is my torture. I rub the black stuff all over. He then comes in, throws a bucket of water on the ground where the SKINNY guy had been and basically manhandled me to the ground on my stomach and started scrubbing my skin really hard and rough with something that felt like sandpaper. Of course my friend Nate decided to mention to me that where I was laying on my stomach, the SKINNY guy was blowing snot all over the places. At least they splashed it with water first. Very sanitary. No staff infections here.
So I have this skinny Moroccan guy in a speedo straddling me and scrubbing me down with something that felt like sandpaper. He had me sit up and sat next to me and scrubbed my chest and belly, which was VERY awkward for me. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but that's just not normal in America. He scrubbed every inch of my body (minus where my swimsuit was thank god), gave my a quick massage (like 3 minutes), and gave me another bucket of water to clean myself with. I left feeling violated and dirty.
It was an "experience", and one I won't ever do again. At least not unless its at a nice resort, not some local punjab shithole. After that nightmare, I went and swam in the pool in the Riad. Its a very small pool if you can't tell from the pics, and it was 19 degrees Celcius (VERY COLD). But not as bad as wakeboarding in high altitude snow fed lakes in Colorado. So I could handle it no problem.
The rest of the day we spent at some nice place with a roof terrace watching the people walk by, listing to Moroccan Music, eating food, and relaxing. That night we went to dinner at an old palace from the 1700s turned into restaurant called Dar Esslam. It was the first restaurant in Marrakech. They also filmed a scene from "The Man Who Knew Too Much" there. The waiters were funny and joked around with us. They had a band, and some interesting performances, including a belly dancer which I DID get pictures of this time.
All in all it was a fun trip and the food was great. There are a few pics of me with a drink, and in the background you can see a mosque. I'm not expert on the muslim religion, but I don't think you're supposed to be able to be within vision of a mosque in a bar. Seems like they may have overlooked that rule in Marrakech.
Without further ado, the pictures:
Morocco - Album - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting
my personal faves:
the pool
breakfast
sweet store
snakes
ride through the mtns
salad
lunch
mr happy face
mtn town
artsy
making some shit
small load
hits from the bong
Marrakech
Assassain's Creed perch
mtn town
