Day 13
Where has the time gone. We have seen and done so much but… we are ready to go home. This is a big culture adjustment. The women in hjabs and many completely veiled, often with their glasses perched on their head covering. The poor , the crippled, the mothers sitting on the street with children who seem very ill begging. Then there is the cash issue. It is virtually impossible to get change or bills for less than 100 Durham. When you do manage to get some it is gone for tips (tips are needed for everything) or because I feel the need to put something in an outstretched hand.
Now to day 13
We are behind on the blog for the simple reason that it takes time but we want it to be complete when we get home.
We set out, sadly leaving Riad Slitine behind. Not a bit sorry to leave Marrakech. It is busy, dirty, and all the street food is fly or wasp covered. The food we don't see prepared in restaurants is probably the same. I have enjoyed all the activity and the souk but not the process of buying anything. Our Riad was very nice and Eunice, who seemed to do a bit of Everything was so kind and thoughtful.
We set out on the road once again. My goodness they had a lot of rock. They are farming fields that are filled with boulder sized rocks. Maybe the rocks grow? As we neared Essouaira we began to see argon trees. They look like they are not very healthy but they sure must produce a lot of nuts. The oil and it's various products are sold in every third shop. We stopped at an organ cooperative. I bought some black soap. Everything is rather pricey and I doubt we would use it when we get home. On the way we saw goats in a argon tree. Apparently they climb up to eat the argon nuts, but this one must have been staged. It was the only tree we saw with goats, and when I took a picture, one of the men sitting off to the side came over for money. The guide asked if I had s 10 Durham coin to give him. He asked for paper money. I gave him another coin. He then asked our driver if he could have his bottle of water. He gave it to him.
Lunch was at a place outside Essouaira and Roy and I really enjoyed our cheese omelets. Then on to. The Riad L’Oussia is just inside the Bab(gate) Sbaa. It has quite a showy lobby. Our room is up 3 flights of curved stairs. Breakfast is another 3 flights up. Our room is very nice but quite noisy. The sound comes up and is amplified from the street below up and the seagulls perch on the roof across from us and make a terrible noise. We do like our room in spite of that.
We explored the medina after we settled in. It is so calm and quiet compared to Marrakech! No , or not much , arguing about prices. We looked at some wooden products and said we would come back. The man said great, he'd remember us and give us a good price. We had the biggest sugared doughnut we'd ever seen. It was delicious.. It was cool and very windy. Back at the hotel dining room the table by the wood burning fireplace was welcome. Our lovely young server brought us the best dinner. Sole cooked to perfection accompanied by roasted potatoes.
Then up 3 flights to our room to blog and bed.
Tomorrow we hope to figure out when Ramadan begins!
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