He Says – Disney land, Mystery meat and pirate DVDs this is Marrakech!

09 –13 sept

It rained on and off for the rest of the night and so when we awoke it was necessary to dry the gear before packing. Despite the delay, we were ready to go by 0900h, we said our good buys and by 0930h we were on our way to Marrakech. The road out of the valley showed more evidence of the previous nights flooding and the road was often covered in 30-40mm of mud. The flooding (evidence) lasted the majority of the way ending only about 15k before Marrakech.

We of course took the scenic route (intentionally for once) and made it in just under 2.5h. We found our way in no problem. But missed one turn and got our selves all turned around. We found our way to the hotel with parking that was suggest to us. Tam went in to see about the room and I stayed with Anubis.

Shortly after a Canadian guy came up to me and started tell me about his bike travels though the USA to Mexico, and how he also had to Mexico or bust written on his bike. Tam came back reporting that the hotelier was not very polite and I should go have a look. He showed me a stunning room and quoted a price of double what he told Tam. The room that he quoted the price to Tam was disgusting. We moved on and found a different hotel. The rest of the day was spent wandering the souqs and the Djemaa el-Fna market place of Marrakech (the big famous one). That night we ate dinner in the square from a little fish market and escaped to the hotel just before the rain started here.

It may have been the fish it may have been my goat tajine, but shortly after breakfast Tam became ill. I ended up running out to buy us a new memory stick and external hard drive as she laid in the hotel dieing. I walked about 10k only to find what I was looking for about 500m from our hotel. Murphy seems to travel too.

Tam was well enough to go for a light lunch when returned, but was exhausted shortly after. I wanted to test our DVD drive on the computer and so we stopped by a pirate DVD seller to buy one (1€ each = cheep test, we bought two more to be sure of course!!!).

As Tam was ill and I was weary from my epic walk we spent the afternoon watching a pirate copy of “I am Legend”. Both refreshed, we were preparing to head out when the skies turned black and opened up. People were running for cover in all directions, the streets were flooded and the power went out. We stayed in. When the rain ultimately stopped we ventured out. The market however was only in 1/3 swing but we did get to eat goat stew and boiled mystery meat .. what we do know that it was a head, yup the entire head, brains and all it was not bad, what we could not tell is whose head it was.

The next day was spent wandering the souqs looking for a Medersa (holy school) that you can actually go in, most (like mosques) are off limits to not believers. We were using a lonely plane t map that says the scale was 1=300m. It was more like 1=30m so we got a bit lost (but what else is new).

The Medersa itself was an extravagant building decorated like the Alcazar back in Spain, it housed many small dark cells where the students lived and studied. With no other plans we just relaxed and enjoyed the wandering around, the constat callings of “HOLA! You look in my shop. Just looking” and “you need hotel?” or my personal favourite ”Square this that way (all ways opposite to the direction you are going)..I am guide” (this is irrelevant of which direction you where headed or even if 2 minutes ago he told you the opposite). Once we where tired of the touts we headed to a terrace café to snipe photos that we would be otherwise charged for. While there we witnessed a mob scene during which a bloody guy was dragged by 50 others to the police station.

Eventually we headed back to the hotel room to work on the computer. Unfortunately the net was unreliable and so 2 of 3 downloads did not work. We ate our final dinner in Marrakech at market, it once again consisted of goat stew, but this time we added calamari and meat shish kebabs. We ended up sitting next to a Thai couple; he was also a biker and wants to ride the world. So after dinner I took him to see Anubis and gave him all the details that for the HUBB and our blog. On route to the bike he comment (about Moroccans) “I thought my people were determined sellers till I met these guys”. I loved it, and could not stop laughing!

Early the following morning went to collect the bike from the CTM parking lot where the attendant tried to tell me that I had to pay. One again their cons backfired as I was thinking about tipping him too. Oh well your loss, I told him I have already paid and he knows where to go (I had enough of the cons by this stage) ad rode off. I really liked Morocco when we got here, but their constant hassling and vying for your money is a tragic. You very quickly flinch anytime a Moroccan approaches you. Even though about 10% of the time they are just being friendly. The other 90% they are so pushy that it is taints everything. Once you are polite (to a tout) they think they have you and wont stop till you are rude. Tam had an opportunity to get one back as the Hotel undercharged us by two nights, but she was too honest and told them of their mistake.

It is a shame but my initial liking of Morocco is starting to be tainted by the constant hassling. I can never relax when talking to anyone. It is ruining the experience for me. Marrakech also is a sham it is no longer a souq for the people but a tourist trap. There is little real here which would be okay if it was all fun but the touts hassles and seeing westerns only as walking wallets that need to be emptied is grating the polish off of their Disneyland.