Once again, I slept open air, although I'm not really sure how much sleep I actually got since the mosquey singing went on well into the early hours of the morning. Don't get me wrong, it was hauntingly beautiful to listen to but when it's 3am, and you're planning on getting up to visit the tombs at 9am then you kinda want to get some shut eye. Woke up to the sunshine blasting one side of my face and what appeared to be a new mosquito bite on my finger.
Once it became evident that we weren't going to make the tombs before the girls' flight, we decided to stay in and were served a tasty breakfast of pancakes, flat breads and mint tea alongside a group of Australian girls.
Big Matt, Oli, Angela and I headed into the medina to go shopping for souvenirs and after a lot of haggling, we managed to acquire some hareem pants before sending the girls off on their flights home - Angela for a wedding, Katy for the Paralympic opening ceremony.
The rest of us, now four little Selwynites, piled into a taxi and headed to Imlil, a secluded little village in the heart of the Atlas mountains. The ride took about an hour and a half, and on the way, we saw many a mirage. We also stopped for brake fluid, which was a sign of things to come...this driver is the safest we've had so far, and with the amount of twists and turns on the mountain road, I was very happy to put my life in his hands.
Once we arrived at the hostel, we sat down to mint tea and fended off the owner's attempts to extract more money out of us, but he was incredibly insistent and eventually convinced us to eat a tagine there.
After a bit of exploration around the village, we came back with food supplies, a map of toubkal and four native jackets - mine for survival purposes, the other three for banter. Not even joking, I had not packed a single item of warm clothing and had been assured many a time by the others that I would die up there by virtue of freezing to death. Five degrees at the summit, last time I checked online...
Now that I was very slightly better equipped, we went back to the hostel for some delicious dinner, some of the best tagine that I have tasted. Knowing that we had an early morning start and a long day ahead, we decided to get an early night and after packing the essentials into a few bags, we had lights out by 10pm - the guys meant business, much to my surprise. Bring on Toukbal!
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Monday, August 20, 2012
Day 7: Of boarding schools and designer gardens
Today, we awoke to a breakfast of croissants that the boys had foraged for us, much to our delight. After gorging on too much pain au chocolat, we gathered our bags and headed to check in at the dar chrifa, a really nice hostel that's full of western tourists. By this point, it was 12pm, so we chilled out in the foyer with some mint tea, and this is when I realised the world was far too small, when out stepped - get this - two Cambridge chemists, one from my office, and one who introduced himself as Jamie's supervisor for part iii labs. What?
This was far too surreal... I didn't get to talk to them much as everyone was keen to get going, so guess we'll just catch up back in the UK.
We headed out to one of the museums and got to look at a lot of doors, artifacts, intricate ceilings and modern art. We also went to the Koran school and had a look at the dorms - they were tiny, a bit of a down grade from Cripps but far more entertaining with the attics and health hazard ladders leading up to said attics.
Afterwards, we headed out of the medina to look for some gardens that were owned by the designer YSL, on the way I managed to score some free bread - hells to the yeah, and inside, we spent a good two hours wandering around this little oasis of heaven. Beaten by the heat, we took a horse drawn carriage back to the medina, tried and failed to gain access to one of the mosques before heading to the hostel to chillax.
Matt had bought some postcards and turned writing them into a group effort, culminating in a crazy poem for Andy that made absolutely no sense at all. Once we'd exhausted our creative juices, we headed into town to look for little things to buy - since I was still cashless, this was pretty pointless for me but it was still nice to look around the shops.
Turns out this would be the last night we'd all still be together as the girls have a flight to catch tomorrow, so we went out for a nice meal at one of the restaurants recommended in the guidebooks.
Later that evening, we hung out on the roof, falling asleep once again under the stars and to the voices of the mosques...that were still going at 3am...
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This was far too surreal... I didn't get to talk to them much as everyone was keen to get going, so guess we'll just catch up back in the UK.
We headed out to one of the museums and got to look at a lot of doors, artifacts, intricate ceilings and modern art. We also went to the Koran school and had a look at the dorms - they were tiny, a bit of a down grade from Cripps but far more entertaining with the attics and health hazard ladders leading up to said attics.
Afterwards, we headed out of the medina to look for some gardens that were owned by the designer YSL, on the way I managed to score some free bread - hells to the yeah, and inside, we spent a good two hours wandering around this little oasis of heaven. Beaten by the heat, we took a horse drawn carriage back to the medina, tried and failed to gain access to one of the mosques before heading to the hostel to chillax.
Matt had bought some postcards and turned writing them into a group effort, culminating in a crazy poem for Andy that made absolutely no sense at all. Once we'd exhausted our creative juices, we headed into town to look for little things to buy - since I was still cashless, this was pretty pointless for me but it was still nice to look around the shops.
Turns out this would be the last night we'd all still be together as the girls have a flight to catch tomorrow, so we went out for a nice meal at one of the restaurants recommended in the guidebooks.
Later that evening, we hung out on the roof, falling asleep once again under the stars and to the voices of the mosques...that were still going at 3am...
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Friday, August 17, 2012
Day 6: Of space cakes and sleeping beneath a starry Moroccan sky
Before I start today, I forgot to mention that yesterday, up at the waterfront as we were waiting for the sun to set, a man came up to us. He was holding a tray of cakes, and had a chameleon resting on each shoulder - Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. The man was touting the cakes as space cakes, and last night during our weird up on the roof with blankets and candles but no alcohol time, we'd decided that the three of us needed space cakes to get us through the coach journey back to Marrakech. Of course, when the opportunity came, none of us actually took it, massive fail.
Anyway, this morning, we had to check out of our apartment so we took our stuff up to the roof and chilled out, playing chess and listening to some Caucasian music. The day was too beautiful to waste, so I decided to go for a walk and steal some WiFi from the Ali Baba restaurant where we ate on our first night.
Compared to Fes, this place was so safe. I explored some new streets and came across a workshop for the wooden marquetry that Essaouira is so famous for. Back on the roof, we said goodbye to James and Katy who were catching the earlier bus to Marrakech - as soon as they left, it was beach tiiime!
We left our stuff with reception and hit the sand, although by then my hunger was so great that I had to go to the supermarket to pick up some cheese and sardines to supplement the sandy tasting bread. I say sandy because the wind was blowing so strongly that there was no escaping the little gritty bits of silicon that were flying everywhere.
The guys built a pretty impressive sandcastle, which some little Moroccan turds promptly trampled, much to Big Matt's anger. To cool off, we jumped into the ocean and I took custody of Oli's inflatble ring, riding the waves like a boss.
At 5pm, we headed back to pick up our bags, and some of us got a cheeky use of our old room to get changed, although it was pretty grim to move around covered in sand and salt. We arrived at the bus station with plenty of time to go, and had a pretty uneventful journey back to Marrakech - besides me spending 50 dirham out of madness on snacks due to hunger and having to watch the guys eat pringles for hours.
As soon as we arrived in Marrakech, we were bombarded on all sides by touts, left, right, centre, all wanting us to eat at their restaurant, take their taxis or buy their wares. We made our way to the square by death taxi - I swear our driver went on the pavement at times and he definitely drove on the wrong side of the road without fear several times...
The square was absolutely packed with people, food stalls and lights. I could hear snake charmers, drums and the sizzling sounds of open air cooking. The atmosphere was buzzing, so incredibly vibrant!
We met James and Katy at the Cafe de France, and they led us to the hostel that they'd found, which believe you and me, must've been a massive feat since it was down a maze of dark alleyways with too many twists and turns to remember. The place itself was really nice and open, but without air conditioning...
After dropping our stuff off, we headed back to the square and found a food stall that Rick Stein had frequented once upon a time. The chefs there were banterous and knew so much English slang, it was hilarious!
Afterwards, we headed back to the hostel, showered, and upon deciding that it was too hot in our room, Angela and I grabbed our sheets and headed to the roof to sleep beneath the stars... :)
Second time for me, first time being that crazy Wimbledon night. Gotta love open air sleeping when its got enough to not even need sheets! :)
X x x
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Anyway, this morning, we had to check out of our apartment so we took our stuff up to the roof and chilled out, playing chess and listening to some Caucasian music. The day was too beautiful to waste, so I decided to go for a walk and steal some WiFi from the Ali Baba restaurant where we ate on our first night.
Compared to Fes, this place was so safe. I explored some new streets and came across a workshop for the wooden marquetry that Essaouira is so famous for. Back on the roof, we said goodbye to James and Katy who were catching the earlier bus to Marrakech - as soon as they left, it was beach tiiime!
We left our stuff with reception and hit the sand, although by then my hunger was so great that I had to go to the supermarket to pick up some cheese and sardines to supplement the sandy tasting bread. I say sandy because the wind was blowing so strongly that there was no escaping the little gritty bits of silicon that were flying everywhere.
The guys built a pretty impressive sandcastle, which some little Moroccan turds promptly trampled, much to Big Matt's anger. To cool off, we jumped into the ocean and I took custody of Oli's inflatble ring, riding the waves like a boss.
At 5pm, we headed back to pick up our bags, and some of us got a cheeky use of our old room to get changed, although it was pretty grim to move around covered in sand and salt. We arrived at the bus station with plenty of time to go, and had a pretty uneventful journey back to Marrakech - besides me spending 50 dirham out of madness on snacks due to hunger and having to watch the guys eat pringles for hours.
As soon as we arrived in Marrakech, we were bombarded on all sides by touts, left, right, centre, all wanting us to eat at their restaurant, take their taxis or buy their wares. We made our way to the square by death taxi - I swear our driver went on the pavement at times and he definitely drove on the wrong side of the road without fear several times...
The square was absolutely packed with people, food stalls and lights. I could hear snake charmers, drums and the sizzling sounds of open air cooking. The atmosphere was buzzing, so incredibly vibrant!
We met James and Katy at the Cafe de France, and they led us to the hostel that they'd found, which believe you and me, must've been a massive feat since it was down a maze of dark alleyways with too many twists and turns to remember. The place itself was really nice and open, but without air conditioning...
After dropping our stuff off, we headed back to the square and found a food stall that Rick Stein had frequented once upon a time. The chefs there were banterous and knew so much English slang, it was hilarious!
Afterwards, we headed back to the hostel, showered, and upon deciding that it was too hot in our room, Angela and I grabbed our sheets and headed to the roof to sleep beneath the stars... :)
Second time for me, first time being that crazy Wimbledon night. Gotta love open air sleeping when its got enough to not even need sheets! :)
X x x
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