Bittersweet

  Marrakech, Morocco
Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Our final taste of Marrakech has been bittersweet.

We woke up this morning and met up with Rich and Susie to head down for our Hammam, trying not to think about the amount of bills we were handing over and focussing on the 'once in a lifetime experience' idea. We had decided to go all out and get the complete treatment for about $45 Canadian each, cheap by Canadian standards, but a lot on our meagre backpacker budget! The ladies went in first while Dan and Rich were sent up to a sitting room where there was some civil tea drinking and some good quality man talk while they waited their turn. Meanwhile the ladies began their hammam experience.

Post Hammam Girls

After being ushered into a waiting room and promptly told to strip down to just bikini bottoms by a large Moroccan woman clad only in her underwear, the girls headed into the adjoining shower room for a rinse off, then into another tiled room where they were told to stand still while Moroccan women slathered them all over with olive oil soap, a green vaseline-like substance. From there, it was on into the hammam itself, a steam room with seating all around the edges and a huge sink of cold water in one corner that you regularly filled buckets from and doused yourself with when the steam got too hot. After a while, and several buckets of cold water, the Moroccan women returned to usher the girls back out into the tiled room.

This time, they directed the girls to lie down on flat tables and proceeded to scrub them thoroughly with exfoliating gloves, with an effect much like being sandpapered all over. Next, the girls were instructed to stand up again and this time were covered all over with black clay that smelt like nutmeg. Then it was back into the steam room to rub the clay in and sweat for a while before being ushered back out again to the shower room to rinse off and get rid of all the clay. More Moroccan women promptly appeared with big white terry-cloth robes, and the girls were led to the first room again to relax with a cup of mint tea, while the staff women buzzed around retrieving belongings, offering facial toner and presenting the girls with plastic bags to take home their exfoliating gloves, before conspiratorially suggesting that if they wanted to leave a tip for the staff, that would be okay. Feeling unusually wealthy, the girls gave the scrubber women 20 Dhiram each (about $2.80 Canadian), with which they were thrilled.

The next stop was yet another room upstairs, where each woman was assigned a masseuse and led to a massage table in a quiet, darkened cubicle with relaxing music playing. The white-coated masseuse women then proceeded to give a fabulous half-hour massage with traditional oils to soften the skin, before leaving the girls to luxuriate in the sheer pampered indulgence of it all. Meanwhile, the boys had been led downstairs to the hammam by the male equivalents of the scantily clad scrubber women, and it was the girls turn to sit and drink mint tea while the boys were steamed, scubbed and covered in clay. Rich and Dan, not to be outdone by their Spanish and French fellow hammam-goers, stayed in the steam room until the staff came to get them, one of the men thumping his chest and pointing to Rich and Dan in a universal "You da man!" gesture. Time passed as the girls waited upstairs....and passed....and passed, until the other women whose husbands had all returned told Susie and Gabrielle in gales of laughter that our respective husbands had probably sold us for camels and were halfway across the Sahara by now. The boys did eventually reappear, sans camels, and we all headed back outside, glowing and relaxed and enjoying our newly soft post-hammam skin.

Returning briefly to the Riad before heading out again, we went looking for food with mixed desires of lunch, shower, and clean clothes. We had been told earlier that morning that no one had come to pick up our laundry the night before, so we tried to tell the riad lady to forget about it as we would need to leave very early the next morning, but while we were away in the hammam she had it sent off anyway. Unsure of the price or time of return we felt a little stuck but looked forward to clean, non-sink washed clothes upon their return. Now, heading out for food in the only clothes we had left, covered in hammam oils and the heavy sun beating down on us, we really regretted shifting our accommodation again and the current lack of shower till we could check back in.

Lunch stayed on theme being a mixed bag. We took Rich and Susie to the restaurant where we had eaten the wonderful Tajine the day before. The man who appeared to be the restaurant owner was on serving duty today and he didn't seem to keen on it. Gabrielle ended up with a plate of wonderfully spiced chicken and veggie kebabs with rice, fries, and some salad type items, while Dan's burger type meatball plate wasn't exactly cooked.

We split up with Rich and Susie at this point, heading back to check into our new (old) riad and have a shower (ah, so much better) before visiting the Ben Youssef Medersa, an ancient Islamic school where students learn the Koran by rote. Feeling somewhat well fed and cleaner, the day seemed to be heading back up as we walked through the souks, taking in all of the crafts and wares on display. As we headed deeper into the souks we came across the actual craftsman at their trade. Carvers working wood on grinding wheels, shaping intricately designed table legs, leatherworkers putting the finishing touches on belts, and sewers stitching new gelabi's.

Ben Yousef Medersa

We suddenly came out of the souk and found our way to the medersa after a couple of turns. The entry fee was pretty steep (relatively) at 50 dirham each, and we were feeling like money was pouring out of our hands today, but we sucked it up and got on with it. The medersa in Marrakech is one of the few medersa's in Morocco that non-muslims can enter.

Delightful Designs

The medersa was first built in 1331 but had extensive renovations in the 1560's, adding Andalusian (Spanish) influenced art, and intricately crafted designs that left no surface undecorated. Now, empty of students, the medersa serves only as a reminder of Marrakech's past glories.

Girl in the Window

We stepped into the central courtyard and were immediately struck by the beauty of the design. Carved walls, wood, and columns enveloped the spacious courtyard with a small pool in the centre, the delicate design covering every surface. As we moved up into the old living quarters of the students, the elaborate common spaces became a sharp contrast from the small barren rooms that the students formerly inhabited. We returned to the courtyard once again just to soak it in.

Islamic Script

Thought for the day: The Islamic designs that cover so many buildings and doorways is so elaborate that it can be quite overpowering to the eye, however when done it white or simple colours it can flow quite beautifully. Also, all Islamic art contains geometric patterns. This is due to passages in the Koran that forbid any worship of idols, meaning that all religious buildings strictly avoid any depictions of people or animals. It's interesting to have this stark contrast between the muslim countries we've been to and our own, where the architecture tends towards simple, yet 'funky' designs and wide open spaces, and religious art focus' heavily on depictions of people and symbols (and in Europe lots of gold...).

Night Markets in Marrakech

We met back up with Rich and Susie again at the riad for another dinner at the Djemaa el Fna. We started our evening with egg and potato sandwiches from the same stall as the night before, this time we all had one and sat down with the local boys surrounding the stall. Rich was interested in trying the local boiled sheep's head, and considering that Morocco was Rich's first time traveling (save for occasional European weekends away) we thought this was quite adventurous of him. We scouted around the square for awhile until we found a vendor that looked promising.

Sheepalishious

The sheep's heads are stacked on the vendors tables staring blankly at passers by. Boiled whole in a large pot, the chef pulls the head from the pot, slams it down in front of the customer and peels the skin off before hacking it in half with a giant cleaver. Removing the bones, the chef continues with the cleaver, hacking up the remaining contents and serves the desired portion to the customer. Heads come in quarters, halves, or everything from the neck up.

Rich, Suzy, and the Chef

Rich wisely chose a quarter, the rest of us joining him but sticking to the local Tanjia (not Tajine, it's different), a Marrakech dish of beef slow cooked in a ceramic jug until it's meltingly tender. Served only with flat bread, which is used like a spoon, we gorged ourselves on buttery soft meat as Rich daringly picked away at his bowl of head. We graciously traded bites of food so we could try it, but we were glad we stuck with the tanjia, washed down with the ever present mint tea, as we were entertained by our chef.

Tasty Tanjia

Finishing off the night with a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice, and a repeat stop at the cinnamon tea and chocolate spiced pudding stall, Rich was holding out for a beer so we headed down to a slightly run down ex-pat hotel with one of the only bars in town. Rich and Susie went for the expensive local (??) beer while we stuck to overpriced mint tea, literally costing twenty times what it did in the square.

Calling it a night we said goodbye to Rich and Susie at the riad, then had our final shock of the night. Our laundry had finally returned, and the 'inexpensive' price turned out to be very very expensive ($22 Canadian for a single load of laundry - standard backpacker rate is about $5). Grudgingly handing over the cash and holding in our outrage until we were up in our room, we spent the next twenty minutes or so fuming before finally coming to terms with the fact that we had been ripped off yet again (we wanted our laundry washed and dried, not gold plated).

Calculating up all of our money spent this one day we came out with a figure that was roughly equivalent to the average monthly income of a Moroccan. That kind of thing is a very humbling realization. Unfortunately in Marrakech, where there is a lot of tourists (and we mean a lot), everything is very overpriced and we struggled to maintain a low daily budget in Canadian dollars. This was partly due to our few choices of luxury experiences (riad and hammam) and the amplified prices of the vendors compared to anywhere else in Morocco.

Overall, our experience of Marrakech has been quite the mixed bag. Our time at Dejmaa el Fna at night was incredible, and one of the highlights of our trip so far, as well as the hammam despite its price. On the other side, the constant hustling, sometimes aggressive sales people, and endless feeling of having to be on your guard because everyone will try and suck as much money out of you as they can, wears you down pretty quickly. We do believe we are incredibly fortunate to be here, rich in comparison, but we are also mindful of how we spend our hard earned money. In short, Marrakech is not for the faint of heart or wallet - glad we went, but wouldn't hurry back.

All our best from Morocco

Dan and Gabes