Essaoiura
Sunday, June 29th 2008 - 1445
Berlin, Germany
Day 12
On our third day in Morocco we took an overnight trip to Essaoiura a coastal town 3 hours west of Marrakech.
Essaoiura had a much different feel than Marrakech. The ocean breeze coming off the Atlantic makes it about 20 degrees cooler (75 vs 95). The souks are much less viscous - the shopkeepers had a much smaller attack range there. Everything seemed much more relaxed, much less frenetic. There was a large beach there, too, but the winds coming off the ocean blew a lot of sand everywhere and made it a bit too cold to enjoy.
Our hostel (Hostel Essaoiura) was really nice. It had large common areas and a rooftop patio with its own covered kitchen. There were two Dutch girls there that had rescued a 2-week old kitten that they found on the street lying atop one of its dead siblings. They had been pretty diligent about nursing it back to health (even going to the vet to get a recipe to make kitten formula). Some others in the hostel helped out in caring for it (helping = playing with the kitten). It was pretty cute watching it awkwardly paw its way around and probably give us diseases.
Speaking of diseases, Garrett and I decided to be brave that night and cook food bought from the souks. There were a number of butchers with huge cuts of meat hanging from hooks in front of their stall. We got a small cut of steak (using the universal fingers-as-horns-and-mooing technique) and some vegetables to make in the stir fry. I felt an impending sense of doom as the boy hacksawed off the steak for us, then clevered off some big boney thing, then took our money and gave us change, all without wearing gloves or washing his hands. We cooked the vegetables, then not wanting to deal with the meat, just plopped it into the pan and cooked the hell out of it. The meat ended up being pretty nasty, but I suppose it was more for the adventure than for the end product. Regardless, we didn´t have any strange poops, so we´ll call it a success.
That night we got invited over to a local´s place for dinner. The guy was loaded and had a really nice place. He´s some sort of designer/architect and owns several shops in Essaouira. At first we were all a bit apprehensive about the whole thing, thinking that at least some of us would end up having our organs harvested or being sold into slavery, but the guy, Hamid, was incredibly nice and hospitable. We cooked a late dinner and sat around driking wine and talking for hours. After encountering so many people in Marrakech that were trying to rip us off, it was refreshing to meet someone that was being nice just for the sake of it.
The next morning Garrett and I decided to get a shave at a barber. It was kind of an unnerving experience, but a lot of fun. I ended up a bit bloody, but didn´t sustain any serious injuries.
We ended up taking a bus back to Marrakech later that evening so we could get our flight to Berlin on Thursday morning.
Which brings us to Berlin. Almost caught up...
-ben
Berlin, Germany
Day 12
On our third day in Morocco we took an overnight trip to Essaoiura a coastal town 3 hours west of Marrakech.
Essaoiura had a much different feel than Marrakech. The ocean breeze coming off the Atlantic makes it about 20 degrees cooler (75 vs 95). The souks are much less viscous - the shopkeepers had a much smaller attack range there. Everything seemed much more relaxed, much less frenetic. There was a large beach there, too, but the winds coming off the ocean blew a lot of sand everywhere and made it a bit too cold to enjoy.
Our hostel (Hostel Essaoiura) was really nice. It had large common areas and a rooftop patio with its own covered kitchen. There were two Dutch girls there that had rescued a 2-week old kitten that they found on the street lying atop one of its dead siblings. They had been pretty diligent about nursing it back to health (even going to the vet to get a recipe to make kitten formula). Some others in the hostel helped out in caring for it (helping = playing with the kitten). It was pretty cute watching it awkwardly paw its way around and probably give us diseases.
Speaking of diseases, Garrett and I decided to be brave that night and cook food bought from the souks. There were a number of butchers with huge cuts of meat hanging from hooks in front of their stall. We got a small cut of steak (using the universal fingers-as-horns-and-mooing technique) and some vegetables to make in the stir fry. I felt an impending sense of doom as the boy hacksawed off the steak for us, then clevered off some big boney thing, then took our money and gave us change, all without wearing gloves or washing his hands. We cooked the vegetables, then not wanting to deal with the meat, just plopped it into the pan and cooked the hell out of it. The meat ended up being pretty nasty, but I suppose it was more for the adventure than for the end product. Regardless, we didn´t have any strange poops, so we´ll call it a success.
That night we got invited over to a local´s place for dinner. The guy was loaded and had a really nice place. He´s some sort of designer/architect and owns several shops in Essaouira. At first we were all a bit apprehensive about the whole thing, thinking that at least some of us would end up having our organs harvested or being sold into slavery, but the guy, Hamid, was incredibly nice and hospitable. We cooked a late dinner and sat around driking wine and talking for hours. After encountering so many people in Marrakech that were trying to rip us off, it was refreshing to meet someone that was being nice just for the sake of it.
The next morning Garrett and I decided to get a shave at a barber. It was kind of an unnerving experience, but a lot of fun. I ended up a bit bloody, but didn´t sustain any serious injuries.
We ended up taking a bus back to Marrakech later that evening so we could get our flight to Berlin on Thursday morning.
Which brings us to Berlin. Almost caught up...
-ben