Friday, June 12, 2009

morocco pt. 2



i've barely taken any photos since i've been here. i know i'm going to regret it but i also know that they could not begin to capture what it's like here. everything is ancient and beautiful and bustling and dirty and wonderful. i love morocco.

after marrakesh sean and i hopped on a train to casablanca. we were only in the city for one night which i'm grateful for because i didn't like it at all. it was big and dirty and had a strange vibe. plus the medina was tiny and mainly sold western goods so it was uninteresting on the whole. i was glad to get out of there.

from there we took a train to fes. unfortunately this train had no air conditioning (despite what the sign on the door said) and broke down for an hour in the desert. suffice it to say, it was hot and quite unpleasant. barely anyone on the train spoke english and those that did either wanted to sell us hash or provide us with a guide once we got to the city so i kept my ipod on for the most part.

we got into fes last night and so far i don't love it as much as marrakesh, but we haven't had too much of a chance to explore. yesterday we went out a bit but it was incredibly hot so we came back fairly early. then it started to pour so i was glad we didn't get caught in the storm. today most of the shops are closed since friday is the islamic holy day but we did do some wandering and went to an herbalist so i could buy supplies for a trip to the hammam (a public bath house). the proprietor was really nice and friendly and let us smell all kinds of herbs and spices and oils. in the end i just walked away with a few sachets of savon noir (traditional black soap made of olive oil) and an exfoliation mitt and headed to the hammam.

the hammam was quite an experience. for about 50 dirham (around $6) i was steamed up, soaped down, scrubbed within an inch of my life, and doused with buckets of cold water. i've never seen so much dead skin come off my body and have definitely never felt so clean. it was wonderful. now sean and i are waiting for the heat to die down a bit before we venture out into the medina again. tomorrow is our last full day in morocco before we spend all of sunday making our way to madrid.

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