Street life

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Pati and I are finding our groove more and more each day. The last week has been fantastic, meeting a great group of travelers from Holland, England, and Canada who really like to play. We rented a car and trekked out to a waterfall more than 100 yards in length and jumped from the rocks through the cascading water and into the pools below--phenomenal!!!

The markets in Marrakesh feel like they've been the same for a thousand years, with the story tellers singing tales in Arabic of exotic places and making jokes as the Morrocans look on, riveted with wide eyes and smiles. The snake charmers lure in the tourists with the the snakes that they handle like ropes, weaving them in and outof their hands as they charm the cobras that they keep under drums until an interested passerby approaches. There are all kinds of wild things to purchase for home remedies including goats' heads, skins of snakes, scorpions and chickens' feet. If you have lost your teeth, you can buy a full set of those, too. Women dressed from head to toe with veils filter in and out of the crowds baiting you for an intricately painted henna on your hands or feet. And in the center of the square, food booths with couscous, kebab and grilled fish send plumes of smoke and good smells up into the sky well past midnight. In the evening, people clamour out into the streets that are barren by day in the hot afternoon sun. The energy is electric.

Further back in the markets are the shops loaded from top to bottom with Arabic lamps, pottery, Berber jewelry, and of course, Moroccan rugs and kilims. It's possible to spend hours, sitting in cramped shops drinking mint tea and reviewing the wares, even if you don't buy. But if you do, it takes hours to first socialize, and then negotiate prices down 5x what they are originally asking for! It's like a game for them, and full of expectation that the more you stay and bullsh-t, the more likely they are to meet your rock bottom.

It is overwhelming at first, but as we stay longer, it becomes easier and easier to catch the rhythm and fit right in. They absolutely love our hair, and a few of them have talked us into dying a streak or two in the front of their heads. We are really enjoying our time and are off to the beach for a few days before flying to Cairo on the 11th.

We'd love to get word from any of you if you have a chance.

Ciao and salam. P & A