cave of wonders, call to prayer, daggers, Aladdin references

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Marrakesch was pretty awesome.  Upon arrival, we checked into the hotel, got lunch (pizza... lame) and ice cream (I got a mix of pistachio and super strong mint, it was great), and then walked around with the intent of finding a shopping area.  Turns out that our hotel was forty five minutes away from the hustle and bustle of the real city area so we were walking for quite a while.  My friend Cade got an overwhelming need to check his email and talk to his girlfriend online so I went with him to check my email and was going to reply back to things but I tried typing and all the letters on the keyboard were in different places than they are on English keyboards so I didn't bother.  Anyway we were standing around next to this fifty-something Moroccan guy in a long black djellaba and he casually mentions that we should bypass the touristy area and go straight to the marketplace where all the locals shop.  So we said, great!  And then he took us there and offered to show us around to a couple places because it was his day off work from teaching Koran to kindergarteners (suspicious in retrospect).

The first place he showed us to was this beautiful store with Moroccan furniture with all kinds of inlaid stones and abalone.  On the walls they had pictures of the store owners with Julia Roberts and Will Smith, who had visited the store in the past.

The next place he took us to was a government wherehouse store.  Government stores are supposed to be priced more cheaply than regular stores, but you still have to haggle with the owners.  The Moroccan guy (his name is Ahmed) led us down all of these dark passageways and we went underground to get to this store (don't worry Mom and Dad we were careful) and when he opened the door to the store, it was exactly like the Cave of Wonders in Aladdin.  Or like Cost Plus if you have been there, except way more packed together.  Or maybe like the appliances aisles of Ross or Marshalls except with way cooler things.  There were old chandeliers hanging from the high ceilings, old lamps and neclklaces and sculptures and furniature and blankets and jewelry boxes all thrown together on the shelves.  We probably spent an hour and a half in the store, looking at everything, deciding what we wanted, and haggling with the guys.  I found a lamp that looked like Aladdins (I can't stop making Aladdin references apparently) but I wanted something older so I asked one of the owners and he was like "ohhhh you are looking for a genie!" and then he searched and couldn't find anything older so I just decided to get these two necklaces.  They are so unique, I love them.  Originally the guy put the price on them for 900 Dirhams but I got him down to 130 for both.  (13 Euros)  Sarah bought a dagger for her boyfriend for the equivalent of 45 Euros, it's pretty awesome too.

The next place we went to was a silks and blanket store.  The blankets were really pretty and Sarah got one for her family for the equivalent of 50 Euros, originally priced at 400 according to the store owner.  Haggling takes a lot out of you.  I had a better time with it though than Sarah did, I kind of get a kick out of it but she would get stressed out and mad because you never know if you are getting a good deal at the end.  Especially if you are a tourist because it takes a bit of research and comparison shopping to know if you are paying a price that is similar toth others.  Also they could tell you anything they want, like this rug was woven by the Saharan bushmen blah blah blah and you would have no idea if they are telling the truth or not.

The next place we went to was a government store of rugs.  It was a Cave of Wonders of rugs.  The ceiling was so high (I am not good at judging height distances but I will say maybe 80 feet high) and the room was stacked to the very top with carpets and rugs.  The owner invited us to tea, so as we were waiting for our tea, he gave us a fifteen minute presentation of the different types of rugs, the ethnic groups in Morocco, rugs characteristic of each ethnic group, and what to look for in terms of quality when you are buying a rug.  It was really interesting.  My favorites were the Arabic carpets because they are the most elaborate.

We went to a couple other stores and then Ahmed said that he had to go to mosque and asked us for tips, saying that people usually paid him 20 Euros each.  We were idiots and we have him a 50 Euro bill for the three of us and then we were all mad at ourselves afterward for giving him way too much.  We rationalized it by remembering that he did take us to places that we normally wouldn't have gone and he was a cool guy.  But still we felt like we had been hustled and that sucked

After we set out on our own without Ahmed we went to the main touristy marketplace.  Touristy as it was, it was still 90% locals and it was something else.  It was kind of like how in Aladdin, the princess is walking through the marketplace and the men are hollering about their wares, throwing nuts and figs around in the air, people are burning incense and selling live chickens, and there was a new smell every fifteen feet.  I would have loved to go there early in the morning the next day to see it all being set up, but we had to leave the next morning.

When we were doing the 45 minute walk home, we were right next to the Giralda - a famous mosque that I studied in my history of art in Spain class.  The call to prayer was so loud and startling and sounded like nothing  I have ever heard.

On the way home we didn't feel like eating a full dinner so we went to one of the grocery stores.  I love love love going to grocery stores in foreign countries because even the most mundane products look exotic and enticing.  The grocery store we went to had an ENTIRE AISLE of chocolate flavored cereal, I found that interesting.  For dinner we bought pitas, Laughing Cow cheese (Laughing Cow is HUGE in Morocco - there are ads and signs for it everywhere you look), water, and white chocolate.

Then we went to bed.