Haggling, Harrasing and Head over Handle bars

Question: How many differnt experiences can you get into three days?!

Answer:- A lot

The train journey from Mohammedia to Marrakech was an experience all on it own. It was meant to be a 3 hour journey but became 4 and a half. The train was so packed that I spent the time pushed into an empty fire hydrant spot with three suitcases jammed between my legs, a small child resting against me and partaking in the strange 'to-me-to-you' game of passing bags and people back and forth. People would litterally climb over you to walk to one end of the carriage and then turn around and make the climb back. Im not sure if this was their way to pass the time of not but we were oh so happy when the train finally pulled into the station at about 3pm and we were free from the hussle and bussle... or so we thought!

We settled on a hotel straight out of the guide book for the first night and the made our way through the stream of motorbikes, scootors, 'petite taxis' and horse carriages that wind their way through the roads, pavements and any spare space that can herald them towards their destination, towards the main square which is thankfully, more or less traffic free.

The square is the heart of the Medina there and holds as a centre stage for all the main sights to be seen. Snake charmers and street theatre play a major attraction and there are traditional water carriers and bands that weave through the crowd. We we pulled into a small food stall in the centre of the square and ate some of the couscous tagines as we watched the sun set - very beautiful.

We were still pretty hyped so we made our way into the maze of souqs (sections of the market) and were immediatly imersed into a constant 'non merci'. The harrasing is pretty bad there and everyone wants to be your guide and friend but 'no money for me, no money... i just show you to my friend who you will buy from, yes?'. It definately gets a bit much after a while and I can see why the guide book suggests breaks from the centre. I did find a gorgeous leather bag that I happily haggled for. Not sure if i did well or not. He started at 150dh and i got him down to 100dh... probably could have done better but it was my first haggle attempt so not to shabby.

The next day we planned to have a day out of the city and go out to the mountains, walk around and hike a bit. We found the taxi point which was heaving and tried to haggle with the man for the journey... he wouldn't go down below 400dh for a one way journey (£40) so we went to head back to the bus station to try the price there instead. As we went to dodge the traffic a guy came belting around the corner on a bike and ran me down. I don't really remember it but Jarvis tells me he blinked and then I was 8 meters further away. The traffic kept on coming so Jarvis had to grab me and pull me off to one side. Annoyingly i couldn't really walk. My hip and foot were painful to move and that pretty much put an end to the days hike! Grrrrrr... evil bike!

Instead we though we'd wander around the Medina and managed to get lost. Only 4 hours of wandering later did we get back to the centre. We picked up a few more bargains along the way. Jarvis got a fetching local hat and 'genuine leather for you my friend' shoes. It had been a long day so we relented and went to one of 4 places in town where you could get a beer. A place called 'KosyBar'. It was very gorgeous but just tourists and the price difference was crazy. You can get a full meal here for two people for around £4. In the bar one small beer was £5. We settled for one each and headed back to our hotel. (Sadly we didn't get the one on the roof.. it was raining).

On the last day we decided to be propper tourists. We visited the palace -beautiful, the tombs- kinda boring, and the jewish quarter - awesome! We got talking to a 'herbal seller' who took us into his shop and took us through all of the spices, herbs, pot etc and told us what they were for. He even gave us some fresh pepermint tea with added menthol crystals which was sting-the-eyes strong and gave us gifts (a pot which you wet and it becomes lipstick and little reeds which are toothpicks) for thanking him to practice his english (yes, i am also sure it was a bit of a con - but it was brilliant and he was very kind). We also bought some Jasmin balls to kill the evil moths that are eating our clothes, some amazing smelling spices for rice and Jarvis got more Ginsing than we could carry. Not even sure what its for... anyone????

We spent the rest of the day watching the world go by in the 'Cyber Park' to avoid the harrassing. Its awesome, they have free internet hotspot monitors build into the trees! Very cool! Then it was home time and thankfully we got a seat - HORRAY!!

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out!