300,000 Camels

     Because Sporocco was 10 days long, I can't write a full blog post about it. So to make sure no one dies of boredom while reading this I'm going to shorten it to one city per post---to the five of you who actually care. ha. But back to business though, the first city on this sporoccan adventure was Marrakech and we stayed there for two days. After the scariest cab ride of my life, and actually hitting someone without stopping, we arrived at our hostel. This was the first hostel that any of us have ever stayed at and were slightly skeptical about it. When we walked into the front entry we were very surprised to find colorful mosaic tiling covering the floors and walls. We also had our own room for the first night and mint tea whenever we desired. Oh anddddd we had a terrace with sun chairs and great views of the Atlas Mountains. We took to exploring the city by first getting some moroccan food. We stepped out of our comfort zones a little by ordering tajines and random jams with bread. Then we did some site seeing at the Palais Bahia and walked around. After a few hours we got dinner and then walked around the main square that was filled with snake charmers, dried fruit sellers, monkeys, and entertainers. Everyone wanted us to pay attention to them because they thought that because we are white that we would have money. Little did they know of our status as students. One man actually put a monkey on one of my friend's head (unwillingly) and then demanded he pay for it. Finally, we went on a carriage ride around the city and got to see the rich area with the casino. We ended our night at around 10 because there isn't much of a night life.
     Our second day we got up early and ate breakfast on the terrace. Then we walked to the square again and had the best fresh squeezed orange juice for 4 MAD (50 cents). We went shopping in the souks to find great deals and souvenirs for our friends and families at home. We made it to the epicerie and saw huge piles of saffron, cumin and many other unidentified spices on every corner. When we went back to our hostel we met our new roomate who was from Germany. He was a little awkward, but we befriended him so that he would feel really bad if he tried to steal our stuff. We went to dinner in the square at these tents that are set up at night and ate in a picnic like fashion. We had skewers with every kind of meat, couscous, and mint tea. We went home after dinner and went straight to bed. We had a cab come and pick us up at around 5 the next morning and departed for Fez.

     Marrakech was great and one of the best cities that we visited the whole trip, buttttt there the constant cat calls were enough to drive any girl, espcecially blonde, crazy. They would yell "hey spice girls," "Shakira," or "fish and chips" on the reg.  If they were feeling a little more brash they would yell out and, pardon my french, "I fuck you" or "I eat you." They also offered our only male companion camels for us girls. I got up to 300,000 camels, no big. The first few times it was funny, but by the end of our visit to Morocco we were ready to be around quieter men. Can't complain too much though, the 70 and 80 degree weather were wonderful, especially after all the rain in Paris.