The Nottingham group and the four of us decided to spend all day Wednesday browsing the marketplace. The souk is incredible. It looks so small from the outside but the halls run deep with colorful and lavish, handmade products. We were lost for hours. In this time we were able to buy all of the gifts we needed at a fraction of the price. Our haggling skills were put to good use.
I wanted to get a picture with a monkey before I left Morocco and I was lucky because there were a ton of them out and about as we were leaving the restaurant. I had one but then another guy came and threw a baby on as well. The older macaque took my sunglasses and threw them on the ground before commencing to groom me. Once they had picked all of the debris out of my hair and chewed on my split ends the owners took them back and demanded an inordinate amount of money because I had two monkeys...I handed them each 20 diram and called it a day. They yelled after me "C'est rien ça!" (That's nothing!) and I just kept on walking...I was officially done spending money for the rest of the trip...And we nearly had a full day left..
One of my many obsessions. I have an entire room dedicated to Moroccan lanterns in the states.
I quickly became tired of shopping when I was cheated, though not much was taken from me. These people are smart but so deceptive. It can be so exhausting. This woman came up to me with a henna book and said "Look! 10 diram." I thought "Hm...1 euro...I couldn't even get a cup of coffee for 1 euro in France..." so I sat down and flipped through the book. The woman asked me if I wanted brown or black. I decided black would be better on my skin since I tan so easily and the sun was burning bright. As soon as her companion came back she started working on my henna. But wait, she didn't even ask me which design I wanted. I patiently waited until she was done. By this time, Pete had been conned into getting henna as well. When the ladies were finished they demanded 200 diram for my henna--which was supposed to be a special price because she likes me...Everyone says that. I immediately became aggravated. I had made it a habit to speak french to everyone in Morocco because I wanted the practice and people were nicer to me when I did. So I said in french, "But you said it was 10 diram!" The elderly woman replied with "No. I said it was 10 diram for the light color. Black is more expensive." We kind of argued back and forth for awhile before I told them that they were only going to get 50 diram since that's 'all I had left.' She made a huge fuss out of it until I told her that I was a nanny of 6 kids, ha haha. She looked at me kind of amazed, shook her head in disbelief, and let me go peacefully.
Pete, Molly, and I headed back to the hostel together. We had lost the others and were tired of our money being stolen so we took a bit of a breather. The three of us enjoyed some mint tea with Karim before heading back out to the souk for lunch. We accidentally ran into the rest of our group who had been tricked by the same ladies into getting henna. The ladies had written our name in Arabic on our hands which we found to be pretty smart. Anytime we decided not to buy something, the vendors would call us back by our first names, lol. Tricky, tricky...but smart. I kept my hand hidden while I was out shopping but the guy sitting at the next table during lunch sounded out my name. Oy vey...
The seven of us headed to the rooftop of a restaurant for some lunch. This is where we experienced pastilla for the first time. It's the Moroccan version of a pie which can be sweet or salty. I love the food here so much! The flavors are just so unique and intricate. It's like a new sensation in every bite!
Pastilla
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