The last few days have been a bit of a blur. Ramadan started, so I've been fasting all day. I was supposed to start yesterday but travel and other complications arose, so today is that brutal first day that is always the most difficult. Luckily I did manage to cut out coffee yesterday so I'm not withdrawing as hard as I was then.
Essaouira is my kind of town. There's the ocean, a fierce wind, friendly people and a general sense of chill. I could seriously live here and be quite happy.
We made it to Marrakech after a very long train ride (2 am- 10am) the last few hours of which I spent trouncing Beau at poker (he disagrees with this description of how the game went, but he needs to cling to his pride.) Marrakech was good, though I think we were all just a bit too tired to appreciate the medina tour and the general chaos. At one point a snake charmer put a snake around my neck and then took my picture. He asked for 200 MAD and I told him no, so he grabbed my arm and told me I owed him for the picture (the picture was taken with my camera which he grabbed off of my wrist when I had the snake on me) I handed him 10 MAD and thanked him and told him I was leaving and he grabbed me again. I yelled at my friends, who were having similar trouble with his colleagues, and discovered that having an angry-looking 6-foot Croatian friend has its perks, since the snake charmer allowed Beau to pull me away without any further argument. Oh, Marrakech. We all had coffee on a lovely terrace and then spent the night enjoying fancy food in the hotel.
The next day I overslept for Sahoor, the meal before sunrise in Ramadan, so I was in a pretty bad state. Eventually I realized that a. it was a waste to carry around the food I hadn't woken up to eat since it was too hot for it to stay good and b. I was travelling that day and even if it is the first day of Ramadan you don't have to fast if you are travelling. I decided to share the food with my friends and start fasting today. It was a good decision, since lugging around my huge backpack is not something I could have done while fasting (on a related note I'm going through clothes tonight and ditching a bunch in the hotel because I am not carrying this backpack across Burkina Faso.)
We arrived in Essaouira just as the sun was setting. This is a beautiful little beach town and we're in an incredibly cozy hotel that I think I like even better than the fancy kinds. We all went out for dinner and then I parted ways with the bunch going for drinks. I bought food for sahoor and went to bed early. A few hours later I heard my roommates come home, followed closely by every one else they'd been drinking with. Deciding it was a shame to be grumpy when every one else was so happy, I designated myself their sober guide and we all went swimming in the ocean at 1 am with minimal mishap. This morning we went on a Medina walk and explored the port. It's windy and cold (I actually got to wear my leather jacket last night and I still wasn't warm enough.) I'm basically in heaven.
Now it's time for a nap and a bit of shopping before iftar.
Essaouira is my kind of town. There's the ocean, a fierce wind, friendly people and a general sense of chill. I could seriously live here and be quite happy.
We made it to Marrakech after a very long train ride (2 am- 10am) the last few hours of which I spent trouncing Beau at poker (he disagrees with this description of how the game went, but he needs to cling to his pride.) Marrakech was good, though I think we were all just a bit too tired to appreciate the medina tour and the general chaos. At one point a snake charmer put a snake around my neck and then took my picture. He asked for 200 MAD and I told him no, so he grabbed my arm and told me I owed him for the picture (the picture was taken with my camera which he grabbed off of my wrist when I had the snake on me) I handed him 10 MAD and thanked him and told him I was leaving and he grabbed me again. I yelled at my friends, who were having similar trouble with his colleagues, and discovered that having an angry-looking 6-foot Croatian friend has its perks, since the snake charmer allowed Beau to pull me away without any further argument. Oh, Marrakech. We all had coffee on a lovely terrace and then spent the night enjoying fancy food in the hotel.
The next day I overslept for Sahoor, the meal before sunrise in Ramadan, so I was in a pretty bad state. Eventually I realized that a. it was a waste to carry around the food I hadn't woken up to eat since it was too hot for it to stay good and b. I was travelling that day and even if it is the first day of Ramadan you don't have to fast if you are travelling. I decided to share the food with my friends and start fasting today. It was a good decision, since lugging around my huge backpack is not something I could have done while fasting (on a related note I'm going through clothes tonight and ditching a bunch in the hotel because I am not carrying this backpack across Burkina Faso.)
We arrived in Essaouira just as the sun was setting. This is a beautiful little beach town and we're in an incredibly cozy hotel that I think I like even better than the fancy kinds. We all went out for dinner and then I parted ways with the bunch going for drinks. I bought food for sahoor and went to bed early. A few hours later I heard my roommates come home, followed closely by every one else they'd been drinking with. Deciding it was a shame to be grumpy when every one else was so happy, I designated myself their sober guide and we all went swimming in the ocean at 1 am with minimal mishap. This morning we went on a Medina walk and explored the port. It's windy and cold (I actually got to wear my leather jacket last night and I still wasn't warm enough.) I'm basically in heaven.
Now it's time for a nap and a bit of shopping before iftar.
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