Essaouira to Marrakech

The chaos of the harbour.

Walking home with a bag of fresh sardines.

A shepherd and his flock by the highway, the only thing changed about this profession is that now they have cellphones to play with all day.

Koutoubia Mosque.

The modern electric circus of the square.

Monday, September 25^th.

A bit of a lazy morning as we don't leave for Marrakech until 3:00 this afternoon. I decided to go down to the harbour to watch the fishing fleet. I am fascinated with fishing harbours. The chaos, the smells, the beehive of activity, the catch, the ships and fishermen... it is an overwhelming experience and a glimpse into a way of life that is totally foreign to me and has not changed (except for the addition of motors onto the boats), for the last few hundred years. If I could somehow go out for a night and not get sick, I'd love to try it. I wandered around immersing my senses and taking photos.

Then I headed back to the hotel to pick up another memory card before wandering around and exploring the medina again. I was stalking people, looking for people shots, and I got a few. Then I returned to the hotel to check out and put my luggage in the lobby. Then back out again, to wander around. I met a couple again that Wim and I had met yesterday. She is from Uzbekistan and he is from northern Morocco. They met in Paris. They are very nice people who are trying to figure out how to make their lives work together.

This is a very safe town for tourists and I wandered around taking photos without incident. Many of people don't like having their photos taken, but they have gotten used to the number of tourists that come through the city and the money that they infuse into the economy.

At 3:00 we met up again, had our luggage loaded onto wagons and taken with us to the local bus station. Man was this a different experience. In 1979 when Deb and I took a bus from Essaouira to Marrakech we had to help push the bus out of the terminal because it had no reverse; then we drove about a half hour into the desert when the driver stopped and got off the bus for his breakfast while the small group of passengers waited on the bus not really knowing what was happening, and then when we got going again the driver would stop for anyone standing by the side of the road and if they had animals with them, chickens, a sheep or goat, he would put them on the roof on top of our back packs. This time we boarded an air-conditioned modern bus with an assigned seat. Times have changed. I sat at the front and could watch as we drove past the dry desert areas and the green irrigated areas as well. The road was a modern dual carriage way with little traffic and about half way we switched to a toll road that connected the southern part of Morocco all the way up to Casablanca. We exited at Marrakech and wound our way through the modern new section of this rapidly growing city to the Caspien Boutique Hotel where I will stay for the next few nights.

After organizing ourselves in our rooms we met in the lobby and then we boarded a van that drove us to the main square of Marrakech, the Djemaa El-Fna. It was just getting dark when I got out of the van and the first thing I saw was the beautiful minaret of the mosque that I remember from long ago. Then we walked past a double row of horse drawn tourist wagons into the square. The whole centre section was light up with light bulbs that surrounded a large number of outside barbecue restaurants. I was totally disappointed in the look and modern craziness of the square. This to me had been a magical and mystical place back in the day and one of the most amazing experiences of my 1979 trip. I was lost in thought as we were walking towards the restaurants. As we walked several vendors approached us. Without most of us seeing, one man put a snake around Wim's shoulders and said he could take a photo. After that they wanted money. The guy said the price was 400 dirham (about $53 Canadian). Wim said no that was too much and countered with 100. At that point a big muscular man came up and said no the price is 400 and then added another 100 for the manager (500 dirham = $66). Wim was bullied into paying. By this time the rest of the group was a little ahead of him and when he joined us and we were shepherded to our seats at one of the eating places, he related his experience to Rachid. Rachid was very upset that Wim had been ripped off and as we ate he talked to a couple of Moroccan restauranters, who as we found out later told him where to find the police. We had a good dinner of cooked Moroccan street food: veggies, skewers of chicken and beef and some salads.

After dinner Rachid gave us some free time to explore the square and he took Wim and I to the local police station in the square. Rachid escorted us into a dark and intimidating building where we found a room with four or five plain clothed cops. Rachid and Wim related the story to them (it really helped that Wim being Belgian spoke French and that he had a photo on his phone of him the snake and the guy who ripped him off!) and they took notes on paper. I could really understand what was being said, but I wasn't sure if the police really cared. They asked Wim for his passport, which he didn't have with him and told us we should have reported it immediately. They told him to bring his passport to them tomorrow and they would have a look for the man. And that's the way it was left. We met up with the rest of the group and took the van back to the hotel where we had a drink and shared our stories and feelings about the whole experience.