Monday, January 4, 2010

day one, part deux

where did we leave off?

-After we get in the final taxi of the day, he is driving and driving and driving, down the narrowest (and i thought i had been down the narrowest streets EVER in cadiz) allys. At one point, he slows down, some kid pokes his head in the passenger window (i assumed just asking for a ride), and he hops in.
It's a party of four now! woohoo.

-He keeps driving. Soon, the road ends. He can't drive any farther. He tells us to get out of the car, and I'm like HUH?? I think we're all getting out and he's about to do a drug deal. He informs us this kid is going to walk us to our riad and he wants to get paid for the ride. Mauricio is pulling out his wallet, and I'm like, NO FUCKING WAY, we just paid a ton of other people to get us NO WHERE, you're walking us to the door. so the four of us walk down this tiny dark ally, i'm scared shitless, i think his friends are waiting around the corner to steal my luggage. Then we turn on to another tiny street, walk for another minute and the kid starts yelling the name of the riad! he's found it! So we pay the driver, he leaves. We ring the bell, we start to enter the door, and the kid is looking for money for bringing us to the riad! we're like, uh, No?? we don't know you, we didn't invite you along for the ride, and we didn't ask you to walk us here. Our host babbles to him in Arabic, he shouts, he leaves.

-we were safely in our riad, checked in. it's a really interesting place- all the riads in morocco were previously private homes, later turned into guest houses. they typically hold about 9 rooms. our riad had a really inviting "lobby", with microsuede couches, everything was perfectly styled with moroccan accessories- a huge live palm tree in the middle of the room, really cool ornate doors, beautiful candles and lanterns everywhere. a small pool in the middle (we're still not sure if people go in it. The inside courtyard is probably as long as my house. half of it is covered by a heavy plastic roofing (so if it rains, the furniture doesnt get ruined. but the other half is open air, so we can see the sky on the walk to our room.

-there is an upstairs and an outdoor, rooftop patio. there are a ton of tables and couches and chairs, but they're a little bit stiff and not as comfy as this couch. but there are big straw hats if we want to sit out there. it's nice in the sun.

-it was almost dark after we got settled, but we decided to venture out because we didn't want to be inside all day, and we needed to get something for dinner. let me
tell you, i was a nervous wreck. i needed a huge handful of exanax to make it thru the night. we were following a really crappy map, that didn't have all the street names (but that didn't really matter, because streets are hardly streets and more like alleys and definitely don't have street signs), and the route was drawn in by hand by the man running the riad. but i was nervous because we had to find our way back to the riad after we were done "exploring".

-we start off, finding the landmarks described to us. we're walking down the right street, and mauricio is looking at the map. all of a sudden, this guy comes up to him and starts talking, asking him what he's looking for. they're talking and talking, i'm trying to pull his arm and giving him the "let's GO" look, because i know this guy isn't trying to help us get somewhere out of the kindness of his heart. all of a sudden, we're surrounded by four other people, i'm totally freaking out. we don't need help going anywhere- we're just trying to walk straight down one street! so we finally keep walking, after i nearly have a panic attack. i keep thinking i'm going to get gang banged or something.

-we wander further and further into the souks (markets), making only two major turns (i keep track of the landmarks so we can find our way back). it's mainly a straight shot, but there are some forks and turns to keep an eye out for. The streets are amazing- closer to our riad, they are just the sides of buildings and some ornate doorways. some tiny shops (holes in the walls), women selling soaps and shampoos and cookies and candies, or boiled quail eggs by the dozens. but as you get further into the souks, it's stall after stall of the goods you see in pictures and in magazines and on tv- glass lanterns, tajines, leather slippers, silver jewelry. people are grilling meat on the street. vendors have carts full of a dozen kinds of breads and cookies. tiny stalls are selling health and beauty products. you can walk by some man weaving a rug. or painting pottery. metal lanterns, glass and metal tea sets, spices, nuts and dried fruits.... it's endless. everyone wants you to stop.

-the streets are VERY narrow. they are SO crowded, no matter what time of day it is. no cars are driving by, but there are horses pulling carts, or mules with carts, and people driving both ways on motorbikes. and bicycles. you can easily get run over. your foot. banged into. last night, mauricio had a close call with a couple of horses. i thought he was going to get trampled. now, on the way back to the riad, we pass the spot where he "almost got run over by a couple of horses".

-we were nervous, scared, out of our element. didn't want to eat dried fruit or street food for dinner, but had NO idea where to go and it was too late to request dinner at our riad. so we kept walking, hoping to find a resto to eat at. finally, the first place we walked by, we stopped at. we walked up to their terrace, and had a nice candlelit dinner for two. then we walked back to the riad, following my landmarks, breathed a sigh of relief, and had a good night's sleep.

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