Maroc impressions
Dear mum,
I had my first, second and last cigarettes yesterday. I don't know what the fuss is all about. In a moment of weakness it was all over. I thought I looked cool hanging around the pizza shop in Essaouira Morocco for a while though...
For a change its been quite cool at the coast, its been 45 degrees plus inland in Marrakech which for those of you that dont know is incredibly hot. The sweat just doesn't stop. In the desert, on the edge of the Sahara, the sweat evaporated straight after it came out giving my skin a very weird feeling. When it is that hot you cant do anything. So I had to leave Marrakech and Hotel Ali with its all you can eat bufet for breakfast and dinner for 100dh or 10 euros. Who says you need a job when you can live like a king in another country?
The cheapest room I have had is 40dh which was a rooftop terace overlooking Djema el Fna the main square in Marrakech. The room I have now is 10dh but has the best viez in town overlooking King Phillip II of Spains ramparts out onto the Atlantic, with a rood terace for eating. It would make a pretty cool bach. Shame none of the plumbing works.
I have met so many peopleevery day. Yesterday I turned real estate agent and tried to pawn my rom of to some suspicious backpackers. I had an apartment all to myself which I could hardly let go to waste...reading Jack Kerouacs 'On the Road' inspired me to that proposition. I think I need to take this travellers social ethic back to London with me. Essaouira is a very relaxed place, famous for its wood work with the rot od the Tjuba and Argan trees. I would like to buy some but i do not know if the wood has been harvested sustainably - I suspect not. Surfing, crafts including some very cool curvy, multi-coloured pyramidal shaped lamps, busy fishing port for mostly open water fish, apparently Cat Stevens holidays here, and very well policed. There is one off license store where the locals go to buy booze, this is all sourced from Casablanca as it is the major city. Consequently there are a few visible arests for drunk and disorderly in town. The drinking and this beaviour is frowned upon but nothing more. I had breakfast with some good Muslim boys in their pottery shop yesterday morning for about an hour over honey pancakes, who explained that to a Muslim the body is like a temple..
The weather here has been very strange. A hazy mist has enveloped the town for the whole day, it is like a constant dawn, that point just before the sun rises. Very cool. No surf which is disappointing as I would hqve liked to have another go before I get back to Portugal.
Maroc overall has been very friendly. No real hassling from the street, unlike Egypt. A lot more European than Egypt, which is not surprising considering it is literaly the collision between Africa and the Eurasian continental plates - hence the Atlas mountains.
Next stop, Casablanca then Fes then Chefchaouen then Tarifa in Spain and to Lisbon on the 15 Sept!
I had my first, second and last cigarettes yesterday. I don't know what the fuss is all about. In a moment of weakness it was all over. I thought I looked cool hanging around the pizza shop in Essaouira Morocco for a while though...
For a change its been quite cool at the coast, its been 45 degrees plus inland in Marrakech which for those of you that dont know is incredibly hot. The sweat just doesn't stop. In the desert, on the edge of the Sahara, the sweat evaporated straight after it came out giving my skin a very weird feeling. When it is that hot you cant do anything. So I had to leave Marrakech and Hotel Ali with its all you can eat bufet for breakfast and dinner for 100dh or 10 euros. Who says you need a job when you can live like a king in another country?
The cheapest room I have had is 40dh which was a rooftop terace overlooking Djema el Fna the main square in Marrakech. The room I have now is 10dh but has the best viez in town overlooking King Phillip II of Spains ramparts out onto the Atlantic, with a rood terace for eating. It would make a pretty cool bach. Shame none of the plumbing works.
I have met so many peopleevery day. Yesterday I turned real estate agent and tried to pawn my rom of to some suspicious backpackers. I had an apartment all to myself which I could hardly let go to waste...reading Jack Kerouacs 'On the Road' inspired me to that proposition. I think I need to take this travellers social ethic back to London with me. Essaouira is a very relaxed place, famous for its wood work with the rot od the Tjuba and Argan trees. I would like to buy some but i do not know if the wood has been harvested sustainably - I suspect not. Surfing, crafts including some very cool curvy, multi-coloured pyramidal shaped lamps, busy fishing port for mostly open water fish, apparently Cat Stevens holidays here, and very well policed. There is one off license store where the locals go to buy booze, this is all sourced from Casablanca as it is the major city. Consequently there are a few visible arests for drunk and disorderly in town. The drinking and this beaviour is frowned upon but nothing more. I had breakfast with some good Muslim boys in their pottery shop yesterday morning for about an hour over honey pancakes, who explained that to a Muslim the body is like a temple..
The weather here has been very strange. A hazy mist has enveloped the town for the whole day, it is like a constant dawn, that point just before the sun rises. Very cool. No surf which is disappointing as I would hqve liked to have another go before I get back to Portugal.
Maroc overall has been very friendly. No real hassling from the street, unlike Egypt. A lot more European than Egypt, which is not surprising considering it is literaly the collision between Africa and the Eurasian continental plates - hence the Atlas mountains.
Next stop, Casablanca then Fes then Chefchaouen then Tarifa in Spain and to Lisbon on the 15 Sept!
Comments
sounds pretty hot,
how do u sleep?