Ok, back to a few days ago.
We left Aroumd and drove for a while. I have surprisingly few road pictures and none of particular beauty or intertest so I'll spare you. We stopped at a grocery store to pick up some lunch and then we stopped at a cafe and ate our lunch in their garden. Only stipulation, we had to buy drinks there. Good deal for a garden and a bathroom. I am quite used to my late morning cafe au lait so it worked out well.
 |
| This is in the grocery store bulk section |
Some authorized shopping. An Argan women's cooperative. First the requisite demo of how they make argan oil. And then the hard sell. I found it quite expensive so even though I really wanted some, I knew I could buy it cheaper elsewhere.
Coming down the mountain was like the dance of the seven base layers. Not as sexy as the dance of the seven veils but probably more satisfying (well. at least for me). Over the course of the day, Off comes the second hand toque. The Mountain Warehouse scarf and gloves, the Eddie Bauer coat, the Value Village fleece, and eventually even my ever present LL Bean green sweater. I did manage to keep on my Costco t-shirt.
We arrived in Essaouira. A beach town. Abdul dropped us off outside of the medina walls and we had to hike our stuff through the walls and a bit into the medina. I was still able to leave my extra bag of purchases in the van so I could carry my own backpack. Essaouira has a lot of charms but for me the main one was the amazing shopping! So, my own-bag-carrying days were short lived.
These pictures were just from the walk to the hotel.
The hotel was nice, down a little alley. But terrible plumbing. Pretty much all of our hotels have had really awful showers. This one was either boiling hot or freezing cold. I asked the desk for a bucket for my next shower. I just made my own warm water. Living in Mexico has taught me a thing or two. Buckets are usually the answer to all problematic bathroom issues.
We had an hour to wash up and rest and then Mohammed took us to a nice seafood restaurant in time to watch the sunset from the rooftop dining room.
 |
| From left: Elspeth, Catherine, Kevin, Verity, Eric, Denis (not shown), Mohammed, Trevor, me, Kim, Tom, John and Rachel |
I haven't really talked about how well we all got along as a group. There were 12 of us from three countries, 6 men, 6 women, marrieds, singles, ages from 25 to 72. And we all got on like a house on fire. Plus Mohammed was super and put up with our shenanigans and endless questions. Kim would ask the best questions. Things I didn't know I wanted to know and if I had probably would have been reluctant to ask. I can honestly say, I could not have been luckier than to get stuck with this bunch. Every one had the driest, greatest sense of humour!
I mention this here because this night with this group of friends was so much fun, I don't even know how to describe it. Let's start with the fact that Kevin and Catherine bought wine for the table to thank us for being patient with Catherine's fall on the trail that morning. Absolutely not necessary since we were happy to do whatever she needed but still, the wine got the evening going. There was a live band and a couple of other tables of very happy people so the mood in the restaurant was already very festive.
Lots of talking and drinking and eating.
Verity and Trevor bought the next couple of bottles of wine. One of the other tables was another tour group. they were dancing and at some point stole Denis because they had a plethora of single women and needed a dance partner. Well, that just encouraged some more dancing at our table and general quasi-drunken merriment. I may have some pictures on my phone but I can't add them without wifi. Here's the one I have one my camera.
I hate to leave that evening, even the retelling of it, but we must move on. The next day was a free day. I really needed a free day, our last few days of driving and freezing had been exhausting. Plus, there were so many shops to explore!
First, Mohammed took some of us to a silver shop. Essaouira is the silver capital of Morocco. Trevor and Verity bought me a pendant for my upcoming birthday and then I got jealous of the ring Rachel chose so I bought one too ( I promise I am not single white female-ing her but she is worthy of it).
After that, some of us wandered over to the beach. Where we had a beverage, cafe au lait for me!
We split up at that point,. I headed into the medina. It is the calmest medina we have encountered with shops with non-pushy vendors. I had to pick up my laundry at 4pm and that was my only schedule until dinner at 7.
________________
next day, I managed to tether my tablet to my phone's connection to the internet! Who am I?! Desperate times call for extraordinary efforts! I would like Sandra Bullock to play me in the movie version of this tale. (actually, thank Eric who happened to mention this is a thing just yesterday).
_________________
Back to Essaouira. And shopping. I hadn't even made it two shops out of the hotel before I found my painting. As you all know I like to buy at least one painting from each trip. The cat one from Chefchaouen does not count. And then, right next door, an argan shop, with much better prices.
I don't think I actually bought that much when I come to think of it. There may have been another bedspread and scarf in here. But mostly it was just wandering around and loving the shops and the things contained within. Here are a million pictures, only 79% of which are cats.
I don't really remember where we had dinner that night. I didn't take any pictures. I do remember that some of the group headed out to shop a bit but I went back to the hotel. I was shopped out, if that was possible!
The next day was my birthday so I am going to leave this for now because my birthday (which in my two worlds is 33 hours long -two time zones included) is going to be a long post. Probably from an airport or two. For now, I have two hours to head into the medina before I leave for the airport.
No comments:
Post a Comment