The longest stop on our trip around Morocco, Marrakech is filled with awe and wonder wherever you look. From the seemingly old-fashioned entertainment in the “Big-Square” with the snake charmer and the monkeys on leashes ready for tourist photos, to the enormous lines of market stalls all “selling the same shit”, Marrakech provided plenty to see and explore.
Interesting story about the monkeys on leashes told to me at a bar one night; they capture the monkey and then pen it with a goat to live for a number of weeks, just the two of them, then, one day, a man who would later be master of the monkey comes and slits the goats throat ensuring that the monkey is fully aware. This, apparently, gains the undisputed respect from the monkey to then do whatever the human master says. Interesting what lengths people will go for food and money.
Laughs and fun is what we mainly got up to, with a brief spell at a manipulative and exploitative hostel chain which ended up with a few of the hostel workers and I just bailing one day for the coast, Marrakech ended up being filled with great memories.
I’m writing this, months after all this took place, inside while the rain is pouring outside and all I have to do is close my eyes and I’m transported back to the sights and smells of that crazy Big-Square and this ordinary day becomes something special. Although we fled Marrakech on a bit of a disappointing note, looking back this was the greatest thing to have happened because our next stop, Essaouira, was one of the greatest times of my life.
