The People of Marakech

We have met so many fabulous people in Marakech who have made our time here a memerable experience.


One afternoon we bought water from a herbolist, Rashib, who escorted us into his shop to aquaint us with his products. He served us tea, a sign of Moroccan hospitality, and the lesson began. We learned all about uses for different herbs and spices, and smelled a variety of incences, and sampled many skin creams. Soon we were talking about where we came from. Rashib told us about his village of 50 people in the Atlas mountains where the sky is so clear you can touch the stars and feel like there is no one there but you, the earth and sky. Eventhough he spoke in French he was so enthusiastic and poetic in his body language we understood him. Keish confirmed this by translating for us. In the end we bought a few little things from him, and as a token of his gratitude he gave us each a pummas stone, perfect for our Moroccan bath.

One night dinner we sampled our way around the main plaza in the medina, and stopped for kabobs at a stand with a particularly gregarious waiter. He showed us our names are written in arabic, and then tought us a few dirty words, but not after much blushing and laughing on his part. Then he took us around behind the cart and let us be the "chefs" and call out to the passers by to enjoy their evening repast here. It was one of the most fun meals I have had.


The night we went out clubbing in Marrakech we had a fabulous cab driver take us home. When he asked us where we were from and we said California, he whipped out his California drivers liscens. He was so excited. It turns out he had been a limo driver in Long Beach for the last year and had just returned to Morocco, but wanted to go back to Long Beach. By the end of the cab ride we were all rocking to 2-Pac. It was good times.