Marrekech wasn't the city we expected it to be. On the Internet some people thought the constant pestering in the square was annoying and intimidating. We didn't find the stall holders in the Souk pushy, or the guys touting for business at the food stalls on the square too annoying. However the food guys were funny. John told some of them last night we'd already eaten, they said to Angela, he needed more food as he was too skinny! Sales patter at its best. Despite their persistence they accepted defeat with good humour, and sayings such as, 'happy wife, happy life', and their favourite, 'lovely jubbly'. At the end of the day they were all trying to earn a living, as was the old guy in the secure parking area we were staying in. Every morning he cleared all the rubbish dropped in the car park, and was happy to take away our bin bag for us. By the entrance to the parking was a toilet. John suggest Angela give it a wide berth, but he used it regularly. He was shocked to discover that the man tidying the car park lived in the toilet block spendingmuch of his time flat out on the floor! So this morning when we left we gave him some money. Life is very, very hard for some people here. Just after nine, it was already too hot. Today was going to be a scorcher. After wasting time looking for a supermarket we set off. The drive today would be long, and as it turned out very boring. The toll road makes for a faster journey, but the relentless droaning of Marges tyres on the tarmac, and the unchanging view of freshly harvested corn fields made the journey monotonous.
We stopped twice, the second time the men selling local wares were on us before we'd even parked Marge. They were persistent, even after we politely refused to buy from them. One was selling straw hats, as worn by the Berber community here. Secretly, Angela would love one of these, but couldn't see herself getting away wearing it outside of Morocco. Late afternoon we arrived back on the Atlantic coast and at Camping L'Ocean Blue.
We couldn't believe we'd stayed here two weeks ago, it seemed so much longer. First job for Angela was to catch up on her washing. It is not so warm here, and she is hoping everything will be dry by the morning. Interestingly, of the four vehicles in our area, three have black bras hanging on their washing lines. Let's hope it's not some sort of campsite code!
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