Marrakech (Morocco)
16 JUL - 17 JUL
Kechscape is what you get when you combine the melting pot of North African cultures with a healthy dose of chaos and a designated design of sensual bombardment that means your sight, smell and hearing takes you to all parts of this magical city, all the time, all at once!
The living and beating heart of Marrakech is Djemaa El Fna, a massive square in the centre of the medina that during the day demands nothing more than a glance of courtesy from a passing tourist but at night transforms into a violent whirlpoolof sights, sounds, colours and smells. To someone that isn't accustomed to the way the square moves and operates, it's truly and eye opening experience. Having only experienced this a few times previously, this to me is still very much an eye opener, and what's more, whatever happens in the square each evening does so again the night after, and the night after that. This Easter show on steriods goes on 365 days a year. When you witness the events of each evening it's hard to imagine that the very next evening, all that you see going on around you will be kicking off once again once the sun chooses to drop behind the Atlas mountains and take rest for the night.
Depending on how you approach the square the first thing that comes to your attention are the sounds. It's either the calls from the various market stalls that flank the square or the calls out from the spruikers in their orange carts asking you to come in and grab a glass of ice cold orange juice for the huge sum of 3 dirhams (40 cents) - (also let me say, guaranteed to be the best glass of OJ that you'll ever have!). After a couple of days you get accustomed to their calls, 'Hey, where you from?, Spain?, France? England? Germany?'... 'Come and have a look, it's free to look'...'Is this your first time in Morocco? Big Welcome'. Whilst you field answers from these guys and kind of joust and parry your way around them, you then have to be wary of the henna artists that may be sitting within your designated path, or perhaps some strange salesman that may or may not be selling pigeons who are incidentally aimlessly walking around in front of him, or perhaps some dude that may have jumped straight out of a Danoz direct commercial but instead of selling you an ab roller or a 'Sham Wow', is professing the potency of orange blossom oil. Everything in this square is good for the libido....didn't you know?....'make you strong, like an ox!'.
Djemaa El Fna - Marrakech - Morocco
JJ out in the square
Comtemplating the orange blossom for a moment and then deciding that your time for strange sexual potency assistance may not be required quite just yet, you call on your skills of dexterity and anticipation to jump out of the way of the snake charmers that dot the pheriphery of the square. There's also the odd man that has monkeys dressed in strange clown costumes and one poor soul that looks to be wearing a tutu. What the hell is that about you wonder? Perhaps it's better not to ask.
Food central - Djemaa El Fna - Marrakech - Morocco
The major drawcard to the square are the food carts that set up every evening. You can see the smoke billowing from their grills for hundreds of meters away but it's only when you get closer that the smells of what they have going become more and more intoxicating. These guys are 'the money!'. They have any type of Moroccan food that your heart desires and then some. Walking through the throng of people checking out their wares and looking at the people already seated and intotheir meals, you start hearing calls from the assistanta at each cart trying to pull you in. Some aren't too ingenious, 'Hola', (I'm not Spanish dude, try again), 'Hey, where you from man?'.....but as we progress through the numbered carts, which don't seem to be numbered in any particular order, we hear a couple of gems. 'Hey man, this is freakin' AWESOME' - kind of amusing when it comes out of a mouth of a young Moroccan man that pulls it off with nearly a perfect American accent. Then you get, 'This is pucka tucka, lovely jubbly', or even 'Easy peasy lemon squeezy'...??? What the hell? Mate, I'd nearly eat at your cart just for ripping that line out!
So, after walking around and thinking that all the food looks and smells so great, you decide that maybe now, on this occassion you'll go for a left field choice. Those sheeps' heads sitting out there on the top of this fine man's cart looks mighty appealing. The way he's been cutting that tongue, ripping off the skin from it's cheeks, that lovely looking cooked brain - yeah, I'll deal with the food poisoning tomorrow.....and so you barter with your own destiny. This is what I chose to do, and I kind of pushed JJ into doing the same thing. As we sat down to our plate of mystery sheep head meat with a side of bread and an ice cold coke, we looked around at the billowing smoke and the bright lights that made up these alleys of nightly food service and production. It's truly more than just a sight, it's an experience! It's a touch of insanity along with some good humour and even better food, although with the later you sometimes need to play a little Russian roulette, on this evening we spin the barrell and draw a blank!
Sheeps' head for dinner - 'loving it!'
Anything you need - anything you could think of
Finishing off our meal of sheeps head, which was mighty tasty (even in the books of an ex-vegetarian, or so JJ says), we made our way into the crowded mass of people that are permanently parked in front of the food carts. Within these masses you find groups of people gathered to watch either musicians getting their rythym on, Arabic story tellers delivering mystical tales of the desert and caravans crossing timeless dunes, or even strange oddball events like kiddie boxing or night fishing. This place is like warped type of carnival that is so atmospheric and intruiging that you can't help but be suckered into its mysterious clutches.
Whilst standing in a tight circle and straining to see what's going on at its centre, you need to be wary of those subtle brush pasts, or those innocuous touches to your back pockets, for where there smoke, there's fire. These crowds are absolutely infested with pick-pockets and what you need to know is that if you're ignorant or forgetful, well, then you might also be a few dirham lighter for the mental slip. Standing in one of the circles I felt a gentle touch on my back pocket and quickly turned to see a 40 something Moroccan man, arms folded, looking off into the distance. He turns to me, catches my glare and gives me a wink as if to say 'Yep, you got me, points to you'. I laugh straight at him and he kind of grins - don't worry, there are plenty more tourists that he'll nail down this evening
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Crowd in the square
Storyteller in the square
At the end of the night, if you've played it right, you'll walk away from Djemma El Fna being absolutely entranced by what it has to offer, with your stomach full of strange and wonderful delicacies, and with your money in the hands of it's rightful owners. For JJ and myself, well, I have to say that Djemma El Fna treated us very well. It's truly amazing, all the time!
In very much the same manner, but off on a little bit of a tangent, the Riad Boussa, our place of residence for the last few days,is also an experience. The movement and chaos outside of its walls are completely shut out when you walk through its understatedcedar door. Walking into the central court and looking up at the sky above you, you're able to almost forget about the the buzzing city that practically encloses your space. The riad is our own little karmic oasis, away from the peddlars, hawkers, thieves and ruffians of the night. It's a place where you can relax with a mint and sage tea, sit back and reflect on everything that has gone on around you.
Riad Boussa - Marrakech - Morocco
Riad Boussa - Marrakech - Morocco
On most days we found ourselves either up on the open terrace or in the court of the riad, sitting on blood red cushions, dealing with the dry heat and accepting that this place is very, very different to the place that we come from - which in itself makes Marrakech more than just unique, and maybe just a little special.
