On our own in Marrakesh - the OAT tour is over (10.11.07)

The OAT group had their wake-up calls at 3:30 am, and mom and I definitely did not wake up to tell them goodbye again! Instead, we slept until 8:30, grabbed a piece of poundcake each from the hotel, and headed to the internet cafe to try and get my blog updated. Despite at least an hour a day for 3 days, I am still a week behind. Mom thinks that I am crazy for continuing it, but in the end it is going to be a treasure that we can both show to her grandkids.
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We met Aziz back at the hotel and the poot thing still had imprint marks from his bedspread on his face. He had gotten one hour of sleep the night before. The 27th day of Ramadan started the evening before, which is the day that Mohammed supposedly received the inspiration for the Quran from Gabrielle. Thus, after the dinner at the hotel last night, Aziz was at a mosque praying until 2 am and then was up again by 4 to bring the OAT folks to the airport. He was amazing during the trip, invisibly keeping multiple balls up in the air and balancing the needs and special request of 15 very divergent personalities. He was probably the first up in the morning and the last to bed every night and managed to stay smiling despite the fact that he was probably hungry and dehydrated from observing Ramadan by about 2:00 pm every day.
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Today he showed up a local laundry so that we could get some clothes cleaned, and then took us by a local department store so that Mom could get a t-shirt. We parted ways there, and Mom and I headed back to the medina in a taxi to finish our souvenir huntil. On the way, instead of witnessing another traffic accident, we got to see yet another fist fight, this time between workers on a construction crew. I don´t know what it is abou this culture that makes everyone so jumpy. Perhaps it isn´t even as bad as usual because of Ramadan, but we have certainly seen our share of men up in each other´s faces yelling and posturing.
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Of course our first stop was the carpet dealer in the Medina. Mom had pretty much decided on the carpet/kilim that she liked over the last two days, and now it was a matter of settling price. I was hoping to get a small runner out of the deal from the store…for goodness sake I definitely earned a commission out of it! To fit where Mom wanted to put it, they were going to have to cut the carpet off at both ends, so for a while it looked as if I was indeed going to get a runner out of the deal. I had initially suggested to Mom that she have cushions made of the extra, which she summarily nixed. Well, by the time it came to the handshake and measuring the carpet for its cropping she had changed her mind so I can´t wait to see what she ends up doing with the three cushions that will be coming her way! They are just taking a strip off of the other end, and I have requested that they send that piece along with the carpet as well. I don´t know exactly what I will do with it, but I am sure it won´t go to waste!
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After settling that deal we decided we deserved some lunch, so we grabbed a quick bite and then headed back into the medina. The original plan was to have the carpet store ship all my treasures back with the carpet, but it quickly became apparent that that wasn´t going to happen. Thus, after wandering through the medina to hunt down Christmas presents for my sister and my new sister-in-law and to get another lantern for me, we set off to try and find suitcases. Of course we decided not to look at the suitcases in the stores right next to the square, thinking that they would be too expensive and less amenable to bartering. We then literally spent an hour getting lost and running across every type of shop EXCEPT for one that carried luggage and ended up back in the square trying to get these guys to barter down. They wouldn´t, of course, so in addition to everything else I am sending home (Beth, its coming to you, BTW) I have a new $35 Japanese suitcase to go with it. By this point we were both absolutely DONE with the medina. We taxied home, spent some time either on the international cell phone or pretending to be structural engineers as we folded, stuffed, and cajoled every bit of Moroccan handicrafts we had into this suitcase.
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In the evening, Aziz met us to go over our evening´s itinerary. I had asked about seeing some more dance in Morocco and he mentioned a ¨wild´ show at a place called Chez Ali. Aziz arranged for a driver to meet us, pick us up, pay for our tickets, and get us a seat at a tourist bonanza about 30 minutes out of the city. While Mom said it was what she expected, I was a teeny bit disappointed. It turned out to be an enormous complex with a dozen huge eating ´tents´ around a central stadium. While tourists dined on the standard tagines and mint tea, different folkloric groups representing different regions of Morocco came in, did a song a dance, and then wandered back out. The music was really interesting, but the dancers looked about as bored as they could be. Yes they had unique costuming, but were talking to each other, chewing gum, and basically only spending time at the tables with the large groups of Japanese who were up dancing with them and snapping photos wildly.
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The best part of the evening by far only lasted about ten minutes, and I may have found my next passion. (Nicole Huttar if you ever read this, get ready). The ´wild´ part of the show centered around a horse show. Yes, there was the obligatory camel that was paraded around the grounds. Yes, even the array of 20 horsemen that cantered up and down the field firing off rifle rounds was interesting. But OMG! There were a group of about 6 riders that took turns putting their horses into a full gallop and then doing stunts such as hopping on and off, hooking their foot under the saddle and riding while hanging off of one side, or standing up. I don´t know whether it was the power of the horses or the power of the riders as they swung themselves back into the saddles, but I found the whole thing incredibly sexy and decided that I wanted to learn how to do that when I get home. Mom suggested that I combine it with bellydance and learn how to do tricks while in costume, but I think what I like is the feeling of power from both horse and rider. So I think I am going to have to do drag for my new hobby of horsemanship.
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A bellydancer finally came out on a bit float in the middle of the field. She didn´t really interpret the music very well, and her moves were very repetitive, but she kept both my Mom and I entertained for her entire 10 minute set. I DO have that on video, so I will be studying that as soon as I get home.
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We arrived back at the hotel around 11:30, both completely exhausted and ready to move on to a tour with a much more relaxed pace. Until next time, Morocco.