Chilling in Marrakech

 Trappings of the modern world.

 Fish counter.

 A typical new city area.

 Rental bikes.

 Wim and the rebuilt city wall.

 And trappings of the old world.

 The square being transformed into the eating stalls.

 Snake charmers milling around.

 The stalls filling up.

 Raptor anyone?

Fishing for a bottle.

Wednesday, September 27^th.

The tour ends today and most people are leaving today. Jonathan and Joanne are staying for another night but in a more upscale hotel; Andrew is off to Madrid for a day to or before flying back to Melbourne; Trish, Theresa and Kate are taking an overnight train to Casablanca and then continuing their holidays in Spain for a few weeks; Elisa is flying home to Vancouver via Amsterdam; Tara is also off to Amsterdam for a few days before ending her holidays in Ireland. That leaves Wim and I who have both booked an extra night here in the Caspien Hotel, which means we get our own rooms tonight. We said our goodbyes to Rachid last night and he is off to start another tour this evening.

Today I spent the morning on the computer updating things. I talked to Denise for a little bit and we crossed a few t's and dotted a few i's so that everything is organized for the next couple of months in southern Africa. I also talked to John briefly who called on Skype, but the connection was pretty weak. Hung around the lobby talking to people as they were organizing to leave.

At noon I went for a walk to the main street in this the new part of town. I found a new shopping mall not unlike anything you would find in North America, complete with air-conditioning and brand name shops. I explored a big modern grocery store that had all the usual stuff plus a big smelly fish counter with a variety of truly large whole fish. I bought some yogurt, bananas and apples for the next couple of days. Then I returned to the hotel.

At four, Wim and I walked the half hour to the mosque, the minaret and the square. We wandered around through the souks again as he was looking for a souvenir baseball cap. Then we went up to the terrace of the Argana Glacier Restaurant and had a drink while soaking up the sights and sounds of the square. This was the site of the bombing on April 28, 2011, at the height of the Arab Spring, that killed 17 people, mostly tourists, by a bomb left in a bag which destroyed the restaurant. It has been completely rebuild and restored with modern washrooms and even a metal detector at the door, which everyone walks around.

After that we walked around the square watching the goings on and observing things. Two new wrinkles today: an old man with a raptor chained to a wire mesh cage with pigeons inside, who charged people for photos of it on their shoulder and a guy who had about twenty people using poles with a little circle attached to a string who were trying to lasso an upright pop bottle. I couldn't work out what the prize or the point of it was. It made me think how long it would be before they got more games of chance here, and maybe amusement rides?

We also watched the transformation of the big empty area of the square as it was converted by dozens of men into the myriad of small eating barbeques that we saw the other night. As the evening wore on and they had been set up we watching as they tried to encourage people to eat at their stall and if they were successful then the people who worked there would clap and shout their approval and welcome of the new diners.

When we finally tired of this we walked back to the hotel. We sat at the bar, had a couple of drinks and watched a soccer match while I had a penne and chicken dinner. I fell to talking to a large Dutchman and his wife who were from Alkmaar, a town I visited in 1979. Wim was feeling poorly and we headed off to our separate rooms by about 10.