Braving the world

Today we crept out into the streets of Essaouira, having holed up for the better part of 2 days.

We have eaten pasta with courgette, onion and tomatoes and bread and jam for 2 days as the thought of going shopping was just too much.

But we had a thoroughly enjoyable day with only a few 'moments' of unpleasantness.

We walked down to the water front - a place bustling with activity. There were fishermen taking care of fish - gutting and cleaning etc. Seagulls swooping in anticipation of the scraps. Cats stalking - also in anticipation of the scraps, and maybe something a little better...

The smell was something else!! Not a nice fishing village sort of fishy smell, but a full on 'fish guts from the last 100 years left in the heat' sort of fishy smell.

There were lots of men sweeping and scooping up caked on layers of sand from the walkways and we both thought it seemed odd that it had got to that state without being dealt with earlier. It was only later that I remembered a conversation with someone a couple of days earlier, he had said there was a movie being filmed here and they had put sand down to cover the cobbles for the set. I guess filming was over.

We walked out towards the fishing boats and got 'got' by a man who wanted to show a boat that was being built. We weren't remotely interested, but of course he managed to drag us in. After 2 minutes telling us about the wood used in the building of the boat, he then asked for money for his little 'tour'. I just happened to have 3 dirham in my pocket (and genuinely no more as we were yet to go to the bank) which I knew was a pittance, so handed it to him happily. He asked for more and I said I had no more, I needed to go to the bank, and he went off moaning and grumping.

How is it, someone invites me to go see something, they then expects me to pay for the privilage. Moroccan culture is obviously very different from my own.

We had some breakfast (ripped off again) and then went off to do a bit of shopping. Mum was keen on getting some slippers, which she duly did in a painless way (not ripped off).

I also bought some shoes (not ripped off) and then we wandered down towards the sea front, but a different point. The wind was incredible, so strong and blustery. We ended up covered in sand and sprayed sea water.

Home again buying some vegies for dinner (not ripped off) and then to buy tickets for the bus tomorrow (not ripped off).

So in general a good day. After thinking that I would only take the one memory card for my camera as it still had space for over 400 photos, I ended up having to delete some along the way - it was a big day for the camera!