No scare in Marrakech

I fell asleep before the plane even took off, around 6:30am. When I woke up I was very disoriented because I was definitely in REM. I want to keep writing and speaking in Spanish but it's not the same and I am too tired to find the words. Marrakech is way more modernized than I expected. At first there were a lot of women wearing hijabs and when I asked one for directions she couldn't even point where the bus might be. But the bus driver was cool. She had a pixie cut and was cracking jokes with an attendant in the parking lot. He asked me where I was from and waved goodbye as we drove out. The city has that morning mist that I love and it's sunny with blue skies. It's picturesque and surprisingly very modern. There are camels and horse drawn carriages and snake charmers but it's all for the tourists. I'm waiting for Med, my Airbnb host, at Cafe de France but he hasn't responded yet. So I'll just enjoy the. It's and turn down people politely as they try to sell me tshirts, tissues and iPhones. There is a guy repairing the roof on a huge ladder and lot of people are watching. My host Ahmed (Med for short) is super nice. He was profusely apologizing for being late even though I was 4 hours early. He showed me how to get from the market to his place. His English is pretty great too. After the house tour, we sat in the rooftop dining room and he made traditional Marrakech tea. He again profusely apologized because there was no sugar but I actually liked it. This place is adorable and so far no bugs. He said his sister just cleaned it all for us. After he explained everything including that 9pm is when the market closes and we should be home not long after that, we went our separate ways. I had walked maybe 50 meters when I made my first friend Hagib. He owns a large carpet store which he calls the factory. Hagib sold me a handmade authentic Berber carpet for 35€. I didn't even pay until later because he wanted me to be his friend. We immediately hit it off. He took me to a bunch of different shops so I could find the good stuff. I bough curry mix, cumin, and a marrakech mix of 80 spices from Toufiq. He told me about argan oil and gave me two argan nuts for good luck and to keep the bad spirits away. Then, Hagib and I went back to his store for tea with sugar. It was delicious and super hot but it's 65 degrees here so it's fine. He told me I remind him of his girlfriend he had when he lived in the states awhile back because she's pretty and by how he describes her, asian is my guess. I told him he's the same age as my dad, and he was like "yes, I am like your dad." He told me if I ever need a place to stay in Morocco I am always welcome to stay with him for as long as I want. He gave me his number on his business card. After that he showed me the way to the palace and we parted ways. Nice man, a little strange, but I'm sure with good intent. On my way to the market, I stopped at a pottery shop that had hand painted stuff from Fes and I bought a bowl and a soap dish for 180 dh. I feel good about my bartering skills but I seriously have no self control. I also got roped into buying 2 Arabic cashmere scarves for 120 dh ($6 each) not a bad price but Aeyu really got me there when he showed me four traditional ways to wear the scarf. But he promised me a gift if I brought my friends later. I kept walking around and shopping. But I gained some more self control and looked around. A lot of places we selling knock off NBA jerseys, right next to the Guccis and Balenciagas. No one had MKE Bucks though; I asked. I pretended to be a rich woman and continued to shop for rugs. They are actually worth 100s of dollars. I'm shook. Hagib was a homie. I also looked for a drum, and this dude showed me one that was made of fish skin. I want it but I'm literally becoming my mother. I went to one more carpet store before returning home. I got the price down from 100€ to 35€ but I still felt like I was betraying Hagib. I think the seller was a little hurt. But in the beginning he was like "no matter how it ends we both walk away with either our money or a carpet and no hard feelings only smiles." The people here are all super nice; they said that their good reputation is more important than anything. I believe it. Definitely catered to me and watched out for me because apparently alleyways here are for shops, taxis, motorcycles, and pedestrians at the same time. I'm taking a little descanso because my feet are dead and I only slept two hours today.

I take it that 16:10 is prayer time because the whole city is currently humming.

It took awhile for Emily and 'Ana to arrive because traffic was wild. But after, we caught up to the sound of the fifth and final call to prayer of the day.

We met up with some friends of family of Emily for dinner. The son of the friend, Salal, and his friend are giants. I felt like we had two body guards. We got in a car with them and drove off out of the city to go to their mom's house for dinner. The house was old and traditional with colored tile walls and couches that created the perimeter of the room. A circular table in the corner fit all 12ish of us. We didn't speak Arabic and they didn't really speak English but we laughed a lot. We had to refuse tea like 5 times, and then coffee but they insisted we go out for a post meal drink. Salal knows everyone in Marrakech because he's a bouncer for the best clubs in Africa, so he says. I believe him though because he greeted so many people with kisses and by name. He took us to a rooftop bar with a view of the city at night. We had to explain that we didn't drink alcohol either so we ordered kiddy cocktails. He ordered a hookah and we were about to refuse that too but he was like "no, for me." We went to another bar after, and I realized I've never been bar hopping. It was called Highway and as you may guess lots of people doing hookah. There was a famous singer who performed traditional songs, lots of crazy lights, people pretending to have fun for the 'gram, and the densest chocolate mousse I have ever had.

After we said goodbye and took the taxi home. It got a little scary, because there was a guy in the alley where the riad was. He was like, "where are you going ladies, street is dead end, I help you don't be scare. What number is your riad."

We are alive it's fine.