Marrakesh (trip two) with Anna Jess Vikki Mar 08

Right now I am a little sore from my sunburt shoulders You would think I would learn to take sunscreen with me ... I spent the weekend in Marrakech with Anna, Jess and Vikki and it was fabulous! The weather was amazing - 30 degrees and sunny! It was quite weird though because the Atlas mountains still have snow on them and we were enjoying the sunshine and heat! I really enjoy Marrakech! There is just something about it that draws you back and back! we had a good old time perfecting the art of haggling - apparently I trade like a berber (not too sure if that is because I was trading my friends or making really good 'deals' for jewellery! you will be pleased to know that this year you get not camels in your dowry but riads (traditional houses) - my 'husband' has five of them .. jess was told she was worth more than all the camels in the world! we did some pretty cool stuff down there - most memorable will have to be the camel riding! we paired up and got onto a camel, which stood up without warning ... then we were escorted around the park thing much to the amusement of the local footballers ... there was this baby camel chasing it's mum (the camel I was on) and it kept bitting my foot and making this weird noise but the best part of course was the camel sitting down and the looks on our faces caught on camera! priceless! we did some quite good shopping down theremainly for spices, and things like this, natural products (got to love the customs laws here in England) coffee, toothbrushes made from twigs ... everything is so cheap down there it amazes me, and we even stumbled upon the cheaper Jewish market to get a lot of these things. I also brought a tagine suitable for cooking for £2.00 bargin! so now i'm all set, spices, couscous and tagine - just need to learn how to use it properly! we had some amazing food, even dried fruit and nuts are cheap as chips! we stocked up on a lot of things! We had dinner both nights in the stalls set up in the middle of the square, both amazing meals, so simple yet so delicious! the best part was this pastilla made of filo pastry, minced pistacios and almonds and bits of chicken, grilled and dusted with icing sugar! weird yet wonderful ... amnd all the sweets are just mouth watering! the souqs are always good fun .. all the bargining, the marriage proposals and the calls of 'fatima' and 'giselle' ... the touch rule - if you touch it it's yours .... unfortuantely! but most fun is the colour and the variety of the products, noone is afraid of colour we did a bit of chatting in french too, was quite pleased my french just came back naturally ... usually it goes wheh I hear a foreign language ... polish, italian and then french ... this time french was right there ... and they could understand me! the whole town/city has changed since I was last there, more tourists around and less kids hassling you for money to show you where places where ... it was great! but there were these kids by our riad who would hit your bum as you went into the riad .. not too sure why but they did one thing that was a lot more agressive was the henna ladies, they were lethal some henna burns my skin and unless i know it's good henna i'm always a little weary of it - so this lady was hassling us to get it done on our arms and one of them attacked vikki and henna'ed all up her arm as a look and then demanded quite a bit of money for it! and then she tried it on me but I kept wiping it off!! think they got the message in the end! we were then very wary of them! you do sort of start to feel the marrakech fatigue after a while, it's a sensory overload of amazingness! if only you could email the smells, sights and sounds! "through the heat and madness of Marrakech. It's more like a holiday with a bit of literary stimulation, ... A halfway house; half holiday and half literary knocking of heads together.” I can't wait to go back there again ... hope you're all well! Kylie the human spirit isn't measured by the size of the act, but by the size of the heart...