22 November: Essaouira to Marrakech

Went to try out a Hammam this morning. But it wasn't the traditional one. Instead it was a more private one probably aimed specifically at tourist who aren't used to public bathing.

I started with an hour-long massage while Varen "Hammam-ed" (girls & boys are kept separate for obvious reasons). The massage was brilliant and far more thorough than any other I've ever had. It was pretty much full frontal, aside from the small area covered by my bikini bottoms, they even massaged my face!

And when I was long passed tinking the hour must surely be up, she told me to flip over and started on my back.

Then Varen & I swapped and I went into the Hammam. It's a pretty peculiar experience being washed by someone else. A skinny Moroccan girl in pink ski-pants and top poured water over me in a little pink heated room. Then she rubbed their paste-like soap over my body and left me lying there for probably about 10 minutes. I had no idea what was going on (they only spoke Moroccan or French, I only speak English, you can imagine). It was pretty boring with only drips running down the wall for entertainment. Then she came back, rinsed me off and loofah-ed me with a scratchy glove before rubbing an exfoliating mask-type thing over my body and, once again, disappearing. When she came back, she rinsed me off and washed my hair and sponged my whole body and face before a final rinse. And interesting experience.

After that, we went for lunch - I tried a nice seafood Pastilla ... I'm going to miss Pastilla's, I must see if there are any Moroccan restaurants in Joburg (if you know of any, please leave me a comment!), I really have enjoyed the cuisine here!

We spent the afternoon on a bus back to Marrakech. Varen & I skipped the farewell dinner - I suspected it'd be back in the Medina market place like our first dinner and that it would be just as poorly attended (turned out I was right). So Varen decided instead on Pizza Hut for dinner. I don't think I've ever eaten at Pizza Hut and if I did it was more than 10 years ago! I was sceptical since the menu was all in French but, it turned out to be delish! I had a deep pan pizza with chicken, pepperoni and green peppers. It was 100 time better than Romans (which I absolutely hate but is my only other think-base pizza experience).

Then we went back to the hotel where I had a Mint Tea (I know, who'd have thought I'd be drinking so much tea here since I never touch the stuff at home!) and Varen ahd a coffee while we played a few games of Backgammon. We'd specially bought and brought along a little magnetic set that till now hadn't been used at all! And then we went to pack our bags, very carefully in preparation for our trip home tomorrow.