Marrakesh

Early Wednesday morning, we left Europe for a (very) hot sec to visit Marrakesh, Morocco. But before we even left the Barcelona airport, something great happened. We were lining up at passport control when a woman ran up looking very lost, asked what this was and if we were also flying to Marrakesh. We responded "yes, don't worry, you're in the right place." As we passed through, I smiled at her again to help ease her stress. She then approached us asking if we were tourists, because if so, she is Moroccan and can advise us where to go. This was perfect as we had been a bit anxious about our safety in Morocco, but she assured us we had nothing to worry about. She then invited us to have breakfast and a small tour around the center when we land.

We ended up having a fantastic time. I especially enjoyed spending time with her because she (like most people there) spoke French. She usually spoke with me and I translated to my mom, but sometimes she would try to speak in English to include her as well. She refused to let us pay for anything, saying that because we were so kind to her, she wanted to treat us. We went around the market in the center of the city, Medina, tasting small things like fresh squeezed juice and cacti fruit before sitting down for breakfast. She then took us further into the market, explaining all of the different things people were selling.

When walking around, I came across a man who was selling wooden goods. I noticed he had a small machine sitting on the ground that resembled a lathe, and I got really excited since I knew exactly what he was doing. It was actually a hand/foot powered lathe which I found so interesting. We ended up talking for about 15 minutes about wood working and design, and he made me a small wooden necklace as a gift.

After about 4 hours of wandering around in the heat on hardly any sleep, we finally went to our hotel and said our goodbyes.

Throughout the next few days we enjoyed our incredible hotel during the day (as it was far too hot to do anything else) and went out after the sun set (like the entire rest of the city).

It was crazy to see children out playing at 11 pm, but we realized they basically flipped their schedules to do everything we would do during the day at night to avoid the heat.

I can't say I was a big fan of the food there, but it was nice to try. Now take us back to Spain for more tapas!