No, No, No I don't want sunglasses

Today we had an extremely mediocre breakfast at the hotel and then headed out to explore the city a bit, and buy some water (hydration has been sorely lacking as my ashy skin can attest to – and on another side note, how a country with millions of people with the same skin tone as mine cannot use lotion on a daily basis is beyond me), any who….we struck out towards the North side of the Ville nouvelle, stopping to have some water and café au lait at a corner café, and watching the vendors sell their wares among the crowded tables and gesturing patrons. It was nice to sit and take in some people watching from a relatively quiet spot.

We then continued on to the newest area of town, a series of high-rise buildings and luxury apartments going in next to the school. After buying some water we went to the Medina with every intention of seeing the museum. With a side trip to see Cyber park – this is a park that was renovated by TelecomMaroc, and has Wifi, a cyber café, and actual computer terminals located with touch screens around the park…odd but quite nice.

We were on the right street, heading towards the museum, nearly there, when the next right led to a row of closed shops, and the next left did the same, and at 5pm, we gave up and decided to grab our first food of the day. As we walked through the Djemaa el Fna, we saw our first snake charmer, an ancient man with three cobras that he coaxed out of a wooden box, and sat still as statues as he stared and played music for them. I was terrified that I would somehow stumble and fall in the square (as you all know I’m know known for my graceful gait) and end up eyeball to eyeball with one of the most venomous creatures on earth. Thankfully I did not.

We ate at the Library Café on the rooftop terrace, it was a nice quiet spot, quite the change from the smoke and insanity of the Djemaa el Fna. Ulises had the Tajine de Polet, and I had the Trois Pastilles (one with shrimp, one with chicken and one with pigeon…that’s right folks I ate me some pigeon – and it was really good). After our meal we walked around the Djemaa el Fna again, scopeing out the talent for tonight’s performances. Ulises wanted to go and see the snake charmer again, so we wandered by the area he had been at earlier in the day, only to have Ulises cry out “Watch out Cobra!”. My heart jumped into my throat as I jumped up and to the side only to look back at my husband who was busy slapping his legs in laughter. Very funny indeed – I am now plotting my revenge.

After wandering the square and saying NO more times than I can possibly count, we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel. We stopped along the way to have some glace (that’s French for ice cream) and tumbled into bed just in time to catch Hook in French on late night TV…

-Buen Dormir