Meandering in the Medina

Though Marakesh is known for being a fairly modern city in Morocco, one of the highlights of the town is the Medina, the old part of the city. The Medina is a maze of streets filled with shops with homes scattered in between. Our last day in Marakesh was spent taking a guided tour through the Medina, which was great, because otherwise we definitely would have gotten lost. As we weaved in and out of the walls, we eventually were taken to a carpet shop.

The carpet shop was decorated by rugs of all shapes, sizes and colors, rolled up or sprawled out on the ground. Our entire group was corralled into one room where the shopkeepers spread out over thirty carpets on the ground. They explained that traditional Moroccan carpets have a looser weave that are much more plush to the touch, and the colors are more vibrant than in other parts of the world. Essentially, we were held captive until a few of us purchased carpets. So to pass the time, Skye got creative and tried flying a “magic carpet.” Everyone in the room stopped and stared and the shopkeepers almost fell out of their chairs laughing.

We walked through the rest of the Medina past iron workers, basket weavers, and other various crafts being made until we stopped at a homeopathic pharmacy. Only a few of us followed the guide into the back to listen to an explanation of which spices were not only good for cooking but also curing various ailments. The pharmacist had us sniff one product, Sanouje, that sorted burned the nostrils. It is supposed to be good for migraines, colds, asthma, and snoring. My favorite product they showed us however was the “magic lipstick.” It was a green substance that when applied on the lips turns to a bright pink color.

Our last stop in the Medina, and in Marakesh, was the square. The square was littered with various circus-like characters trying to scrape up a few coins for every picture a tourist took. Some of the interesting acts were monkey trainers and snake charmers. The monkey trainers had monkeys on chains that they would throw onto wandering tourists, but they seemed fairly harmless. The snake charmers however were much more worrisome. First off, the charmers would surprise passersby by wrapping snakes around their necks, and would coax cobras to dance by playing the flute. It would have been cool to have snakes hung like necklaces on my neck, like I did in Benin, if the snake charmers didn’t have massive bites all over their arms. That made the experience significantly more horrifying.

The last thing I wanted to do before I left to go back to Casablanca was get henna. In the square, most people were accosted by random women decorating henna on unwillingly tourists, however I found a lady and sat down excitedly. I got the brown henna because it was the most traditional, and only stays for one to two weeks. The black henna is supposed to stay longer, but I thought it would be a bit too dark, and I didn’t need to keep it for UVA. I’m glad I didn’t though because one girl came back with a swollen hand. The black henna has chemicals in it (not found in the brown henna) that reacted poorly with her skin and now sadly looks like a horrible burn in the design of the henna on her skin. The henna might have been cool, but I wouldn’t want a permanent reminder with a scar in the design of the henna.