Day 2 in Morocco was a whirlwind. We spent the majority of the day in the souk, which is the open-air marketplace, only the size of the one in Marrakech can’t even be comprehended. It all would have been beyond overwhelming had our main man, and guide, Latif, not been with us! The souk twists and turns throughout the medina, with different trades and crafts taking place and being sold in each section. If I had attempted this on my own I probably would’ve given up fairly early, as I have no patience for huge places where you have to dig deep for that one hidden treasure (Forever XXI, for example). On the surface you can look at a lot of junk in the souk, but when you know where to go there are some really fine stores and craftsmen within.

We started the day in the metal section. Sarah was in the market for a lamp, and she scored with a beautiful orb-shaped one. While this was on Sarah’s list of priorities, I think both of us were still thinking about our experience with the rugs the day before and how we left empty-handed. Well, we were ready to give it another go now that we had been in the city for a little longer and seen some other offerings.

So, next up we went to a rug co-op within the souk (different from the co-op from the previous day). Again we were brought into the massive showroom, and a team of guys waited on us, demonstrating the different types of Moroccan rugs and then working with us to find the ones we were interested in. But first, we started with some mint tea.

Sarah was in the market for a round rug (5′ in diameter to be exact), and I didn’t have a specific need but I was still thinking about that red rug from yesterday (most of you seemed to be too), so I wanted to see more. The team rolled out 10s, maybe even a 100 or so rugs, of different styles and tribes, all handmade and hand dyed. As we started to narrow down our choices, we learned 2 very important words/phrases (and excuse me if I’m butchering the spelling – google translate isn’t particularly helpful in this part of the world): Ishme, which means take it away/not interested; and Halle, which means keep. So we were throwing around our new terms left and right until we had each narrowed our choices to 2 or 3 different rugs. Now the fun begins! When you come to Morocco you have to be ready to bargain. We were told to never pay full price, and in fact to offer the seller 50% of their starting price. So, first I started negotiating for this beautiful Kilim, or flat-weave style tribal rug, for my bedroom:

Meanwhile, the team was bringing me different versions of the red rug that I liked the previous day. Ishme, Ishme, Ishme…Halle! As I was negotiating on the Kilim above, somehow this 2nd rug started making it’s way into the deal. I had no intention of buying 2 rugs, but the price was right, and of course the deal for rug 1 was sweetened when the 2nd came into the picture. So, I also ended up with this unique Chichaoua rug, colored from poppies, to replace the boring brown rug in my living room:

 

SO, how do you think I did??

Sarah ended up with a vibrant circular rug, perfect for her space and exactly what she wanted. All in all, it was a successful visit (Thank you, Momo!) and we rode the adrenaline of our negotiations for the rest of the afternoon!!

We toured the rest of the souk, seeing the different leather workers, the wool dyers, etc.

And we even got a little demonstration on different ways to wear a scarf.

After a long day in the winding-roads of the souk, we said goodbye to our main man, Latif. He was a great guide, and made our experience in Marrakech much more informative and comfortable.

As per usual, we had worked up quite an appetite from the day. We ate in at the Riad, where dinner started with a number of traditional Moroccan salads. Cooked carrots, beets, zucchini, all marinated with delicious herbs and spices, and then our favorite, a roasted red pepper salad of some sort…we licked the bowl clean!!

Up next was our favorite new find in Morocco, Chicken Pastilla. Imagine savory chicken with cumin (or something in that family), mixed with nuts and cinnamon, all rolled up into puff pastry. Flavors that you would never think to put together, and yet they are heavenly!!

To end the night, we took a walk around the main square, Jemaa el-Fnaa. All sorts of musicians and other performers (snake charmers, contortionists, etc.), as well as street-food vendors, fill the square at night. Everyone is vying for the attention, and money, of tourists, and in fact the performers won’t even start performing until some coins are given. Note:Morocco is all about the tips, everyone is looking for some coins for something (directions, pictures, handing you toilet paper, performances, you name it!). So, we walked around watching, mostly from afar, and then were accosted by every food vendor we passed. Each of them trying to guess our nationality – Italian? Spanish? Mexican? – in an attempt to try to woo us towards them. Each basically saying and doing the same things to get our attention…except one boy who we will never forget. As we passed him, we were rejecting him before he even got words out of his mouth and then he said something that we couldn’t help but acknowledge and smile at, “2 years guarantee, no diarrhea.” The perfect come-on in the land where anything can happen, intestinally. Perfectly charming and hysterical. We didn’t buy anything from him, but we’ll be talking about him (and stealing his line) for years to come, I know.