11- Sunday

David had read that there was a huge flea market in the opposite direction of the souks so we decided to check it out. There were acres and acres of local people selling to local people. ( hardly saw any tourists) We wandered through the vendors, but I was also looking at the people. It was very tiring for me as I had to follow David, keep my eye on the uneven ground ( many of you know my history 🙄), look at the displays ( thankfully many of them on a blanket on the ground, where my eyes were looking), and dodge the crowds. I don't think you could name a thing we didn't see including clothes, furniture, carpets, electronics, batteries, bathroom fixtures, appliances, car parts, etc. All while listening the loudspeakers blaring out 'sermons' ,we think. I made a recording to capture the sound, but don't know how to share video here. We enjoyed a delicious glass of fresh squeezed lemon, ginger and sugar cane.

I mentioned I'd been studying the people so I made my choice to buy a djellaba, which is like their coat. I saw a vendor with a pile on his blanket and stopped to examine them. I found one I liked and asked how much. I had figured 200 dirham was about $30. Cdn. Of course, you must barter so when he said 200, I countered with 150 (through my French interpreter, David). He came back with 180, and I repeated 150. We shook👐. David had taken his backpack so, thankfully I didn't have to carry stuff. He had read not to take pictures, so we have none of that adventure. Then, we headed the other way back to the souks to buy what we'd planned.

We passed a carver working on a piece of wood and stopped to watch. He demonstrated, and had good English, so he said I could video. While he was working he had given David a magic box to open, and if he did he could have it for a gift. When he was done whittling the piece he gave it to me, and explained what it was, but I had turned off the camera. He showed us the secrets of the boxes, which I will not reveal.

He uses a cord wrapped around the piece of wood, which he pulls back and forth to spin, while he guides the chisel with his toes.

Notice the ring is totally separated so it can spin, and he bored a hole so I could wear it on a string. It's to represent a minaret and the ring is for luck.

We learned so many things from the various craft people, for which they hope you'll pay, and I wish I could have, but I had to remain firm.

David bought some of the powders they use for dyes to give Joanna for painting. I bought a beautiful teal green hack of wool, not sure what for, but I seemed to want it even more than my usual fabric purchase in a foreign country. I did admire some wool flannel when I was debating about making my own djellaba, and learned it was about $15. meter (150 cm wide)-good price, but no space. My djellaba was a better buy and has authentic trim which I could not have done.

I did also get a very crudely crafted thimble, which I love, rather than commercially produced one.

And a camel magnet to commemorate the journey.

We were looking for shwarma and passed right by the restaurant we'd first seen, but found another. We got chicken shwarma and fries, but it looked more like a French taco. When I saw the meat on a spit, I was thinking it would be like a donair.

We headed back to our room as we were fairly tired and needed to drop off all our purchases. David, of course, got some spices for his cooking, and he'd been admiring the pomegranate everywhere at the juice stands, so he asked if he could buy one. It was 20 dirham, and huge.

In the evening, he was hungry again so we headed out to see the local street meat vendors. At each place he inquired, but they had no lamb, and he REALLY wanted lamb, so we walked and walked. Eventually we came to, what looked like another flea market, but all fruits and vegetables. We found an eatery AND they had the sought after lamb. He was delighted. I wasn't very hungry so had a piece of chicken. He finished off with a huge orange for when we got back to the room. He also managed to get a good picture of the common mode of delivery we had been seeing.

Next morning was to be an early flight. We could check in online but we still had to go to the desk and get a boarding pass as we needed to get it stamped as well as our passport.

Our arranged driver was on time and whisked us through the city, sometimes 100 kph. We got through all the necessary check points and I really thought I should have a coffee to toast the journey. I cropped it because I looked rather pathetic that morning.