The Elephant Cloud

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Into the dark of last night, our bus pulled into Essaouira, a fishermens port. Gypsies throng at the bus vying attention for money, food, cheap places to stay while the street kids press at your side…
We are quite used to this now, and like many bus stations, the less fortunate prey on the newly arrived, the disoriented, the confused…

Grounding both feet,  looking confident this is NOT our first time in town, we have places to be and ‘know’ where they are, having nothing in our pockets worth loosing- learning the tricks of the trade…

Jay grabs our packs from under the bus, I use my growing vocabulary of Arabic “La La, Shukran” (no, no thank you!) by now, they are bored and begin to taunt others; a short taxi drive to the medina gates.

The Medina- this word should elicit a stone wall fortress, centuries old, complete with ramparts,  battlements, rusting cannons, usually only 2-3 entrances and no cars allowed- living inside are thousands of people, bikes and hand pulled carts… twice as many abandoned, ailing cats.

Inside is a labyrinth, layers deep of winding alleyways, narrow streets; there is no grid system, rarely a street sign.. one learns to memorize minute details for orientation, not for the weak of heart… of course if you find yourself lost, you can pay the children 1 dirham to lead you to an entry gate, your riad or some point of interest…

As I type, the Muezzin is calling the time for prayer, men on the streets preform their absolution, using bottled water to wash their face, noses, ears hands and feet, then with a mat spread out, they bow down to prey… It is quite sacred to watch.

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