154. Charmed, I'm sure

Jemaa El Fna - Marrakech Market 

The offending part

Handed over the keys and walked away

Another round of online maths for kids before departure made us a little later departing than planned but being the new year we do need a little focus.

Set the GPS for the Mosque in the middle of Marrakech as that strategy has served us well to date. Kept driving past many parking touts waving us into parks. One of them was good enough to point out we had just entered a one way street requiring us to back up twenty metres. Everyone outside the car was very good natured about it (thanks Apple Maps for that blunder).

Moroccan water snake

Observed a parking sign two hundred metres outside the centre square and headed into it to find cars stacked in six deep. Smiling attends happily waved us out and as we departed, they buried the Disco within, only upturned Teasel marking the Disco's location.

Cobra

Found us in cellphone ally so I headed into a random stall and asked if they could attend to the dodgy charger socket on my iPhone. The attendant opened a cupboard at the back onto a little workshop with a tech ensconced within and they replaced the offending socket in about ten minutes for one hundred and fifty dirham which was very fair.

Our Eyewitness Guide had warned us that the vendors in the market would be pushy but it was beyond anything I had ever experienced.  Incredibly friendly and right in your face it was pretty overwhelming. Phones, watches, henna painting, jewellery, pottery, toys, food, juices, it was a constant bombardment. I never felt intimidated our threatened but it certainly was overwhelming.

The children had their eyes peeled for snakes and monkeys and I now know how snake charmers work. It ain't the snakes they charm. Before I knew it I was under their spell, snake draped around my neck. Over time all the children plucked up the courage to handle the snakes though by the time the boys were relaxed enough to handle the snakes I think Audrey was considering the joy of having  snake as a pet. During all this I was gently persuaded to hand over more cash than I would have thought possible for such entertainment but on reflection I do not begrudge them at all. It was great fun and a real experience.

Viper

Back at camp,
his one looks OK
for cooking our dinner

Whenever someone got too close to the vipers they reared up in an alarming fashion. The cobra sat erect at all times and the men were very vigilant that we did not get close to it. If they waved their hand at it it would sway forward in an alarming fashion. Online I see that a Jamaa el Fna charmer died after being bitten by his snake four years ago.

Audrey was observed to have a monkey on her shoulder which was more that one parent could stand, as we have read that their bites are very infectious.