Trappings of the modern world.
Fish counter.
A typical new city area.
Rental bikes.
Wim and the rebuilt city wall.
And trappings of the old world.
The square being transformed into the eating stalls.
Snake charmers milling around.
The stalls filling up.
Raptor anyone?
Fishing for a bottle.
Wednesday,
September 27th.
The
tour ends today and most people are leaving today. Jonathan and
Joanne are staying for another night but in a more upscale hotel;
Andrew is off to Madrid for a day to or before flying back to
Melbourne; Trish, Theresa and Kate are taking an overnight train to
Casablanca and then continuing their holidays in Spain for a few
weeks; Elisa is flying home to Vancouver via Amsterdam; Tara is also
off to Amsterdam for a few days before ending her holidays in
Ireland. That leaves Wim and I who have both booked an extra night
here in the Caspien Hotel, which means we get our own rooms tonight.
We said our goodbyes to Rachid last night and he is off to start
another tour this evening.
Today
I spent the morning on the computer updating things. I talked to
Denise for a little bit and we crossed a few t's and dotted a few i's
so that everything is organized for the next couple of months in
southern Africa. I also talked to John briefly who called on Skype,
but the connection was pretty weak. Hung around the lobby talking to
people as they were organizing to leave.
At
noon I went for a walk to the main street in this the new part of
town. I found a new shopping mall not unlike anything you would find
in North America, complete with air-conditioning and brand name
shops. I explored a big modern grocery store that had all the usual
stuff plus a big smelly fish counter with a variety of truly large
whole fish. I bought some yogurt, bananas and apples for the next
couple of days. Then I returned to the hotel.
At
four, Wim and I walked the half hour to the mosque, the minaret and
the square. We wandered around through the souks again as he was
looking for a souvenir baseball cap. Then we went up to the terrace
of the Argana Glacier Restaurant and had a drink while soaking up the
sights and sounds of the square. This was the site of the bombing on
April 28, 2011, at the height of the Arab Spring, that killed 17
people, mostly tourists, by a bomb left in a bag which destroyed the
restaurant. It has been completely rebuild and restored with modern
washrooms and even a metal detector at the door, which everyone walks
around.
After
that we walked around the square watching the goings on and observing
things. Two new wrinkles today: an old man with a raptor chained to a
wire mesh cage with pigeons inside, who charged people for photos of
it on their shoulder and a guy who had about twenty people using
poles with a little circle attached to a string who were trying to
lasso an upright pop bottle. I couldn't work out what the prize or
the point of it was. It made me think how long it would be before
they got more games of chance here, and maybe amusement rides?
We
also watched the transformation of the big empty area of the square
as it was converted by dozens of men into the myriad of small eating
barbeques that we saw the other night. As the evening wore on and
they had been set up we watching as they tried to encourage people to
eat at their stall and if they were successful then the people who
worked there would clap and shout their approval and welcome of the
new diners.
When
we finally tired of this we walked back to the hotel. We sat at the
bar, had a couple of drinks and watched a soccer match while I had a
penne and chicken dinner. I fell to talking to a large Dutchman and
his wife who were from Alkmaar, a town I visited in 1979. Wim was
feeling poorly and we headed off to our separate rooms by about 10.
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