1.07.18
Two sad faces woke up this morning as today is our last full day in Morocco and half of it was sitting on a train from Fes to Casa…
But before the sadness could begin we had to pack up our junk and head to the hammam for our last lot of pampering before we head off (home for S and the UK for me). The private hammam was a much more relaxing affair (no noise) just me and the sound of running water. My only issue with the private one was that I think my hammam lady forgot about me after she applied the black mud! It’s hard to tell time inside a steamy room but I know my hammam took a total of 75mins (should have taken 45) so she definitely let me relax a lot longer than normal. She took so long that I ended up giving up and started rinsing myself off! She must have heard the splashing though because I wasn’t rinsing for too long before she came hurrying in to finish me off!
I again had Bushara as my masseuse and today she told me more about her life. Sounds like she’s had a tough year or so, so much so that I felt really sorry for her (her husband had died, she has a 7 month old daughter + her father just left her mother so the only income for the family is what she and her sister earn!) and emptied my wallet! Its stories like these that make me realise how lucky I actually am! Don’t have to worry about how I’m going to feed, clothe or house myself.. my biggest worry is whether I’m going to be able to get a first class ticket on the train! Put’s everything in perspective..
Anyway, after another awesome pamper session (albeit a bit of a sad story to go with it) S and I left the hammam to do some souvenir shopping before we had to go and catch the train for Casa. BTW, S reported that he was the sole user of the public hammam so he ended up getting that huge gorgeously tiled and marbled space all to himself, as well as a super thorough cleanse (as the dude had nothing else to do)…lucky duck!
Souvenir shopping was uneventful with the exception of our carpet bag shopping. During the trip we’ve accumulated quite a bit of junk (two carpets, two bedspreads, a leather jacket, one piece of tack + souvenirs for family and friends) and poor old S agreed to lug it all home for us.. So rather than the poor guy trying to carry it all in cotton bags we decided to go and haggle for a cheap and cheerful wheelie bag to get the junk home. Very reminiscent of my trip to the Middle East last time where I too, had to buy a carpet bag to get all the accumulated junk to AU!
We rocked up at the first shop we came across that had wheeled rucksack style bags. Our intrepid shop keeper (who would have been fourteen if he was lucky) told us that his cheap and cheerful wheelie bags were 750MAD ($75)… I laughed out loud at him and told him it wasn’t even worth 200MAD and started to walk out fo the shop. Of course he chased me down and told me 600 MAD… again I laughed at him and said no way so he came back with 500 MAD.. told him last offer was 250 MAD and that I was paying too much! After much discussion with his older brother he agreed to the lowly price of $25 and we walked away with a wheelie bag to get the junk home. Seriously, $75 for the cheapest shittiest wheelie bag… tell him he’s dreamin’!
By then it was time to head back to our digs to pick up our bags and get ourselves to the Gare de Fes. We again caught one of the little petite taxis (3E spend) and hopped on our train to Casablanca. Train was pretty busy with every compartment pretty much full, including ours, so no chance to stretch out and have a nap. Fortunately the trip to Casa is only four hours so before we knew it we were hopping off at Casa Voyagers and into our hotel Al Wallid (we stayed here before we left). We both did a pass on dinner (we ate plenty of junk on the train) and did our final pack up and then turned in for the evening… Tomorrow its time to say goodbye to Morocco and hello to London!