Friday, May 14, 2010

Place Jemaa el fna

In the daytime, place Jemaa el fna is just an empty lot. In the old days this was the place of execution but today it has become something totally different. The activity starts in the later afternoon when the local vendors start descending on this place with their gas cannisters or charcoal braziers and their food to set up little food stalls. The blue men would be dancing and singing and doing their acrobatic acts. The snake charmers, the monkey acts, the henna painters and the belly dancers would all amass in this place to ply their trade. More and more tourists would start congregating and before you know it, the place is totally transformed. Donkeys would haul things in and out of the square and the horse carts would provide rides to tourists and men, beasts and motorcycles all share the square. It is a fantastic sight  behold. As one wend in and out, one would be accosted by food vendors asking for you to sit and eat at their stall. Be careful not to take pictures of any of the acts or you'll find someone in your face demanding money. The water seller posed for us because we paid them. I took pictures of the snake charmers and before I knew it, they had someone in my face demanding 10 dirhams. I took pictures of the blue dancers from afar so they wouldn't know. I didn't pay them, by that time I knew the trick. We came every night for 3 nights, we never got bored, it was fun everytime. Our riad was just 5 minutes walk away.

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