After a comfortable and restful night, Linda and I got up at about 8:00 and went down to the restaurant for a yummy breakfast of toast, jam and coffee then went back up to our room where we spent a couple of hours sorting out our souvenirs and re-packing our packs.
About 11:30 we walked over to the market to begin our exploration of its dim and mysterious reaches. We entered one of the passageways and the hassling began. “Come and see my shop”, “cheap price” and all the other lines we have come to know in the markets of Africa. We went into a shop selling wood and brass items and bought a cedar-root domino set for 150 Dirhams (£12) then, later on, after a trip to a bank to change more money Linda bought her sought-after leather backpack for $US32. I also bought a belt for 20 Dirhams.
Deeper and deeper we wandered into the maze of narrow passageways past shops selling brass, leather, woood, jewellery, spices, fruit musical instruments and general goods. We found the section where craftsmen were making the goods we had seen for sale: blacksmiths, wood-workers, a guitar-maker, leather-workers and tin-smiths.
After a few hours, of constant hassling from vendors we were sick of the market and found a way out onto a back street which led to a roof-top cafe where we had a hot chocolate and a pastry.
We had dinner that night with Scotty, Mike, Rob, Pete and bloke called Sale who is another Kumuka driver, and whom we are taking back to London with us, at a small cafe.
CurseOfTheTraveller 