Essaouira

Pronounced 'esa-wara' it is a city that sits on the Atlantic, about seven hours south of Casablanca. According to the Lonely Planet, my trusty guide book, "it is one of the few places that have not been dominated by tourism, and still maintains its economy from fishing." Ha! It is a beautiful city with a great climate similar to that of San Diego, but every other person I pass by within the medina is traveling...mainly from France.

With that comes the haggling from the little shopkeepers, "Bon jour miss." Most of the time I walk on as if Mandarin is my first language. There are genuine people in the mix of course. For example, the lady at the desk in my small hotel. She has gone out of her way to make my stay at Lalla Mira enjoyable. It's great, they have a little rooftop terrace where you can sip the national drink, mint tea. Plus, it is located within the walls of the medina, therefore affords a fantastic view of the hustle and bustle a few floors down.

Have experienced two hammams already, and it's only been four nights! My hotel here has its own, included into the daily rate of 60 dollars. A bit more pricey than Bali, but I have been saving and planning for some time now and, "I deserve it." The hammam I went to in Casablanca was the best, I was the only tourist there and felt it was a true Moroccan tradition.

Women in Morocco are gorgeous! Their skin in particular is blemish free and radiant. This is largely due to the hammam treatment they receive 2 plus times a month. I will attempt to describe this beauty-bonding treatment.

You enter what looks like the front desk of a spa to receive a jelliba sp?, or robe and a key to a locker for you to put your clothing. You then undress to your choneys and walk into the steam room where there are several other women. The attendant then gives you a bowl of brown gunk. The ladies in the sauna were more than willing to help explain to me what to do.

So next, you spread the goo all over your body (it's best to avoid the eyes) and sit for 10 minutes to allow it to do its job of cleansing and softening. Later the attendant returns and gives you a bucket of hot water to rinse with. After the cleansing, you enter another room and lie down on a marble table for the scrub. The lady who loofahed me was in awe at how much skin I shed. She'd scrub for a couple of minutes and stop and show me and the others then laugh....reminded me of getting a pedicure.

Finally, you take a cool refreshing shower and leave feeling new.