Flinn's Diary;

We had a lie in again this morning because we were all tired out from all that walking in the sun yesterday. When we woke up, we had breakfast with Jo and Sarah again. Imogen and I had crepes with jam and orange juice. We love our fresh moroccan orange juice. Then Joella gave me a yoghurt and made me some chocolat chaud - hot chocolate. Mmmm!! Then we ate lots of crusty, french bread. Mama said she was sick of bread, so she only had a coffee, but thats ok, cos mama really, really likes her coffee; the stronger and blacker the better she always says!

We stayed at the Riad for most of the morning, then went out to wander around, but it was even hotter today than it was yesterday!! We couldn't believe it. It was horrid because the minute you went outside, you got all sweaty and hot and bothered. Our clothes stuck to us. We kept trying to find shady places to walk under.

I was desperate for an ice-cream and bothered and bugged mama all day long for more and more ice-creams. I was really lucky too, because mama said something cold was about all she could face too, so Imogen and I had lots of ice-cream today. We discovered lots of nice flavours. We went to the nice patisserie for our ice-creams and also got some nice twisty pastry things covered in cinnamon and sugar for later. They were so good that they didn't last long though. We gobbled them all down. Yummy yummy in my tummy!

We chose some postcards to send to our friends and family today. I made friends with two boys at the postcard place and sat outside with them and played with them and their dad. Afterwards we went for an orange juice at our favourite OJ stand, then went to explore the souks on the other side of the square that we hadn't been to before.

We saw the fruit and vegetable souks and the spice souk, then we looked around the fish and meat souks. We saw what mama called the "cheap, tatty, tacky souk" and of course we saw lots of manky old donkeys and horsies again. We saw lots of children playing and women chattering. We also saw lots of men sat around drinking coffee and smoking. Lots of young men were sat in alleys playing cards and little old men were sleeping in doorways or in their carts.

In the big souk, a young man offered mama 12 camels for Imogen's hand in marriage. Imogen wasn't amused. She thought she was worth much more than 12 piddly camels. I wasn't amused either when mama said he could have my hand in marriage for 5 camels - anything for 5 minutes whinge free peace and quiet. In the end mama had to tell him to go away and leave us alone, as he followed us around like a puppy dog asking to marry Imogen. Mama wasn't so polite in the end afer having asked him to go away about a hundred times. She told him to b***** off. Thats a rude word.

We saw the tooth puller guy today, with his big pile of teeth and big pair of pliers and we saw magic men selling all sorts of things like horns, animal furs and skulls, dried up lizards and other animal parts that they grind up to make magic potions and spells with. Mama said to Imogen "I wonder if they have a magic potion or spell that will make Flinn quiet for a while?" Imogen said "Doubt it. Isn't that what a mallet over the head is for? You didn't nickname him 'jawbone' for no reason mam!"

Later on mama took us to the Hamam. It wasn't far from where we were staying. It was called 'Hamam El Basha' and cost 5 dirhams for me and 10 dirhams for Imogen. It was 70 dirhams for mama. Thats lots of morocco money I think!

It was different inside this Morocco hamam compared to the one mama took us to in Turkey. It was a huge, dark room. Mama said it was probably a good thing that we couldn't see all the cockroaches scuttling and scurrying around! Mama really doesn't like cockroaches. She says they have horrid googley eyes. They remind her of the june bugs in Canada too. I'll protect you though mama, cos I'm the bug boy and I like bugs and creepy crawlies!

We all sat down in the steamy hot room and hot water was poured all over us. Suddenly mama got hauled into the arms of a HUGE black lady and pushed across her lap. The lady started to scrub mama down. She rubbed and scrubbed everywhere. Mama said she got scrubbed to within an inch of her life and in EVERY nook and cranny - even some she didn't know existed!

Imogen was laughing really hard at poor mama cos she could hardly breath. The big ladies huge boobs were flopping across my mamas face. Mama said afterwards she didn't know where to look and didn't dare move! Then another lady grabbed her and started soaping her up - everywhere - with black olive soap. Then mama was massaged and pummelled to within an inch of her life, before being rinsed off by having a bucket of hot water chucked over her.

Imogen stopped laughing at mama pretty soon after that - when she got yanked into the arms .... and boobs, of the big boobied black lady. I can't wait for my scrub down. I like big boobs!!

Afterwards we walked home, feeling very, very clean. Mama said it was disgusting how much dead skin is scrubbed off you in the hamam. But it feels really good.

We relaxed for a while on the hotel rooftop, then went out to Djemma El Fna for our tea. Mama said she wasn't too hungry as she was still in shock over her unexpected boob job! She did have some of the Hunja tea though, that she has discovered and loves. It has lots of cinnamon, cloves and ginseng in. I like it too, but Imogen thinks it is too spicey. Imogen and I had harira soup again, then we went to look around the herbal therapy souk, where we saw loads of chameleons, turtles and squirrels. Imogen and I held the chameleons. They have very sharp claws on their toes. I put one down on a black bag and it turned black! We saw gecko's too - big ones.

Mama asked the man why he sold lots of chameleons and did people eat them? He told us that in Morocco, people buy them as good luck charms. Every household has at least one in the house, to protect the home and people against evil spirits. Chameleons are called 'alboua' in arabic.

On the way back to the hotel, we walked through the babouche kissaria. We found a stall where the man didn't hassle us and I finally found a pair of babouches that fit me. I didn't get orange ones though. Or pink beaded ones. I don't want to look like a girl. I saw red ones that I liked. The man said they are marrakeschi red and that it is the colour the marrakeschi berbers wear. Now I'm a berber man!

When we got back to the hotel, we sat on the rooftop and read our books and watched the stars.

Imogen says;

The highlight of our day, was going to the hamam. It was really cool but pretty gross too. We all had rolls of dead skin scrubbed off us. I'm not sure mam found the hamam the highlight of the day though - she was nearly suffocated by the huge woman with the humongous melons. As mam said " it brings a whole new meaning to the phrase 'I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts'!" That woman didn't just have a bunch of coconuts - a whole tree full was dangling free and easy in mams face!

It was SO funny. Mam doesn't get embarrassed or flustered about much, but she didn't know where to look or what to do - not that she could move to do anything anyway!! Then when big mama started digging and delving 'where the sun don't shine' and mam screeched 'hey, steady on there', I almost fell over in hysterics! Mam said if that wash experience wasn't incentive enough to go out and buy the biggest granny knickers she could find, nothing would be!!

When we got back to the hotel, Mam found a bit in one of her guidebooks that said Moroccan women roast chameleons and grind them up to put in their husbands food. Disgusting or what! Apparantly, it is supposed to stop the husbands going off with other women. I agree with mams comment "If I was a wife in this country, I'd be more concerned about my husband going off with another man!" It's true, they're all gay! All the men here, young ones specially, mooch around arms round each others.

We also found out that if Moroccans feel they've been struck by misfortune from a spiritual source, they throw a chameleon into a wood fired oven. If it explodes - the chameleon, not the fire (lol), the evil has been averted, but if it just melts down to a manky pile of goo, they are still in trouble. As mam said - either outcome is of no consolation whatsoever, to the poor chameleon that happenned to be in the wrong place at the wrong time!

Rachel (our mam) says;

"Sorry kids, no comment for the diary tonight. I'm still twitching at the thought of the soaping up and boob bashing I got at the hamam. I think I'm going to be emotionally scarred for life."