We met up with the Zachariah (not Zachary) and Abdullah (not Abdul) and had tea at a cafe. Zachariah had to do something with his sister so he was going to meet up with us later. Abdullah who doesn't speak any English was going to walk with us to the Royal Palace. After taking some pictures we headed towards his house. I'm glad I wore my hat because it was a loooong walk. I am starting to get really dark and I haven't even reached the Sahara yet. Liz can converse with Abdul a little bit because both of them speak spanish. Well, apparently Abdul doesn't make any sense when he talks so she says it is almost like they aren't talking at all. He keeps trying to talk to me in Spanish and I politely agree with what he says.

The long walk lead us to his house. I am really happy we got to see suburban Marrakesh away from the tourism. We were in a normal neighborhood with corner stores and schools. We went through a pretty run down area and then on to another section a bit nicer where Abdullah lives. He took us inside and we were greated by his several sisters. Honestly don't know how many there were. After the customary kissing on the cheek and bonjour, we sat down in the living room and listened to some Spanish and Berber music. There was no A/C so it was very hot and there were lots of flies. His laid on the couch trying to catch a lunchtime nap before heading back to school. Abdullah said that his sisters were cookng us dinner.

After a few minutes they began bringing dishes out with bread on a round table. The bread was placed on the table itself and there were no plates. Then 2 small salad plates with tomato and other vegetables. In the center was a pot with chicken and other stuff that I wasn't able to figure out. Abdullah joked with his sisters about how I was looking to marry a Morrocan girl. He said something about 2 camels or atleast that is what I thought he said so I said no "tois" and held up 3 fingers. Well I guess he meant 200 so I brought it down to 3 and insulted them. Well, not really. It was all in good fun.

In Morocco when eating there is usually no utensils and everyone eats out of the same pot with their right hand. I kept my left hand on my lap but was very tempting to use it since I am left handed. The food was delicious and when dinner was complete we headed off to meet Zachariah at his house.

Just a few short blocks away we were there. His house was much bigger and had A/C. Zachariah is a spice seller apparently so I guess he makes some money. He lives with just his sister. Zachariah is extremely nice and speaks English very well. He made us a cup of mint tea and we all chatted for a bit. He loves reggae music and wanted me and Liz to help him figure out some English words on the lyrics of some of the songs he has. We had to explain to him that Jamaican english is very different and a lot of it is slang words that even english speakers are not aware of. I told him to use the urban dictionary to figure it out.

Zach was busy showing Liz how to write stuff in Arabic so me and Abdul went outside. I can't believe I ended up alone with this guy who doesn't even speak English and for some reason I feel like we are talking. He wanted to try to hook me up with Morrocan girls but I told him they were all to young because a school just got out. It was actually very uncomfortable for a bit because he was introducing me to all these people that didnt' speak English and neither did he so I pretty much had to just say "a huh" or "i don't know" over and over.

I showed my displeasure and motioned to go back up to Zach's house so we did. Zach gave me a Arabic/English music CD that he was playing that I really enjoyed.

Today was a very interesting day. I'm glad to be back at the hotel and in the medina but it was very nice to get away from this part and experience family life and just normal everyday activities.

I decided to wait until Thursday to do the mountain and Sahara trip. I will most likely be going solo as I would like to get some time on my own with no offense to Liz because I have had a blast hanging out with her the last few days. I just really need some alone time on this trip now.

It will be very nice to get out of the big city and i'm looking forward to the small villages and sights we will see along the way.