An Evening at the Hamman

After our volunteer shift our host mother took us to our very first Hamman experience. Hamman is Arabic for steam bath. It's a very old tradition which dates back to the Roman rule in Morocco. The hamman bathing areas were divided into three separate parts: a dressing room, a warm room and a hot room, each interconnected via open arcs shaped entrances. We started off in the hot room dousing ourselves in buckets of water and conditioning our skin with a green substance. After rinsing it off we were guided to the second room where an attendant exfoliated our skin. Asking us to flip to our side, back, stomach so we could be scrubbed like a piece of meat. It wasn't unenjoyable but today I can appreciate the vigorous scrubbing because my skin is so soft. I guess I didn't need that extra layer after all! lol After the scrub, hair is washed and everyone just sat around relaxing in the steam occasionally warming up even more with buckets of hot water. The whole experience lasted about 2 hours. Needless to say I got the best night's sleep in Morocco. The first time I woke up in the night was for the city wide call to prayer at 5:30am. Next thing I knew it was 8:45am. Finally feeling like I've kicked the 5 hour jet lag!
MaryAnne and I have another unique experience to look forward to today. We are making couscous with our host mother this morning!