Marrakech Mayhem Day 1

Our Marrakech trip was AMAZING! I think I will have to break up my posts by days since we saw so much and had some bad but mostly good experiences.
At the moment I'm sitting outside on our balcony waiting for my hair to dry. I learned today going out with wet hair is frowned upon for women. Maybe that can be part of my Women's Empowerment volunteering. Making wet hair acceptable. lol
So our first day in Marrakech started off with a 7:45am train ride from Rabat. We arrived in Marrakech at noon. Found a cabbie who was able to take all 6 of us, but unfortunately he failed to mention that he only had a small sedan. Thankfully Nicki is small and didn't mind sitting on the armrest between the drivers and passengers seats. So our adventure began with 7 people in the car.
We arrived at our riad called Mama Marrakech. The riad might get a bit more business if they had a sign but we managed to find it. At this point nothing in Africa really surprises us! After we checked in we ventured to the famous Marrakech square complete with snake charmers, henna artists, fortune tellers, monkeys and acrobats. Surrounding the entertainment were stalls selling 50 cent freshly squeezed orange juice, spices and fruits. The best way to describe it is the sensory overload you feel when you stand in New York's Times Square.
Well we quickly learned you couldn't make too much eye contact with the vendors or you would get a snake around your neck or a monkey on your shoulder. Of course none of these curiosities were free, weather you wanted the experience or not, the vendor always asked for money afterwards. Our friend Santiago stood still too long and got not one but two monkeys on his head and shoulder. I'll have to upload the picture once I get back to my computer! Each handler asked for the equivalent of $20 dollars. Thankfully he was able to talk them down and pay only 10. This is one thing that got VERY old in Marrakech. Everyone has a scheme to lighten your wallet.
After an intense day of wandering the medina and taking in the action we found a rare restaurant that served alcohol so we ended the night with happy hour and were in bed at a reasonable hour to get up for our 7am trip to the Sahara Desert and camel ride.