Marrakesh Awakens part one
مراكش يوقظ
الجزء الأول
The labyrinthine streets of the sleepy souks lay dormant, as the rising sun paints long lush strokes of gold across their saffron walls.
These walls are beautifully ornate and rich in textures—tiled, smooth, earthy. And crumbling. Eroding by the constant scraping of moped handlebars—revealing the intricate rammed-earth brickwork beneath.
In the tranquillity of early dawn—broken only by Koranic readings on an old radio behind some distant corner—sparrows leap down onto the streets, foraging for food.
A wicker stool stands idle by a lonely banged-up tin teapot, boiling over a gas canister flame.
Tucked away in the shadowy corners of murky alleyways, veiled women sit in small obscure bundles. Their open hands with wrinkled fingers emerge from the deep dark to catch the soft morning sun—and hopefully some dirhams. The eyeholes in their veils reveal pupils burning with intent, surrounded by the deep groves of worry and old age.
Shopkeepers begin their daily routines. Opening their stalls and—right hand over heart—greeting one another. “Salam Aleikum.” “La bes?” “Bekheir.” “Alhamdullillah.” Lots of smiles, some of them rotten. Using water bottles modified to squirt three or four streams of water through holes poked in the cap, they start watering down the alleyways.
Men in wrinkled business suits walk by intently, clutching half-finished tea glasses.
Elderly women sell individual cigarettes—straight out of the carton—to awakening construction workers in plastered jeans and sneakers—dented hardhats at the ready. The cigarette venders rattle their well-earned coins inside the palm of their hands, announcing their commercial intent rhythmically, even almost musically.
Men walk by hastily, wearing cotton djellabas that reflect the sun with tenacious intensity. With each step the loose fabric reflects the sunlight differently—the hard light emphasizing the fine decorative Moroccan-style embroidering, the minute stitching, and the weave-patters of the smooth cotton.
Merchandise is being dragged out and put on display.