After spending one more night in Marrakech, I left early the next morning, walked to the Supratours bus station (way out past the train station), and caught a bus to Essaouira - a coastal town highly recommended to me by a Moroccan friend/colleague I used to work with. On the bus ride, we got stopped at a checkpoint and our bus driver almost got arrested. There was a loud in-your-face argument, followed by several male passengers getting off the bus in order to try and restrain the bus driver. They pretty much started arresting the bus driver, but somehow, in the end things worked themselves out; the driver got back on the bus and we were on our way again.
It felt good to be back near the ocean and Essaouria was definitely a town with a relaxing, welcoming vibe; however, even there I was unable to go for walks without random guys latching on to me. I did meet one particularly nice young guy interested solely in practicing his English. We talked for a while by the sea wall, and I recall that he was very curious about how gays were perceived and treated in the U.S. Kinda strange subject for conversation with someone you've just met, but I guess you'll never know unless you ask questions, so it's all good.
In addition to wandering around town, walking on the beach, relaxing on the rooftop terrace of the
hostel, and meeting some genuinely lovely people through the hostel, I went to a great
hammam that was like half the price of places in Marrakech. I don't know if it was because I was there during low season or what, but I guarantee I would've gone almost daily during my time in Essaouira if I'd known how affordable it was. (It was also so warm/steamy that it really helped me start getting over my new cold. I'd gotten over the first cold from Marrakech; however, I picked up another one in Essaouira. I blame in on the fact that I live in San Diego; everywhere on my trip was much colder than anticipated.) Since I got there not terribly long before closing / transiting into the males-only hours, I got the basic hammam and the
grommage (which, after you've bathed yourself, basically involves the hammam lady doing some super exfoliation to remove
all the dead skin from your entire body and then rinsing you off and washing your hair). I've seriously never felt so clean; it was wonderful.
On my last morning, I caught a super-early bus back to Marrakech and then shared a cab to the airport with an English gal I'd met in Essaouira. Eventually, I boarded the plane bound to Madrid...and wound up in Madrid during some "Times Square on New Year's Eve" type holiday. Everyone was out and about on the streets of the old city at all hours - and it was definitely a shock to see young Spanish couples making out on the subway after spending the last couple weeks in a Muslim country with decidedly different cultural norms. It was basically a stolen night in Madrid, full of huge crowds and tapas and beer. I got up before sunrise the next morning to take an hour-long walk through the city. There wasn't enough light to take pictures, but I did get a chance to see how beautiful Madrid is (since I'd never really thought about it before); I think I'd definitely like to return someday and see the city for real.
I drastically miscalculated how long it'd take me to get back to the airport on the metro...and then check in for an international flight, get through security, go down three escalators to take the train to the other terminal, go up three escalators, go through customs, and then finally find the gate. I seriously almost missed my flight to Chicago; I think there were 5min from when I boarded (as the second-to-last passenger) until "wheels up". I must've looked like a bad movie running through the airport...but at least I made it...
