Black Market Beers

Took a 3.5 hour bus yesterday from Marrakech to the coastal town of Essaouira and spent the night here. Essaouira is much quieter than Marrakech and a little less hectic for a first-time visitor. Like Marrakech, however, Essaouira also goes dry shortly after evening prayer. With seemingly no option for booze as our last night in Morocco approached, we received a lifeline when a helpful man on the street directed us to a man named Raheem and Essaouira's black market for beer.

For a very reasonable 15 Dirhams a bottle (half the price of a beer at one of the many restaurants or hotels in town, often the only places to buy alcohol after dark), we negotiated to buy 20 bottles of Special Flag from Raheem, who disappeared down an alley and returned carrying a large black plastic bag filled to the brim with beers. Raheem got what he wanted, we got what we wanted, and after giving a little baksheesh to the runner who opened the door of the black market to us, we headed back victorious to our terrace apartment in Riad Jemalhi Mogador.

Leaving this morning on a 7:45 bus to Casablanca to catch a 4:20 p.m. flight to Lisbon to have the euros sucked out of us for a couple nights before hopping down to South America. Stay tuned...