Spaghetti

Ever since orientation, I have been hearing a lot about Hammams. Hammams are Moroccan public bath houses that become particularly popular in the winter when it is cold, but many Moroccans take advantage of them all year long. For these first few weeks in Morocco, two of the most popular questions to ask us Americans is if we have gone to the Hammam, and if not, if we will go to Hammam. Everyone follows up these questions with some sort of statement about spaghetti. It took me a while to realize what they were saying, but today I got to see it first hand.

This Saturday started out how every Saturday should start. I got up at around 7 (I know what everyone is thinking-Evie doesn't wake up at 7 when she doesn't have to, but actually, I don't think I've slept past 7 since I've been in Morocco), put on some cotton capris, a t-shirt, and running shoes and went for a jog around the new part of the city. I've been trying to run at least a couple of times a week, and I've found two parks that are near each other that are pretty laid back. There aren't as many stares or yells of "hello...hola...how are you?" Today I ran in the park and found a rode that led into a very nice neighborhood on top of the hill that had a great view of the medina across the valley. Gorgeous! I'll get pictures sometime, I promise. When I got back, I showered and had a lazy coffee morning, which made me miss my Houghton girls immensely!

I had a Hammam date with 3 other girls and Iman, our female director, at 10:30. The hammam was a simple building, nothing fancy at all. There was a small changing room where one removes all of their clothes except their underwear, grabs a big bucket, and takes their towel and soaps into the actual bathing rooms. The bathing room is kept warm, but not sauna hot. The bathing room had concrete walls and a stone floor. A red pipe and blue pipe ran around the room with spigots every few feet. We sat down on our mats, filled our buckets, and dumped warm water over ourselves-always warm in the beginning. Next, you make a mixture of a sort of natural soap that resembled grease and henna powder, and use this mixture to loosen the dirt on your body. Then you rinse this mixture off of yourself and wait for one of the scrubbing ladies.

The scrubbing ladies (I'm sure they have a real name, but "scrubbing ladies" will have to suffice for now) are old, overweight Moroccan ladies that use this sort of scrubbing glove (you bring your own glove, it isn't that communal-don't worry) to basically strip your body of all the dirt and dead skin cells. You lie on your mat with your head on their unshaven leg, and they scrub almost every inch of your body. I thought this part would be more awkward than it actually turned out to be. The ladies go about their job so mechanically, and they are so grandmotherly that I actually felt very comfortable and relaxed. And yes, I saw first hand what was meant by Hammam spaghetti.

When the ladies have finished with you, you wash up with your own soaps, and when you have pampered yourself enough, you return to the dressing room to return the bucket and pay the equivalent of $5 for everything, a small price to pay for that oh so clean feeling, and a truly Moroccan experience!