48mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec, ISO 200
This photograph was taken during our free day back in Marrakech after the completion of the 2010 FOCUS Bike4Like Challenge. The area this shot was taken in is called Djemaa el Fna (transliterations vary from source to source) and is the largest open air market in Africa. There was anything and everything in the area from snake charmers (not very good) to orange juicers (very good) to appliance salesmen and trinket traders.
Also, it seemed like a popular tourist destination, though many of the tourists seemed to be more into their maps and to do lists than the sights, sounds, and especially the smells of the bazaar, which is really quite unfortunate. To quote Juan Goytisolo in a speech dedicating Djemaa el Fna as the first UNESCO Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity proclamation, “The spectacle of Jamaa el Fna is repeated daily and each day it is different. Everything changes – voices, sounds, gestures, the public which sees, listens, smells, tastes, touches.”
Oh what the map-readers and the to-do-ers must miss.