We arrived in Essaouira on the coast of Morocco after dark and after enduring a long bus ride. Both the Gherkin and I felt a bit sick. I had a dodgy belly and was tired. But I was well enough to laugh when The Gherkin was called a girl by one of the many touts who met the bus. Well he does have quite a girlish figure and long hair!
Things were looking up when we found the hostel, its bathroom and it’s free wifi. I was lying on my bed online and feeling better. That’s when I noticed a bug, and another and another. They were bedbugs and they were swarming! When I had lain down on the bed it had been clean and clear, no sign of anything untoward. Then suddenly there were masses of the creepy little insects all crawling around and biting.
The teeming terrors were everywhere. I woke the Gherkin up from his pestfulled slumber telling him we had to move.
We got a new room up at the top of the hostel. I spotted 2 bugs that I guess had stowed away on my bag to our new destination (be a bedbug, see the world!) and dispatched them to vermin hell with a quick stomping. It left a smear of blood on the floor and the Gherkin called me a bad vegan but I am sure it was my blood dammit!
The new room was up 3 sets of steep spiral stairs. But we had a kitchen just outside our room which was handy. My favourite meal was to get a fresh still warm baguette and fill it with sliced avocado. So delicious!
Mostly I liked to hang out at the hostel and wander around the old city. We did go to the beach one day but it was very windy. The Gherkin and 
Devil Duckie splashed around in the water (the Gherkin made sure my duckie didn’t make any seaward escape attempts) but I just got my feet wet.
We walked around to the fort area. I liked the green rocks and blue boats. Such a picturesque
place! But I warn those with a fear of birds that 
they were swarming almost as much as the bedbugs.
Back at the hostel there was no reappearance of any bedbugs. This was good, plus the hostel had some amusing signs. I took a photo of one that said not to sing Michael Jackson 
songs after midnight and the Gherkin took one warning not to do 
the rumba in your bikini!
A noteworthy event was that I finally got my laundry done. After so long washing it a bit at a time in hotel sinks it was lovely to have everything done at once, so nice and fresh and clean. I was a bit worried when my stuff was hung out to dry on the rooftop 
terrace area and the wind blew it down to outside my room. But I appear to have gotten everything back unharmed by any adventures they may have had.
The other significant incident in Essaouira was that The Gherkin and I had a fight at a restaurant. It was a silly little silent fight. I was unhappy that he was smoking and the stinky smoke was blowing over me. Then he told me that I could ask for the bill anytime I wanted to. This just annoyed me even more. I was pissy because he has 10 years of French classes and I have no years. So all I could think was that he can ask easier than I can, so why make me do it? So we sat there waiting to see who would give in first.
This came to a conclusion with him throwing down some money and saying he would meet me at the hostel. So I paid the bill and kept his change.
