Hammam

One of the rituals in Morocco is the Hammam, a spa-like treatment that everyone does here.  Madani says he goes twice a week.  Every riad (guesthouse) and every neighborhood has one, and without knowing too many details we decided to give it a try.

We chose the hammam in our riad. They had a menu of treatments, and also a massage option.  We had heard there was a steam bath as part of this, and some treatments with "savon noir" (black soap). Sue and Laurel went first, followed by Bryce and me. The room was a tiny igloo-like structure, with a faucet and basin on the floor, heated tile below you, and a slightly steamy atmosphere. 

The inside of our hammam

Bryce and I waited outside as Laurel and Sue underwent their treatment, and all we heard was "it's not quite what I expected" from them when they returned.

The boys went in next.  Our therapist was Sophia, an attractive Arab woman in her twenties.  First, she washed us with a special soap, and then took a scrubbing pad filled with herbs and scrubbed almost every inch of our bodies (even behind the ears) until our skin was bright red.  Finally, she applied a mud to both of us and let it sit for 10 minutes or so, gave each of us a shampoo, and then did a final rinse.  After that, I got an awesome 30 minute massage.

The scrubbing was quite an unusual sensation, and it left my body tingling for a few hours afterwards.  You could see the dead skin collected from the scrub-down, but it felt really good.  At some parts of the process, we were to lay down on a mat on the hot floor, and it was just hot enough to the point of being unbearable for us sensitive westerners. Everyone was tired at diner that night, primarily because of the novel stimulation we had all experienced. But we all felt great. My only regret is that we didn't do this sooner.

Update:  I asked Madani about having a woman treat male customers, since this seemed to be an exception to the men/women separation in Arab culture.  Madani explained that the tourist industry has brought about a loosening of the rules, although in the traditional Hammams, men always treat men and women treat women.