Fantasia.

Mum and dad had both heard about a horse show called Fantasia which had been recommended by a friend, and they knew how much I loved horses so as a treat, they booked 4 tickets to go to Fantasia.
www.ilove-marrakesh.com/chezali

At 8pm we walked next door to a tour company, that had organised a mini bus to pick us up. It was about a half an hour trip to Chez Ali, where the show was held, and the mini bus was packed with other people from around the world.

When we pulled up at Chez Ali, there was a row of smart Arabian horses in 2 neat lines in front of the main entrance, allowing us to walk through. The Arabian horses were very large and had thick, thick necks. The men on the horses let us hold their guns whilst we took our pictures with them. The horses were all different colours and were all beautifully groomed and decorated. I wished I could ride on them. We then walked through the horse gate and were seated for dinner.

We sat in a lovely, big blue tent with some other tourists. Musicians and dance groups would come around performing and would try and get you up to join in. They weren’t that enthusiastic because they have to do it twice every week and you could see it on their faces. Then after they had performed, dinner came.

Entrée was a bowl of vegetable soup which I devoured. For main there was half a lamb spread across the table. I did NOT touch that!!! Then there was another main, it was another massive serving of couscous, vegetables and chicken. I ate some of this and for dessert there was an excellent selection of fruits and biscuits. I think with so much food, you could have fed double the amount of people. It was then time to watch the show.

We were the ONLY people prepared for rain and in this instance, the only people who didn’t get wet. We had each a rain coat, a towel to sit on and blankets.

The show started off with a line of horses galloping down the arena as fast as they could and then all of a sudden the men on the horses swung their guns around and fired them into the air at the same time to make it sound like one very loud bang. It made me jump and mum screamed. They did this lots more times during the show. Then one by one the horses all galloped at full speed in a circle with their masters performing tricks of balance, sitting side saddle no handed, jumping on and off the horse, wrapping their feet around a stirrup and pretending to fall off. All of this was amazing for me and I couldn’t believe half of the things I was seeing. We then saw a little boy race around the track on his donkey and then stood up while he was galloping. One clever horse then paraded around the arena prancing, side stepping, walking backwards and even standing up on 2 feet. At the end of his performance, the clever horse did an amazing bow where he bent one front leg and pointed the other ahead of him and lowered his head. I was so impressed by him. In fact, I was impressed with every horse, donkey and camel in the show.

In the finale, all of the horses (22) were led by a camel and a donkey in 2 straight lines and fired their guns all in sync.  Then each animal paraded around so that everyone could see them. I called the camel Stumpy because although he was big he had tiny, knobbly legs. I felt sorry for him because he also had a wire muzzle around his nose and mouth and it was really digging into him. He had very watery eyes and a sad, sad face. I wish I could have freed him. I also wish I could have been in the show with the horses and made friends with them, for I really love horses, donkeys and camels.

Thank you very much mum and dad  xxx
Charlotte
Charlotte