Magic Carpet Ride

So we went to Marrakech for a long weekend. What a different place that is!
We arrived late Saturday night and had a driver waiting for us. He took us to our "riad", which is basically a renovated house turned B&B.

Most riads were in the Medina, which is the arabic name for the center of town. The ride from the airport, seeing all the buildings and ratty streets, was enough to make you want to go back home. But our riad was very comfortable, tucked away in the labyrynth of pedestrian streets. Thankfully the driver walked us to the door. And thankfully I have a decent sense of direction because Elizabeth turned the wrong way every time we made our way back to the riad.

The first morning we had a nice breakfast and got some tips from the other families staying there. The riad owner gave us a map and sent us on our way. Of course we made a wrong turn within the first 10 minutes, and just wondered around for a while before we decided to attempt to get back on course. On the way back to the wrong turn someone saw an opportunity in us and decided to kindly show us the way to the tanneries, "just because he likes talking to tourists". It turns out that there were lots of friendly people like this... So he showed us to the tanneries where another guy explained the process they used for tanning camel, cow, sheep and goat skins. It stunk to high heaven. At the end of the tour we were made to sit in a room with an older guy that had lots of leather goods, as well as good advice about starting a family. He tried to get me to haggle with him over a doormat, which he started at $180, and when I offered $10 for he told me to get serious. So then I just stopped negotiations for that. (Later we found that I wasn't that far off from a reasonable offer). So we ended up giving all three of these guys about $25 and walking away with a rather small leather item. It was a learning experience. If your business needs an effective sales force, hire Moroccans.

This guy is not smiling because of the pretty mint leaves, but because he knows he will be a richer man after he gets done with us

We did a lot of walking and window shopping for the rest of the day. At night we walked with another family from our riad down through the souqs (the district with all the shops, like a really annoying flea market) and ate at a restaurant specializing in tajine cooked food. Moroccan food was very reasonable and extremely delicious. They grow lots of olives there, and we ate plenty. On our way back we decided to find our own way, which was a mistake. I can usually sense the right direction in daylight, but not on winding streets in the nightlight. Thankfully, we met a couple other guys that wanted to talk to tourists! They graciously guided us back to our area, but then seemed quite put off when we offered them only a couple bucks worth in their own currency.

The next day we visited some nice gardens. We did some more walking and less shopping. We decided to take a horse-drawn carriage back to our quarter, but they said they couldn't take us directly there, but would have to show us around another part of the city first. How thoughtful... We ate dinner in the riad, again this was really good. For our main course we had lamb with prunes and almonds cooked in a tajine. We had a fruit salad for dessert which was surprisingly delicious. And after most meals we had mint tea, which is awesome.

So the next day we took an excursion to see the Cascades of Ouzoud. It was about 55 degrees and rainy that day. The rest of the days were sunny and warm.
We trekked through plenty of mud to see some fairly decent waterfalls, and then enjoyed a good long meal with tajines, couscous, and skewers of meat. Even though it was really cold in the shack, we had an enjoyable time, talking with the others in our group, people from Belgium, Germany, France and England. It was nice to have the all speak English by default.
On the 2+ hour trip home we rode through a section of mountains where it was snowing. Who would have thought? We were getting sunburnt one day and freezing our butts off in the snow the next. On the walk home I bought some Nike shoes for about $30. Here in Angers they would have cost about $180. Even though they are slightly blemished, they get the job done. I should have bought enough to keep me going for the next 10 years. Anyway, we spent the evening at the hotel, warming up with some mint tea and playing trivial pursuit in French.

On our last day we went out for our last shopping run. This day we spent the least and walked away with the most. I think we figured the system out pretty well. Just stay away from the souqs! We bought 100g of saffron powder, which I could easily spend $1000 for back in Raleigh.














We checked out and then got a cab back to the airport. The driver was the nicest guy. He said we could pay whatever we liked, which was a first. That was the attitude I think we're more used to, so we were glad to pay him well. Other than almost missing our flight because we didn't notice a small gate over to the side, the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. The guide books were right - because the culture is so different, you have to visit Morocco with a sense of humor.