When we got off the train, we’d been told that our hotel
was within a twenty minute, to half hour, walk. Well, we have learned that in
Morocco, their sense of time and distance is very different than ours. It took
us an hour to get to the hotel, walking, and get in and settled. We experienced
a little bit of the square’s night life, and certainly witnessed some
differences in Marrakech versus Rabat. Marrakech is a very popular tourist
area, Rabat, less so. There were tourists all over the place. Another difference
was the dress. Marrakech apparently has a very popular night life, and there
were plenty of women walking around in what we would consider average club
clothes. If a woman dressed like that in Rabat, it would be assumed she was a
prostitute. I’m not sure if it’s more acceptable in Marrakech simply because it’s
a more touristy area, therefore less conservative, or what. Either way, the environment
was completely different than what I’ve experienced in Rabat and the Medina.
The rest of the weekend consisted of sellers trying to
rip us off, getting henna, making
friends with our cab drivers, having Berber conversations/defending my water
bottle, visiting with camels, almost getting hit by runaway donkeys, and doing touristy things at these fabulous
touristy places:
-La
Koutoubia (A Mosque)
-
Les Jardins Majorelle (A beautiful home and garden by an eccentric artist)
- Le
Menara (Another Mosque with the Atlas Mountains acting as it’s backdrop)
Oh and we found some camels on the way....
-
The Royal Theater (Which is currently acting as an outdoor theater, because the
inside still isn’t finished)
-La
Medersa Ben Youssef (One of the oldest and most famous schools for studying
both the sciences and the Qur’an)
-
The tannery’s (Where they make their leather products. Fun fact: they smell
really bad so they give tourists mint leaves to sniff. It’s because the product
they treat/color the leather with is made with pigeon poop…)
-And
finally the Place Jemaa el Fna (The main square where the nightlife is amazing, it consists of a village of restaurants putting up tents, snake charmers, monkeys etc.)
It was hard to get photos, so I have a picture of Leah and mines henna.
All of it was beautiful, unfortunately, I couldn’t go
into the mosques because I’m not a Muslim. However, I can imagine they are just
as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside.
As for my Berber conversation....this happened when I went to a shop near the tannery's. I saw a bag I liked a lot. It had silk and camel leather. I asked him how much he was asking for it. (Now, keep in mind, you almost always bargain here..unless there are prices posted, it is expected that you bargain.) He said, "Let's have a Berber conversation, I say how much I ask, you say how much you ask."
Then he said 900 dirham (This is the equivilant of $105.61 in US money) That is A LOT of money in Morocco. Basically, I laughed (Because a) he was clearly trying to rip off the tourist and b) I didn't have nearly that much money on me.) Rule of thumb, go down to about a quarter of the price they ask...So, I said I had 200 dirham (which, actually, was about all I had on me at the time...) He said, no no keep looking in purse see if I had more. Which, I did, and by some more, i mean some lose change that added about another 20 dirham to the price. Then he asked me for my Klean Kanteen water bottle and was like "Give me this, my son would like this for being in the mountains." Well, needless to say I refused because well, I need water for when I'M in the mountains. I kept refusing to go any higher in my price (or give him my water bottle) and eventually we had to leave. As we started getting ready, he said "We are brother and sister, you and I. Give me money you have... for bag." In the end, I got my bag for 230 dirham, which is about $27 dollars in the U.S. Needless to say, I was quite proud of my unintentional bargaining skills. Moral of the story? When someone says have a "Berber conversation" be prepared to protect your water bottles!
All in all, it was an interesting comparison between
Marrakech and Rabat, because although they are in the same country, they are
very, very, very different in many ways. I was really glad we had a chance to
explore the city, and actually hope to go back again for another weekend. The mix
of modern and traditional is really interesting. Although the city was very
modernized in a lot of ways, it also had a lot of things like donkeys leading
carts, and the further into the Medina you ventured the less and less “developed”
it became. I put developed in quotes because although it may be viewed as more
rural, there is definitely a specific system to the way things work in the old
Medinas.
On a side note, something that will get taking used to
(Well, one of the many things) is that protests are very common here, especially
regarding the dignity and rights of workers. They happen a few times a week, at
least. However, something that is very unique to Morocco is that they very
rarely get violent and they’re controlled. The police are very clear, that yes,
they have the right to voice their opinion, but as soon as things start to get
out of hand, they police will do something about it. It is something that we
have talked about in my seminar classes here, and just with people in general
who are familiar with Rabat. It is so common, and the fact that the right to
protest is respected, there is almost never a problem. We still, have to avoid
them for obvious reasons, but Mohammed 5, the main road, is the main area of
protests. We could see them from the café we were sitting in. No one responds,
they simply get out of the way when the police come in to make sure things stay
reasonable. There was no violence, a little bit of running around and chanting,
but all in all, it is a peaceful event.
The dynamic and difference here from the U.S is interesting…
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