Morocco Days 5-8 Marrakech: Exploring Marrakech

I'll be honest, after our first real foray into Marrakech I was ready to throw in the towel. I wanted to break up with this city before we even got together. It's a tough place, and takes a bit of getting your feet wet until you can get into the rhythm of the place and start enjoying it. It's smelly, dirty and generally hosts a lifestyle I'm not sure I could manage for any great length of time. But this is not even what provoked my initial wincing. I'm generally not thrown off by being in a third world environment. And hey I've been to some pretty, shall we say, primitive destinations, Garbage City ringing any bells? I think I've proven my adventurous open-minded spirit by now! The problem here, quite simply, is attitude.



The first day we hired a guide to give us a 3-hour run-down tour of the city, which was a very good move. It's a very intimidating place as a tourist, and advice from other travellers told me this was the best way to get acquainted with the place. It didn't take too long out on the tour before I was already mentally high-fiving all those folks who made the tour suggestion. And it also didn't take long before I realised I was not falling in love with this place.



Firstly these people are VERY funny about photography. I mean VERY funny. And hello if there is no photography, for me what is the point!? Two minutes off our minibus winding our way to our riad with our riad host, I snapped a photo of the group walking through with the mound of luggage in the cart, kind of a funny sight. I was suddenly accosted by an upset uniformed man screaming "no photo!" and demanding he see my photos. He scrutinised the one and only photo and let me pass, but he was looking hard for a reason to make me delete it. And it continued all around the city. Many times I'd lift my camera up I'd hear en français "no taking photos!" Even if I was taking photos of general street scenes, and not really "of people" in particular.



I learned that if you wanted to take a photo of a person you had to ask them. Fair enough, BUT they would only allow you if you paid them some dirams. What is this, Disneyland?! It was super tacky. I saw the cultural reasons for people not wanting to be photographed, many fully veiled women would hold their hand over their faces in the face of a camera in their path, BUT I kind of felt like in many ways it was a money making scheme in the guise of a cultural difference. Not digging the blatant fleecing of the tourist here. So it was more the feeling of being taken advantage of that bugged me than the lack of photography in and of itself. And while they accuse the tourist with rudeness and disrespect when not following their prescribed guidelines in photography, they simultaneously attempt to gouge the tourist at every other turn, whether it's shopping the souk markets, paying the snake charmers for a snake encounter, getting henna tattoos . . . the swindling goes on and on. Who is being rude here? Ripping people off ranks pretty high in the rudeness category in my book!



Marrakech has a vibrant, unique culture. It is beautifully rustic and intriguing, and it has been luring in the tourists. And many of the people in Marrakech are eager to cash in. Maybe a bit too eager. If they only understood what a prickly reception their approach greets tourists with, and ultimately how counter-productive it can be in chasing the tourists away as it nearly did me.



Once I got over my initial frustrations with the unfriendly reception, I decided if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. I wrapped my head around how this place operates, rolled up my sleeves and jumped in to play the game. Then and only then did I begin to understand the draw of this place. Each day I got bolder and bolder and ultimately experienced this city the way I had hoped.



In the workshops of the souk you can see how and where everything that is sold in the markets of the souk are made.
















































Chris and Becca in the heart of the medina


A beverage break, bottled beverages only please!


All the kids with our guide






Bahia Palace




















Telling secrets in the Bahia Palace






More secrets, at least they're whispering


The whole group in the main square, Djemaa el-Fna








Visiting the snake charmers in Djemaa el-Fna square








Henna tattos in Djemaa el-Fna square
















Sandstorm begins to hit Marrakech as the sun begins to set




Crazy in the sandstorm in the main square










A little clearer out on another night






The boys on our last day in their twin souvenir football outfits (which have nothing to do with Marrakech :)


Playing one last game of chess


All our bags loaded up on the cart to head on out


Farewell Morocco . . . but wait there's one more post. Any trip to Morocco would not be complete without some good old fashioned haggling in the souk market . . .