Morocco was definitely the most extreme destination that we have
been to so far on our adventures. The culture and the pace of life was
radically different to anything we had previously experienced, which was at
times exhilarating, and at times really tiring...
The Souks…
The souks – or markets – were a great example of this dichotomy. On
the one hand, walking through the narrow market stalls crammed full of life and
colour was incredibly inspiring and invigorating. On the other, it was really
hard work. Particularly in the bigger cities, it was impossible to stop and
look at anything without getting hassled – occasionally quite aggressively - to
buy whatever it was that we happened to glance sideways at. While it was a
great way of chatting to the local shopkeepers, it also made it incredibly hard
to actually look at something to decide if we wanted to buy it or not.
In Moroccan culture, if you ask for a price, then you are basically
indicating that you want to buy what ever it is you’re looking at. It is then
considered rude to walk away without purchasing. This was obviously quite
challenging for us.
Bartering…
Closely linked to the experience of the Souks was the reality of
bartering. If we did decide that we liked the look of something, we did not
have the taken-for-granted luxury of looking at a price tag to assess if it was
even vaguely in our price range or not. Again, this was both a lot of fun, but
also quite stressful. We were so often caught in the classic dilemma of not
wanting to get ripped off ourselves, yet not wanting to barter so hard that we
took advantage of people who were desperate to make a sale.
The first time we tried to barter, we felt that we got ripped off.
On our second attempt, we resolved not to make the same mistake. We went in
hard and determined and haggled over the equivalent of £2. We ended up
getting the price that we wanted, but the look on the shopkeeper's face told us that
we’d pushed it too far. It was a tough one.
As we went on, we soon learned the balance, and we also discovered
that while Monique might appear all nice and sweet on the outside, she is
actually a killer barterer. When we were doing a spot of shopping in Fez, our local
guide asked if Monique could barter for him!
The People…
More than anywhere else we’ve been, we really got to interact with
authentic local people. It enriched our trip enormously. We obviously stuck out
like sore thumbs being white tourists, so we constantly had Moroccans coming up
to us offering to guide us through the city, to show us their shop, or just
keen for a chat.
Again, this was really hard. Every tourist guidebook or website we
read said to beware of being ripped off, mugged, pick-pocketed, or exploited by
false guides. It was incredibly challenging not wanting to judge and assume the
worst of genuine people who honestly wanted to help, while balancing the
obvious need to be careful.
A closing word…
Overall, while at times challenging, Morocco was an amazing trip. It
was a privilege to be able to experience a culture that was so vastly different
to our worldview, to break down some stereotypes about Islam, and just
generally have our minds opened, expanded and challenged for a full two weeks.
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