Another day in the sun…
In the riad in the morning, I met a couple Americans, Alex and Trevor, that were teaching in France. They were going to be going by some of the mosques, so I went with. While near the Kasbah Mosque, we wanted to check out the tombs, too. In the winding streets, it’s difficult to find things, and the local kids know it. So they hang around and try to offer their guide services for a few dirham. Now, this is one of the situations that often leads to problems for many people. If I legitimately get lost or need directions, I understand that I’ll need to pay a little for it. The problem is, some of these kids will them almost force you into being guided by them by just walking with you, and then demanding money. Personally, I didn’t find it difficult to deal with. You just stay persistent with saying “No”, and they’ll leave you alone. I think not speaking French also helps in these cases, because they often don’t know much English at this age, so any attempts to argue become futile when neither person understands, and they’ll give up and move onto the next tourist. At one point, when we were trying to find the tombs, one kid did become our guide. I knew what it was going to lead to and since we were somewhat in need of help finding it, I wasn’t upset by it. When the time came, Trevor told him in French that we didn’t need his help any more, and I threw him a couple dirham. Trevor seemed a little more perturbed by it, but gave him a couple as well. As we walked more, I found that he seemed to be hassled by these kid guides more than us. Maybe because Alex is a girl and I don’t speak French, he was the one they went for. Sometimes, though, older Moroccans would scold the kids when they could see that we were trying to get them to go away and they wouldn’t. It was good to see that. I think the Moroccan people have very good hearts and intentions in general, it’s just the situation and life they live that causes some of them to resort to less-than-dignified means of making money.
Along the way, Trevor had to find a shop he bought a tea set from the previous day. He didn’t have all the money, so the shop owner gave him “Berber credit”, where he could come back the next day and pay the rest. He really wanted to keep his honour, but wasn’t sure if he could find where it was. We did eventually find it, and the shop owner made some Moroccan tea for us. Very generous, and also typical of what I’ve found most Moroccans to be. We sat and they chatted in French. This is definitely one culture that I think speaking the language would highly enhance the experience. Moroccans sure seem to love to talk…
We met up with Zak and Mohamed later at the café, and he suggested we go to the Jardin Majorelle in the new city, which Mohamed led us to. It’s a very nice area that would be great to spend time in during the middle of the afternoon. The shade from the trees makes it rather pleasant, surrounded by various cacti, bamboo, and other fauna from around the world and a vibrantly-blue painted building in the center that holds the Museum of Islamic Art. Unfortunately, the garden was closing a half hour after we arrived, so we didn’t have as much time to enjoy it as we’d have liked, nor get to see the museum. On the way back, Mohamed ran into an artisan friend in the souq who, of course, invited us up for tea and a smoke. It was nice to see the city from the roof of other houses in the city.
Later that night we went back to the Grand Hôtel Tazi to have some beers.
Tags: Africa, Morocco, Mosques, Travel
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