Morocco’s Souks

A little under an hour into our first wander through the city and – boom – duped by a savvy local into buying more (average) food than we wanted. 2 tagines, a bowl of chips, and a massive egg and vegetable salad frenzy each. Eat it anyway, go to settle up. “You have to pay my wife, she’s up those stairs” … sure. 2 minutes later – boom – in his carpet shop and he’s pulling down some rugs to demo. No thanks! We have to insist. “Okay, well that’ll be XYZ dirhams for the meal please”. The number doesn’t sound right. Maybe we haven’t gotten used to the currency here yet? We linger on the notion for a few seconds longer. Yeah okay. Then – boom – it was a rip off. No other meal will cost as much as this one did for the rest of the trip.

Ruddy hell. We quickly get over it.

Besides, there’s a silver lining; everything else seems so much cheaper for the rest of the jaunt. Score! Go us.

Marrakesh was a display of entrepreneurial spirit, smiling faces and frenzied activity from all walks of life. The pace of the place was wicked and the trinket-splattered streets, filmic Souks, districts and street-vendors were a genuine feast for the senses. The souks, yeah, stunning. For the most part anyway – some more ‘genuine’ and oldy wordy than the others. Everyone seems out to achieve something, which is really refreshing and engaging to to be around. Ash nearly had a shoe pinched by a cobbler. Great stuff. Highly recommended.