Marrakech

Today we used a local guide to walk around the souks and square of Marrakech. I’ve read that women are often hassled in the shopping areas and tourists are often ripped off. I decided that the safest way to see this was to hire a guide. I found Khalid through a website called Tours by Locals. He speaks several languages, has a degree in literature, and has lived in Marrakech most of his life. By the way, my mom calls Khalid our “bodyguard” but he really is just a tour guide. For those of you concerned about our safety, the US state department considers Morocco a safer place than Spain.

In the morning, Khalid came to our Riad to pick us up. The first location we saw was close to our Riad. It was the former mayor’s residence and is currently used as a guest palace for the king. Khalid mentioned that Michelle Obama stayed there last year. He gave us a brief history lesson of Marrakech and Morocco.

We then entered the souks. The first one we saw was part of the trade routes from Timbuktu. Merchants would come to Marrakech to trade and they stayed in these buildings. The rooms were small but it had a large center area for the camels and live stock to stay. Currently, artisans rent the area to sell their items.

We walked deeper and deeper into the winding streets of the souks. Each type of artisan used to have their own area. For example, leather artisans all worked in the same place. This is still mostly true but they are getting more diverse. We saw many souks including leather, metal, wood, carpets, and pottery. Khalid mentioned that people were responsible for one part of the manufacturing process. For example, a pair of shoes may have a separate person to cut the leather, several different people sewing in different places of the shoes, someone conditioning the leather, someone who put the soles on, and so on. If there is a dispute, they have a mediator who is elected to resolve problems. Often times when a big order comes in, someone arranges all these craftsmen to make the order.

We had a fun time in the souks. We even tried some bartering but Khalid often times stepped in and helped us. After we finished in the area that makes the goods, we moved onto a more retail area. Here the prices doubled and even tripled. I wished I understood that earlier I would have bought more things at the beginning. I also have to mention that the cobblestone streets were very narrow. Apparently the more narrow, the older the area. Often scooters and motorcycles came barreling through where we were walking so we had to watch out.

After the souks, we went to the square. Khalid usually does this tour in the afternoon because it is more crowded, typical of the square. We’re leaving tonight for Valencia so he had kindly changed the times to morning for us. I was actually happy because I wouldn’t have liked the chaos. Also, it was cooler in the morning.

The square was interesting. There were monkeys on leashes and snake charmers. We stayed away from there because we all believed it was unkind to the animals. I asked Khalid about the square’s dentist who was not there at the time. He said that when he was a kid (he’s around my age) people often went there to get their teeth pulled. He said now it’s just for photos because people know it’s not clean. He also pointed out these people in red outfits. They were the watermen of Marrakech and they sell water out of lambskin containers. He said when he was a child, they were quite common and people often got their water from them. Now they are there for the tourists to take pictures of.

While we were walking around, Khalid did some shopping for his family. He first bought a whole bunch of olives. Since there were many people selling olives, I asked how he chose the stand. He said they knew each other well enough that if he didn’t have money, he could come back later and pay. No problem. Second, Khalid bought some fresh mint. He said his mom is in town visiting and she loves fresh mint. It was very interesting to see his interactions with the venders.

Our tour was over so Khalid walked us back to our Riad. If you are ever in Marrakech and need a good tour guide, look up Khalid on Tours by Locals. He is a wonderful guide,

After we finished the tour, we waited for our transfer to the Marrakech airport. I started to get real nervous reading reviews for the airport. Apparently, the employees can be cruel, especially to tourists. Often people are hassled at security, miss their flights, and have to buy new tickets. We managed to get safely through security after having to show our Passports to 6 different people. One interesting thing that we noticed was the full body scanner used at the airports was only for women, no men were sent through. I caused a problem with my money belt and so the female security guard made me pull it out and open it up. She seemed surprised I would have something like that.

Not surprising the airport was chaotic, filled with people and not enough seats. Every single flight, including ours was late. Eventually, we made it safely back to Valencia. Morocco was interesting, We we’re both glad we had done it, but it was very difficult and stressful. Someday I might go back but only to see the Sahara. I think that would be a fun trip.Read more