Marrakech

I was excited to finally get to Marrakech and its ancient medina. What I didn’t expect was that the place was packed with tourists and consequently there was the constant hassle of having to fend off all the touts who wanted to sell us stuff or just wanted us to pay for whatever. A few times it seemed to me as if I shouldn’t even have my eyes open when I walk around because if I as much as looked at anything someone would appear from nowhere and demand that I pay.


We experienced this the very first morning at the Djemaa el Fna, the central marketplace in the Marrakech medina. I was thrilled to watch old men play music to real cobras. I wanted to take a photo with them and while I fully expected to pay them for the privilege, I didn’t expect to have to pay such an exorbitant price. And on top of it all, when I posed for the photograph, they wanted me to hold a snake around my neck! Unbelievable, they should have paid me if they wanted to put a snake on me! They thought it amusing that here was a tourist who didn’t want to touch a snake.


Moving along the marketplace, all of a sudden someone put a monkey on my shoulders. I immediately asked him to take it away, wondering how much it would have cost me if I dared to take a photo. And I had to keep my hands hidden deeply in my pockets, just to keep them safe from all the women who wanted to grab me and paint tattoos on me. But then, that’s the Marrakech experience, exciting, unexpected and far from boring.


On the other hand, what I love about Morocco is the easy, relaxed pace when one can sit down in a café and drink mint tea and people watch for hours at a time. On such occasions it really is a world apart from the hectic stress back home.