Local Flavour
As a joke, I said once to Jeff that Morocco would be great if only they could get rid of the Moroccans. That was on a day when we were getting hassled quite badly. People kept asking Jeff where he was from and when he told them he was Canadian they kept saying "No, really, where are you REALLY from?" He finally got sick of people asking if he was Japanese and saying 'arigato' in his face when he let loose with some French that made them shut up and back off. In truth, I have never been to a country where people can be so nice yet so 'in-your-face' at the same time.
On our trip through the Sahara we stopped in a small town and got a tour of an old Jewish settlement. We were then taken to a house where people made carpets. We sat in this home, were served mint tea and got chatted up by a genteel sort of man in a white robe.
It was a gimmick really. The clothes and the tea were there to sweeten us up and get us to buy rugs. (Jeff bought a great one!) I, on the other hand, resisted no end. Their tactic was to ask where you came from and try to get you to buy, buy, buy! When I told them I was from Casablanca, they didn't really know what to do. Often times people will want to know where you come from as a way of finding out how much they can charge you. They are really nice people but they are business men, first.
On a stop by the side of the road, we were accosted by these guys who kept wanting to sell us scarves. I must have looked like a hard man, however. With me, they pushed hashish. Their tactic? "Take this, it is a gift!!" Of course as soon as you take 'a gift', it is only good manners to reciprocate with a gift of your own. Doing business there was nothing that I was prepared for.
When we spent the night in the desert, we were taken out on the camels by two men. One of them was Mohamed. He was charming and far too young to have as much life experience as he had. They were simple people who lived a simple life, and again...the robe was a gimmick. But at the age of 28 he could speak several languages and make chit-chat with everyone in our group, the English speakers, the French speakers, and even the Japanese speakers. You see, in the Sahara the only industry is tourism and they need to learn tourism at an early age. Mohamed never went to school, he didn't have that opportunity. Making money from tourism is a necessity, not a choice.
Mohamed gave me one of the most precious jewels of wisdom I have ever heard. When we asked about his life in the desert --- and they DO live in the desert --- he said, "We sleep when we are tired, we eat when we are hungry. We have no watch, but we have time. You? You have no time, but you have a watch!" I liked Mohamed immensely.
In the city of Fes on a day when Jeff and I split up, I chanced upon a man at work engraving tombstones. This he did by hand, and the artistry amazed me. What he could fashion in a short time looked like true calligraphy yet he did it with a hammer and chisel. This was real craftsmanship as far as I was concerned.
Fes was a great city, I liked the old-worldness of it. It wasn't touristy or 'in your face' like Marrakech. This city was a secret wonderland of beauty. The medina (old medival city) was alive with real markets and flats where people lived. There was even a pre-school there in the centre of it. And on one excursion, Jeff and I beheld the sweetest thing: two little girls, no older than four, who walked up to each other and greeted each other with a kiss on each cheek.
My heart nearly melted, I almost wanted to cry. You can't pay to see something so beautiful even in a cinema.
There were a lot of strange things I had to contend with while travelling in Morocco. There were strange people who wanted 'gifts' and still others who non-chalantly offered 'special massage'! I won't even begin to describe one or two rather explicit offers I got when I was walking down the streets but I will say that it never left a bad taste in my mouth. It is all a part of local culture and it is what you have to be prepared to deal with when you go overseas
You just have to remember that you are the guest in that place and even the cats on the street will give you a funny look now and then.
It's all part of going outside your comfort zone and seeing something beyond what you are used to.
posted by Mark at 9:52 AM
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