MOROCCO - MARRAKESH
PART 3 of 8
From Fez to Marrakesh Emre and I traveled by train for about six hours. Marrakesh is a good city for street photography: very chaotic traffic, people running everywhere and you have a good light. The main difference between medinas in Marrakesh and Fez is that vehicles are allowed to enter the old city of Marrakersh, which is not the best regulation. Most of the vehicles are old diesel motorbikes with no or bad filters that heavily pollute air in the city. Medina's streets are narrow and sometimes covered with improvised roofs,. The streets don’t get enough ventilation and breathing becomes a tough challenge for the lungs.
Avenue Hommane Al Fatouaki
In Marrakesh we had a similar problem with navigating through the city. The same as in Chefchaouen and Fez the GPS was not working in the old city. Emre and I started to think up a conspiracy theory, that Moroccan are using powerful electronic devices to block the GPS signals of tourists so that tourist will have no other choice rather than walk the routes that Moroccan want them to walk. Luckily Emre took a compass with him that helped us to orientate through the city. Although the compass broke on the last day.
On the streets you will often hear imperative instructions from Moroccan men where to go and where not to go. They always know better than you what you want, where you have to go and what you have to do. They will tell you that the road is under construction and that there is no passing through, or that there is a mosque and you are not allowed to go to that street, even if the road is not under the construction or that there is no mosque.
Jemaa el-Fnaa is the main square in Marrakesh. Here you can buy spices, fruits, frippery and see different kind of performances. We were sadden by the cruel exploitation of the animals that were used in the shows. Monkeys in tiny cages, snakes without fangs, exhausted camels and half dead birds.
Jemaa el-Fnaa - Marrakesh main square.
After three days in Morocco each of us started to develop its own tactics when it came to bargain. "You bargain like a Berber!" - we were told by the locals. It is a compliment. Moroccans love to negotiate. Bargain is a form of small talk, a dance of communication and if you want to be polite, you have to play the game. We were using two tactics.
1) To accept the ritual and play along. It will cost you more time, but you will learn social skills and experience a set of cultural rules.
2) No big smiles with your mouth, but more compassionate expression with the eyebrows. Call your price confidently. Strongly hold your position, act as if you are an expert. If it doesn't work continue to hold your position and when the seller rejects to sell you for the price you have called, you start to walk away like you are super busy man. Usually the seller will run after you and sell it to you on your conditions. From our experience we have figured out that if you bargain well the seller can drop the price to 70%.
During our trip an unexpected change has emerged into our plan. We have decided to unite with two companions from Moscow and share a car. This experience showed us that you have to be very precise and careful by choosing people with whom you are traveling and especially when you go on a long road trip in one car...
After five days of busy, polluted and chaotic cities we were happy to get free into the direction of the Atlas Mountains and Sahara desert. Our next destination is Zagora Desert. Visiting deserts was our priority number one as we both have never been to a desert before. The journey finally starts…
© Yuriy Ogarkov
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