Riding on the Marrakech Express

From Morocco

Cindy and I decided to get away from the winter weather with a short side-trip down to Morocco.

We flew down Sunday night and checked into our hotel just outside the medina, the old city. We ventured in looking for dinner and found it a bit overwhelming. It smelt of burning charcoal and two-stroke and scooters were constantly trying to run us down but we managed to find a decent dinner and some bottled water.

The next day we found the touristy part of town and spent the whole day in the souks, the traditional markets. There is an amazing range of things for sale: spices, clothes, ceramics, woodwork, metal crafts and leather goods. It had been a while since I'd been in a market where haggling is a must so at first I didn't understand that there were no prices. They all wanted you to make an offer and some sellers would even refuse to put a figure on an item until you chose a couple of other things to buy at the same time. This was a bit frustrating when we wanted just one thing from that stall.

I noticed a couple of things about business in the souks. No one has change, they're always wanting you to pay with a smaller note; in fact, this is true even in bigger shops. The traders can get anything for you, even if it's not in their stall.

From Morocco