Marrakesh – September 21st 2017

We had our hotel call for a cab and we were going to try to navigate the Medina and souks on our own here in Marrakesh. We knew it wasn’t as intricate and labyrinth-ish as Fes’ Medina and we had trusty google to help us this time.

Our cab was not really a cab (we realized this on the way). He was a friend of the hotel staff and he did tours (not even sure he was a registered tour guide). He tried to convince us the whole way to the Medina that we should tour with him. He was very persistent. Once at the Medina he wanted us to go into a certain spice shop too. This we learned is so common. You are rarely left to wonder on your own. Someone always wants to take you to the ‘better’ shop. They are almost always getting shares of the profit I’m sure. So we didn’t want to stick around and be part of this ‘ring’ I guess you could call it. We tried to pay the driver and he didn’t want to take the money. He said he would get it from us when he picked us up a few hours later (pre arranged before things got all ‘ring-like’. but hey, we needed a ride home!).

With our driver gone we started to walk and explore. You need to be careful while in the Medina. There are donkeys, motorbikes, scooters, and bikes all over the place. We walked about for a bit but man oh man was it ever hot in Morocco. We hadn’t been used to the heat. The cold had been following us since the beginning of our travels. Sun (hot hot hot sun) was a newer concept for us 🙂

Since we were in the spice section of the souks, we bought some Moroccan oil. Preeetty sure it was real, haha. Right around the corner from the shop was a real life palace! For a mere $2 Canadian we gained entrance to El Badii Palace. Built in the 1500’s, it is kept up the best it can be but is in ruins in many places. That leaves lots of fun places for the kids to explore.

We found our way to Jemaa el-Fna Square were all the action is. There are many merchandise vendors, street performers and food. In the day it’s busy. We would visit another time at night to see the difference.

We saw monkeys and then we saw the famous snake charmer! I didn’t want to get close, so from across the square I snapped a photo in that direction. The charmer stopped charming those darn snakes and came straight over to me and demanded money. This was no surprise in the end as in Fes, Mark had tried to take a picture of a donkey and they wanted a tip for it.

So I was not about to give a tip to someone for nothing. My picture wasn’t of his snake, it was of the whole square and he happened to be in it. He just saw a camera in his direction and got greedy (imo). We got into a slight altercation with him demanding 20 dirhams (about $2 Canadian). He said I took a picture of him and therefore I owed him. I refused. He became aggressive and would not let up. I decided to not back down. I refused. He demanded to see the camera and the picture. I refused to show him as it’s not his business what I took on my camera. He was mean and rude and I told him so. Poor Mark had no clue I had taken a picture and kinda just watched this unfold. The kids were probably wondering why their mom was arguing with the snake guy too..haha

In the end I told him he could have a $2 tip when I was done taking as many pictures of whatever I wanted. He seemed fine with it, although he did nothing to make the tip worthwhile. No show or acknowledgement that we were there. In the end I handed him the tip and we moved on. I lie, physically we left but emotionally he still made me angry. Gah, one day it won’t irritate me so….

We left shortly after. Our driver sent his cousin to get us and didn’t take the payment (keep this in mind when I refer back in upcoming blogs). The kids had a great swim back at the hotel and we had a nice quiet night.

More Photos..