Day 14 - Marrakech

I was going to write about a "cute" little "scam" that happened to me yesterday. But today, I got scammed in a similar way, but in a bigger scale. The total damage isn't actually that great, but the process itself of being scammed was very stressful, because for a long time, I knew I was being scammed, but it was very difficult to get myself out of it.

One of the bigger streets of Marrakech

First, the cute little scam. Total money lost: 20 MAD (Moroccan Dirham, about $2 USD). 

Typical spice stand

Yesterday, as I was walking towards one of the many palaces around here, a guy selling spices in the spice market was very helpful and friendly. He told me the palace was closed, and asked me to get out my map (which I had in my bag). He showed me the way back to the main market, which I already knew). Then he showed me what all the weird spices he was selling were. Jasmine, lavender, garam masala, saffron, eucalyptus. He let me smell them, and started to explain what all they were good for. Luckily for him, a friend walked by, and the friend sat me in the seating area of the stall, offered me mint tea, and he was showing me more goodies inside. I was really thankful for the wonderful hospitality shown by these guys, and I thought that the Moroccans were extremely nice people. After talking for a bit, he asked me if I wanted to buy anything and I said no. So as I'm on my way, the friend said I should pay something to the original spice dude. I dug into my pocket and fished out a few dirham coins (about a dime's worth), and they were laughing at that, and said that is nothing, and that I should give them something in paper. I pulled out a 20 MAD (about $2 USD), and they even scoffed at that. Luckily for me, something came up as the spice trader suddenly ran off, still dissatisfied about my 20. I then went on my way, not feeling that much loss, as I thought that I had learned a lot about the stuff he was selling, and well worth the 20 MAD. But I also told myself, ok, no more sitting down with the spice guys. 

And yet, a similar incident happened today, as I was walking towards the Marrakech Museum. Total money "scammed": about $26, plus $35 worth of leather goods.

It was about 6 PM, and from researching the website, I knew I had another 30 minutes left before they closed. Another random guy in the streets (let's call him dude #0) said the museum is closed, and said I should go check out the 'chanery' (later I found out he meant 'tannery'). Luck would have it, his friend (dude #1), who was just walking by, said he could show me, as he was just on his way over there. He even said, "he just show you the way, no need to pay." This should have been a red flag, but my naive self took the lead, and told my skeptical self, "dude, relax. This guy is for real. He's really trying to help. He even said I didn't need to pay!" 

Let me stop right here and talk about yet another small incident that happened earlier that morning. When I'm walking these busy streets of Marrakech, every so often (more like once every 5 minutes), one of the shop keepers would say something to catch my attention. It's either "Excuse me!" or Hello?" or "Japan?" or "Konnichiwa" or "Ni-hao" or "Korea?" I would always ignore these guys. But this morning, a young man who was walking past me carting around something heavy said to me "Japan!" in a very excited voice. I was walking very fast, and as soon as he finished his greeting, we had already passed each other in the busy street. But I turned around, and gave him a thumbs up, and he also turned around, saw my thumbs up, and I saw a huge grin light up in his face. He then said something to his friend who was walking with him, all excited that he got a response from me. That's when I realized that not everyone here is trying to sell me something. Some people also want to connect with me, in the same way that I want to connect with them.

Back to the incident at hand. When this guy offered to walk me to the tannery, I remembered back to the morning's event, and thought, "Here's another friendly Moroccan, who just wants to help!" So I follow him, and along the way, we have a very nice chat. I ask him his name, how old he is (29), and if his parents live here. He asks the same for me, and I thought I had made another friend. I even wanted to ask to take a picture with him, because he seemed like such a friendly guy. He eventually leads me to the tannery, and hands me off to dude #2. He has a big spring of mint in hand, gives it to me, and says to smell it, so that the smell of the leather chemicals don't bother me so much. So I take the big sprig of mint, and follow him around the tannery, as he explains what all the chambers are filled with (ammonia) and what kind of leather they're preparing. He mentions that there are 50-100 Berber families all gathered around to make leather goods. He then takes me to another tannery nearby, where there's even a bigger operation going on. He also takes me to another shop where there are 3 guys (let's say dude A, B, and C) working to make leather handbags. Then he takes me to the leather shop, where he hands me off to dude #3.

Tannery. The buildings in the back are supposedly occupied by the leather working Berbers.

Bigger tannery. Dude #2 said I should take a pic, so I did.

Dude #3 has me sit down in the shop, and by this time, I knew I was in some kind of a scam, not sure what exactly though. He shows me his wares, like carpets, leather jackets, leather chairs, and I didn't want any of that. Suddenly I realize that I was kinda maybe somewhat interested in a wallet, so I ask if he has any wallets. Of course he does. I pick out one. Then he shows me some belts. Ok, my belt is kinda wearing out, so sure why not. With these two items, the real action begins. We go to another room, where he attempts to sell me some more carpets and towels, and I try to let him know I'm not interested. So with the wallet and the belt, he takes out a notepad, makes two columns. One for himself (forgot his name), and one for me (Mustafa). He said I looked like a Moroccan, so he'll name the column Mustafa. Under his name, he writes down 620 (roughly $62). I think to myself, I really don't want to play this, because I don't really want that belt, but whatever, I'll play along. And write down 300 under my column. Which was too high, in my opinion. My first offer should have been in the 200s. Anyways, he's like "oh no no no, that's very bad." He comes down to 500. I try to stick very firm, and mention that I don't really want the belt. He scratches out my 300 and insists I write a new number down in my column. I still hesitate for a bit (I'm good at doing that), and he writes down 400 under his column. Then he says to me to write down something. I cave, because I'm feeling very uncomfortable, and write down 350. We have a deal, and he promptly bags up the wallet and the belt. I pay him, in exact change, because I don't know what more shenanigans he's got up his sleeve if I need change back. I tried to be discreet in reaching for the money, but I may have shown him that I had more money in my wallet, which could have been my downfall.

So as I exit the leather shop, dude #2 is promptly there, waiting for me. He takes me back to the main street, and asks for money for his services. I am annoyed, but because I thought his leather tour was pretty decent, I reach into my pocket, hoping that it'd be a 20 or a 50 MAD, but it turns out to be a 100 MAD bill. I give it to him, and he's like no give me 200! He says it's not for him, but for all the Berber families, and all the leather working people. At this point I'm extremely annoyed, but I didn't know what to do. I say no, and say that's all I've got, but he's insistent. What's worse, is that there seems to be yet another random dude just standing around (dude #5), who tells me, "You should pay him 200." I get a bit nervous, as I wonder just how many people are in on this elaborate scam. I reach into my other pocket for change, and it's really a wadful. I fish out 3 coins, each 10 MAD, and after another back and forth, he finally seems to be easing off. He shakes my hand, and asks if I'm happy. I tell him no, I'm not happy. He says I should be because I'm helping out the Berbers. Then he asks again if I'm happy. I say no. We say good bye and I start walking back.

But another dude (possibly from dudes A, B, and C from before) comes up and says I also need to pay him for the Berber people as well. This guy looked extra intimidating (the other dudes, not so much). So I gave him the rest of my dirham coins (about 30 MAD, I'm guessing). 

At this point, I'm getting a bit scared. As I'm walking back towards my riad, I look behind me, and notice the original dude #1 not too far behind. I stop walking to let him pass, and he acts like he doesn't notice me, but then when he's about to pass me, says he'll show me the way back to the main square. I know which way to go, so I say he should just go without me. But he insists, and asks if I'm looking for trouble, or if I need to call a taxi. I say no, and follow him. But I walk very slowly, and try to lose him in the crowd, but he always waits for me every so often.

As I'm walking behind him, I constantly check my back to see if anyone else is following me. And I do recognize one shady guy who seems to be following me (dude #6). I keep an eye on him by constantly turning around and checking up on him. I wondered what would happen if I just took off running. Or if I intentionally lost dude #1 in the crowds. Will dude #6 come after me? Can I fight dude #1 and #6? At the same time?

We reach the main square, and sure enough dude #1 asks for money. I did not want to open my wallet to show him the 200-300 MAD I had in there. However, I did have some euro coins in my bag, so I ask him if he'll take euros. He said yeah, and when I gave him the coins, he said no coins. I don't think he realized these were 2 euro coins, and I had about 8-10 euros worth in coins, which is like 100 MAD. He eventually took it, and even had the balls to ask for my fitbit that I was wearing. I said no. As I fended off this last guy, I walked straight to my riad, still turning around to see if there were any more people following me. 

The whole ordeal was so stressful, I just sat in my room, going over everything that happened. I should have told them to take me to the police station, or ask anyone walking by for help, or even just saying no, maybe curse them out, or make a scene, but I was really intimidated in a strange city where I didn't know anyone, and I didn't know who else was in on this scam, who else was standing by, strolling around the corner, crouched inside the shops, all watching. At the moment, it felt like it was me vs the entire city of Marrakech, and I just felt disgusted by the city and its people.

After I regained my composure, I walked back into the streets, because I needed food, badly. I go into a pretty big restaurant, the one right in the main square, at the high terrace. I order a 45 MAD pizza. When asking for the bill, he said it's 50. I said it was 45 on the menu. He said 5 for service charge. Exhausted from the previous incident, I didn't even argue and just gave him the 50, just disgusted at the city. Afterwards, I walked straight into the main square, just daring people to come at me, because I was ready to tell them "no." They did, and I was ready. It released some built up tension in me.

Ziggy asked if I regret coming here. And my answer was no. This series of incidents made me realize how vulnerable I am. Things could have turned a lot worse at a bigger scale in other countries. I also learned that I lack courage to tell people off. But maybe I can get a pass on this one since I'm at a foreign country that I know not too much about. 

View from the rooftop terrace restaurant

Now for the positive things. There's a lot of people selling pastries out in the open market. These are almost always swarming with wasps. I guess it's better than being swarmed with flies. But there are some bakeries and pastry shops indoors. I happened to come across one yesterday, and the girl working there was so friendly and nice, I went there again today. 

Some cheese filled pastry (6 MAD), with fresh squeezed orange juice (10 MAD). 

Croissant (2.5 MAD) and a sugar donut (unfilled, 3 MAD)

Her english wasn't so good. I thought maybe we could converse in Spanish, but her Spanish wasn't so good either (and her english is much better than my Spanish, so I don't know what I was thinking). We chatted a little bit, and before I left, I asked to take a picture with her, and she was so willing.

Met a very friendly girl working at a local bakery.

The breakfast at the riad is amazing. I had always wanted to try this crepe thing I see some ladies selling in the streets, and I was so glad when I saw it at my breakfast spread. The texture is very soft, and the flavor is slightly sweet and eggy. I love it. The hosts are so very nice, and I can't find anything wrong about this my riad, except that it is super noisy at times. It's almost midnight, but there are kids outside playing soccer, and occasionally you hear the sounds of the mopeds flying by. There's a rooster nearby that crows at random times. The call for prayer is loud. But since I'm always tired anyway, I have no trouble sleeping.

My breakfast at my riad. Left to right: fried egg (with some curry powder), apricot jam, peanut butter, orange slices with banana and some cinnamon, Moroccan bread, Moroccan crepe (coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice).

Today, when I wasn't being scammed, I visited the Bahia Palace. Maybe it's because they took out all the furniture, but I thought it was rather plain, compared to the palaces that these fancy pants people had in Europe or China.

Palace Bahia

Palace Bahia

Palace Bahia

A weird variant of checkers. Couldn't figure out the rules. The old guy on the left was schooling the guy on the right. After the game, he looked at me and pointed at the chair. I declined.