Day 15 - 16: Essaouira, Morocco -> Athens

I took a one day excursion to the coastal town of Essaouira. I've read that it was a quiet little town with less of the craziness of Marrakech, and they have these signature blue painted doors and windows everywhere. The drive over is about 2.5 hours, and there were about 10 of us in the large van.

Markets in Essaouira

Narrow streets of Essaouira

This door had an unusual elaborate yellow border around it

Just when I thought I'd get away from the money grabbing, tourist scamming city that is Marrakech, I encountered more of such antics along the way to Essaouira. First we stopped at a goat grazing site, where the goats somehow climbed onto an argan tree, eating argan. There were also some cute little baby goats, and we could pet it and hold it. They were really cute! I was taking a photo of the goats in the trees, and was about to ask a fellow tourist to take a picture of me with the goats, but one of the goat herder seized the moment and offered to take a picture. Without even thinking about it, I said sure, and he took several good pictures.

Free picture

That's when I realized that I might have made another mistake. Surely, he won't ask for money, right? All he did was snap a few pictures. And besides, we're an hour away from Marrakech now. These money grabbing people aren't all over the entire country of Morocco! No, there's no way he's going to ask me for money.

He asked me for money. My mind was blown at that point. I wanted to ask him if he was serious. I eventually regained my composure, and just said no, I don't have any money. Then started walking away. Maybe it's because I was prepared for this from the previous incidents. Maybe it's because he didn't look so intimidating. Maybe it's because I had my fellow tourists to back me up if an altercation breaks out. As I was walking away, the other goat herder with the cute baby goat in his arms yelled from a distance (he was "working on" another fellow tourist): "Monsieur, give him some money!" I just shook my head and said no, and continued walking. It felt uncomfortable, but I was proud of myself for walking away.

Then we stopped at a rest-stop to take a 10 minute bathroom break. There was a lady at the entrance with toilet papers, and hand towels. It was perfectly obvious to me that you're supposed to pay her to use the toilet papers and hand towels. Ok, legitimate business idea, point granted. However, as I was walking out of the bathroom, with my hands still wet from being washed (because there were no air dryers or paper towels), and the lady saw that, and started saying something in French to me, pointing at the towels. I said no (because I'll just air dry it), but she kept going at it, pointing to the towels, hassling me. I said no and walked out.

At the rest stop, there was a room where old women were grinding argan to make argan paste and argan oil. A lady wearing muslim headwear suggested that we all follow her inside to have a better look, and give us a little tour. Oh no, lady. I'll stay outside, thank you. All the other tourists also caught on to the fact, and refused to go in. The lady seemed a bit confused, and left us alone. Later, we went in one by one, and to our surprise, nobody asked us for money (although I did see a donation tray at the exit).

It's a bit sad, really. I'm sure there are lots of nice, genuine people in Morocco who want to tell us about their life, their culture and history, but because there are so many others who will try every way to extract money from tourists, I will never accept another mint tea or a direction advice from a Moroccan stranger. In the busy, congested streets of medina, I've grown accustomed to random guys yelling "Japan!" to me. I have now started to correct them, saying "Korea!" Upon hearing that, one guy responded, "Welcome to Morocco" and shook my hand.

There was a group of little kids playing next to my riad, and when they saw me, they also yelled out "Japan" and started to greet me with their hands clasped together, in some sort of a praying pose. I corrected them as well. "Annyoung haseyo" and bowed like a proper Korean would when greeting. They all started to mimic me, mumbling in Korean as best as they could, and it was really cute and touching.

But others, when I try to engage in some dialog, seem very eager to tell me about other things, whether it's the spices they're selling, or an excursion they know about. As soon as I detect a sales pitch, I literally turn around and start running. Maybe they know that I know what's going on, and they crack up into a laugh. Is it just ingrained into their culture, their lifestyle? Maybe I should just relax, accept it, and just not get caught into it. I still don't know what to make of this country. I'm very glad I visited here to experience this, and to also to discover a side of me that I would not have seen before. But I don't think I would make another visit to Morocco.