Marrakech is an old, walled city still boasting many of the features that have been standing since caravans of traders crossing north Africa stopped in to visit it hundreds of years ago. For example, in addition to the walls of the city and the Medina, the Koutoubia Mosque (pictured below) is a venerable structure that has gained fame and been used as a model for towers throughout the Muslim world.
The other feature that you cannot miss when visiting Marrakech is the Jemaa el Fna. This was pretty close to being an outdoor festival when Anne and Mark visited (it may be a bit more calm during the daytime). There were stands lining the square serving all types of Moroccan culinary fare, as well as several different types of entertainers attempting to impress the passers-by. There were a large number of locals in the area, which gave it a sense of authenticity. On the other hand, however, there was a distinct feeling that some of the vendors had targeted this area as a tourist trap. Especially beware of standing too close to an entertainment act. Even if you are not paying attention to it, or are not entertained by it, you will be expected to drop a little money.
Part of this probably was targeting the tourists, but part of it is the result of the fact that Morocco has a strong "tipping culture." To some extent we are used to this in the United States, particularly when a person serves food, drives a taxi, cuts hair, etc. - it is fairly common to pay a little extra "for the effort." (or "to insure proper service," if you believe that legend of etymology). But in Morocco, tipping is common for pretty much everything. Anne and Mark noticed several efforts that earned tips in Morocco that would not have had they occurred in the U.S. The boy on the street tells the taxi driver how much room he has while he is backing up: driver tips the kid. The lady at the rental car center hands the keys to the guy who shows where the car is (presumably he also works there): she tips the guy.
This is a difficult cultural adjustment to make on the fly, for several reasons. First, Anne and Mark are coming from a culture where these things would not get a tip at all. In fact, like Mr. Pink says, not even waitresses always get a tip ("All right, if someone deserves a tip, if they really put forth an effort, I'll give them something a little something extra. But this tipping automatically, it's for the birds.") Additionally, Anne and Mark really do not know how much to tip appropriately (what is 20% of "You got plenty of room"?). Third, Anne and Mark do not have any small bills. They only have the large bills that were issued by the airport ATM and whenever they try to break them, the vendor wants to keep the change as a tip. It's quite the vicious circle.
Then it started to get a little ridiculous. After taking a cab from the airport to the area of their hotel, Anne and Mark got out of the cab and and removed their luggage. As soon as they did, a guy materialized (pretty much out of nowhere) to help them carry their luggage to the hotel. Initially, of course, since Mark had not asked anyone to carry the luggage and this is just a guy on the street, Mark assumed that his luggage was being stolen. Turns out, not so much. Oops. Have to give him a big tip to make up for that.
Anne and Mark were able to overcome some of these obstacles, but never really figured out appropriate amounts for various tips, and probably ripped off some people and wildly overpaid others. (But they tried, so no one should criticize them.)
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| Anne rocks the kasbah. Anne and Mark stayed in the room with the wooden door on the second story, facing this courtyard. |
But Anne and Mark disregarded this advice, and if you choose to similarly disregard it, Mark has prepared a few driving tips for your adventures in Marrakech.
Driving in Marrakech
Step 1: Make your peace with God.
You should probably do this anyway, but it has a bit more urgency when you are driving in Marrakech. No matter what your destination is, you have a pretty decent chance of going to meet your maker.
Step 2: Forget about your blind spots.
Never, ever, ever look back. Just assume someone is there. It is going to be another car, a bike, a moped, a horse, a horse-drawn carriage, a pedestrian or some combination thereof. But make no mistake, someone or something is surrounding you at all times. Therefore, there is no need to check.
Step 3: Abandon your blinkers.
No one is looking at your blinkers; these are now useless and a waste of time and effort better spent doing other things.
Step 4: Pay attention to everyone in front of you and nothing else.
Because the people in front of you have already integrated Steps 2 and 3 into their driving, you are directly and absolutely responsible for reacting to their movements, even if they have not signaled them. In this way, driving in Marrakech is kind of like playing Super Mario Kart (video game), except that it is game over on the first crash.
Step 5: Ignore all horns.
By the time you figure out what the horn was about, you are already on to the next traffic circles.
Step 6: Fake your way through traffic circles.
Mark attended driver's ed at Lewiston-Altura Public High School and scored very well on the written test and passed the road test to obtain a Minnesota driver's license. Despite this, he has no idea why anyone would ever use a traffic circle instead of an intersection. The concept is foreign and indecipherable, which naturally leads to panic. The thought process when approaching a traffic circle is always the same: "Stay on the outside.... ok, that guy wants to get in, so I will merge to the inside.... now I am trapped on the inside.... I think I have now gone around this thing 3 times...AHHH, WE'RE TRAPPED!!!.... ok, screw it, I am going for it" at which point Mark cuts off all of the other drivers and ends up back on the same road from which he entered the traffic circle.
Step 7: Ignore Step 6, Avoid Traffic Circles
This is better than Step 6.
Step 8: Have fun out there.
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