Marrakech, Morocco: A great place to leave

That sounds a bit harsh so let me first clarify. Marrakech is most often used as a jump-off point to various Moroccan excursions- the beach, the waterfalls, the mountains, or camel trips into the desert. As such, the city is full of tourists either on the way in or out of some North African adventure. And because of the tourism and the general commerce as the country's largest southernmost city, the denizens have used the influx of money to attempt to drag the city out of the 9th century. So what you have is a more cosmopolitan, less pedestrian friendly, slightly less labyrinthy version of Fes but with all the necessary modern accoutrements of a metropolis such as a proper train station complete with a McDonald's. But Marrakesh is cosmopolitan in the way Cairo is cosmopolitan, which is to say: it's not. That said, the ride in on the train it definitely feels more like what I expected out of Morocco.

The city itself isn't hateable, I just wouldn't ever advise going there unless you are using it as an aforementioned excursion jump-off point. It's still laybrinthy enough to be confusing, there are motorcycles everywhere on the pedestrian streets kicking dust and gas fumes in your face (if you're lucky enough not to be hit by them), the people harass the shit out of you to buy stuff, and it's expensive comparatively with the rest of the cities I visited in Morocco. For example, beef couscous was 70 dirham at a very unassuming looking place. It would have been 35-40 in Chefchaouen. And then the guy had the balls to demand a tip. Just because I'm not Moroccan we throw customs out the window? Come on Mustafa. Seriously though, that was his name, no raciso. In his defense the terrace had a nice view of the setting sun.

In any event there isn't much to see in the city proper. A few palaces and the Jewish quarter. Lots of shops. No places except foreign restaurants and hotels to get a beer. Bleh. I miss tapas. Anyway, one good thing is that you'll never get lost in Marrakech as every third Moroccan will, unsolicited, come up to you and say "main square, that way!" and point you toward the main square. Granted, the main square is nice but I think most Marrkechians would have all tourists roaming ceaseless laps around the square buying an infeasible amount of oranges.

I actually set out from the hostel specifically to get lost in Marrakech. After my inability to navigate anywhere in Essaouira I wanted to truly get lost and then have to find my way back. But damnit if the Marrakechians were there to foil me at every turn. At one point a guy came up to me and said the customary "main square, that way." And I replied that I didn't care and was just out walking. Then he says "tannery, you know, goat, camel, sheep, leather- that way." We were at a three-way fork in the road. He had described two of the paths. So I started down the third. And he said "no. nothing that way. Sahara that way." To which I naturally replied, "perfect. shukran (thank you)." and proceeded toward the desert. He stood there mumbling what I could only assume was something along the lines of "stupid f'king tourists!" It wasn't a complete loss though, I did find a great place to primp my coiffiture!

But yea, not much to see overall. I liked what (another) Mustafa indicated was the kasbah. I didn't have the time or patience to verify after he (like everyone else there) tried to shake me down for some cash. But I did snap this picture which I'm awfully fond of.

The last thing I'll leave you with is a photo of an interesting phenomenon across Morocco. During election season, there are so many parties and also I think the illiteracy rate is quite high, so the government goes around to main avenues and spray paints boxes with a designated number and a picture of the party that will correspond to the number on the ballot. That way people who want to vote for the party designated by a pair of sunglasses only needs to locate the number of said sunglasses on the wall and then cast their vote accordingly. It's actually quite an ingenious system to combat the illiteracy. Although, I'm not sure it quite does anything for the problem of voters not being educated about who they are voting for...

So, yea. Marrakech. A great place to leave. Which is precisely what I did the next morning aboard the Marrakech Express. Next stop, Casablanca. Wow, lots to say about this place before I even step off the train. But you, dear reader, will just have to wait until the next entry... whenever that shall be.