Bullshit Artists Guides In The Desert

Trip Start Sep 29, 2007

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Where I stayed

Chez Julie

(Errachidia hotels)

Flag of Morocco Errachidia, Morocco
Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Today was a travel day in transit on a local bus that was dusty, cramped and slow but this was made up for by the spectacular scenery we passed. We took the local bus 65 dirham each with desert residents and a couple of blue turban wearing camel men to Er-Rachidia that looked to be a transport hub for all directions and then wanted to make it to Merzouga where we are planning to do a camel trek into the Sahara Desert, Berber style. This is another of my fantasies from childhood which has come about after too many bedtime stories about Ali Baba and his Forty Thieves and Alladin type arabian night dreams. Originally we were going to do the five day camel trek into the Erg Chigaga dunes south of Marrakech but everybody has told us that it is too long on a camel and you start to go insane. We already are insane and we admit it but we decided it was too long on a camel anyway. We paid the bus baggage guy 10 dirhams from each of us to ensure he didnt do anything dodgy with our packs along the way. The bus travel in Morocco is tiring and very hot and the local bus seats are bolted down so they stand directly upright and leave no room for your legs.

The road passed through palm-fringed towns with high mountains on all sides and passed lots of desert dwellings that looked like kasbah ruins

surprise lake

. We passed goats, camels and sheep herders and donkeys and we saw Berber people on the side of the mountains in their tents. A nice surprise was the appearance of a dam called Barrage Hassan Adakhil which was a beautiful turquiose blue colour and made for a surreal vision with the blue sitting in contrast to the desert sand colour.

There were some annoying men starers on the bus even though we had our sarong wraps on our shoulders. At one stop a guy got off the bus, got his bags from underneath then pulled an axe out of one of the bags and tried to board the bus again to hit someone with it. Luckily some of his buddies held him back. Everybody is agro during the day over the Ramadan month. Not being allowed even water to drink when these are desert people is a ridiculous rule. A person needs water in the desert, a man is not a camel. Us three didnt drink anything all day because there are no toilet stops on the bus and this is a cause for anxiety. The consequence is that Merete now has a killer headache and i have given her some of Dons panadiene forte.

Ramadan is a shocker, there is absolutely no alcohol available in Morocco unless we go to a ritzy hotel which we dont want to do. There is no cold beer and life without the pleasure of food or drinks is not fun. We are kind of in Ramadan mode because it is extremely offensive to eat in front of the Moroccans and there is not all that much food available during the day. We snuck some food on the bus and shoved our faces into our daypacks to eat it;

The day ended in a bit of a nightmarish drama

bus schedule

. This is how it went. After making it to Er-Rachidia and getting off the bus we were immediately hit up by three men claiming they were going to drive a collectivo (Mercedes taxi) to Merzouga and would take us for 35dirhams each including our luggage. Immediately we sensed a stitch up but the bus to Rissani near Merzouga was still two hours away from leaving, there were three of us and these fellows were leaving straight away; A grand taxi carrying six people for long distances is a normal thing in Morocco however in hindsight, we should have negotiated a taxi deal on our own; As a rule, we dont normally get into waiting taxis at bus stops, they are either too expensive or the driver has a hidden agenda, hidden agenda it was today;

Traditionally the domain of tough tribes, it is hardly surprising that there is still a healthy tradition of rogues and charlatans here. Being the low-season and very few tourists around, the touts are worse now and they already have the reputation of being the worst for hassling in Morocco. Added to this is that we are female and travellers and without a male escort. The taxi ride started out okay with the guys trying to make conversation and there was even a police officer as a passenger in the car with us. Then after the copper was out of the car two of the guys started telling us that they wouldnt be taking us into Merzouga as negotiated but to "their" family kasbah hotel that was located in the dunes at Hassi Labied near Merzouga

passing kasbahs

. The guys were going to take us to an isolated hotel and recieve a commission for depositing us there. We would have no escape and they would hassle us nonstop until we gave in. Then they told us we would be eating there and be doing a camel tour with them, extremely pushy businessmen, we are not used to being told what we will do on our travels. Bollocks we said and told them we wanted to be close to town for supplies of food and cigarettes. We wanted to hook up our own camel deal face to face with a camel man in town but we didnt tell them that. We knew what their game was and we didnt like it and refused to be told what to do. There was many lies being told. We were even offered free accommodation and food at one point because they make their money by securing camel tour people. The conversation continued in painful circles with us telling them we wanted to go into town and them telling us we would be going to their hotel, exhausting. We were very annoyed and were in a difficult situation sitting in a taxi flying at speed through the desert. They tried to make us feel obligated to stay with them and would put on the hard sell then retreat and be friendly.

We were driven off the main road in the dark, down a dirt road and away from Merzouga until we reached the hotel that turned out to be really nice; The guys were fairly aggressive because we were not giving up to them. We understand that this is how business is done here but nobody tells the truth during the deal and that annoys us

my kitten friend at the bus

. It is far from the straight up Australian way of business. If we stayed here we were stuck here with these men who would eat with us and shove mint tea down our throats and insist on camel treks with them and show us pictures etc etc. There would be no privacy. We asked to be taken to Merzouga and the response was that we would be staying at their hotel until the morning. A host man in a Berber dressing gown and turban arrived with a silver teapot and started pouring mint tea despite us telling him there would be no tea. We raised our voices and made a little scene and some other travellers came to see what was happening but they didnt help the situation. Eventually the guys said they would drive us back to Rissani which is 40km back where we had come from. Bollocks we said. They were terrified we were going to go to the police and told us we could be driven to Merzouga for an extra 100 dirham. We had no other choice except to stay in the hotel so we took the taxi for an extra 15dirham each and checked in to Chez Julia kasbah where we were greeted by three tranquilo Berber men dressed in the blue and gold robes. We took a rooftop terrace option and sat down for some mint tea made with LoVe.

So far we have not really spoken to any Muslim women, they are all wrapped up hidden away in their robes and veils or in the home.

We are very close to the Algerian border here, just 20 kilometres away and are looking forward to a camel trek into the dunes, now, to get a fair deal, wish us luck.