Fairytale Moroccan City & Scams At Every Turn
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2007
1
147
221
Trip End
Ongoing
Ait Ben Haddou, Morocco
Monday, September 15, 2008
Aït Ben-Haddou, a UNESCO Heritage site is a 'fortified city', or ksar, along the former caravan route between the Sahara Desert and Marrakech. It is situated in Souss-Massa-Draâ on a hill along the Ouarzazate River and has some beautiful examples of kasbahs, which unfortunately get damaged each rainstorm. The city looks like it is either a giant sandcastle or that is has been carved out of a rock, superb. We thought we were visiting a city where Moroccans live but we soon found out last night that most of the town's inhabitants now live in a more modern village at the other side of the river. Last night the town was in darkness and this explains why
Ait Ben Haddou city
. There are only eight families living in the actual kasbah.The down side to the town is the busloads of tourists who attack the town in the afternoon. The tourists are package tour-style tourists in crisp clothes (skin not covered up), sunburned, not talking to each other with guide and ritzy bus. It made for some good tourist watching though and we briefly considered hiring a donkey for a couple of dirhams and dressing in our Berber blue shirt and turban to make a few dollars on photos taken with tourists with us in costume.We took photos of them and their buses.
I awoke just as the sun was rising and skipped out to the terrace to see the sun light up the kasbah and turn it from shadow to peachy pink. The surrounding area was desert in all shades of colours. Nobody else was up and about. A couple of Berber women sporting the black tattoo line that extends from their bottom lip to their chin wandered passed below our terrace leading donkeys into the fields for the days work giving us a defining Moroccan travel moment. The group of earthen buildings surrounded by high walls are a traditional pre-Saharan habitat and a striking example of the architecture of southern Morocco. I was very impressed with the surreal vision and even more impressed that Nadine had got up at 6 clock to see it
sunrise
. We could also see the set of the film they wrapped up filming on yesterday and it is The Price Of Persia. Alot of the locals work on the films doing construction or security of props for a few extra dirhams.We had our breakfast in the sun then set out to explore the Kasbah taking in sights from different angles. On the way down to the kasbah we were harrassed to go into stores with calls of you are first customer of the day, Bon Journo! and Belgium! France! England! Spain! Australia!, Just come in for a look etc etc. I gave in and bought some red sequined genie shoes whilst looking for the perfect pair of Moroccan leather shoes for mum. It went a little pair shaped from here on in.
Stupid us were enticed into a store by a guy wearing what looked like an orange coloured cat looking turban on his head. The fellow immediately began heating a tiny stove with a teapot on it to serve us mint tea as is customary. The tea again. Even the most financially modest Moroccan is equipped with a tea pot and a few glasses. Although sometimes the offer is more of a lure into a shop than a hospitable gesture it is polite to accept. Before drinking you are supposed to look the host in the eye and say 'bi saha raha'. It means enjoy and relax. Well he was trying to make us relax and we were enjoying a laugh as he tried out some bad you are Fatima (daughter of the prophet Mohammed) and your friend is called cous cous jokes on us
clay animals
. Next he hands us some paper and asks me to write a letter in English to his friend in Australia who he wants to invite to his sisters wedding in The Sahara Desert. Yeh Right, as if. This is a vriation on a common scam. So, we should have left but found the experience quite hilarious. By the time i had finished the letter the guy had the tea ready and then produced strand after strand of necklaces, bracelots and other "authentic Berber" jewellery from some treasure chests he had stowed back of shop. He claimed to have crossed the deserts of Morocco sourcing genuine vintage jewellery from all over and continued to hand us pieces and put them on the rugs at our feet. Then he dabbed exotic perfume all over Nadine to get her in the mood for buying i suspect and i had to firmly push his hand away before he got me with the fragrance as well. At one point the guy did some massaging of Nadines head to "cure her hayfever forever" after she sneezed continuously as a result of the bad perfume. He asked us if we wanted to sleep in his shop with him. We gave in and bought some pieces, visited some more shops where the guys were even sleazier (how many camels to buy you? and you can sleep on the rooftop with me, free Berber massage) and got the hell out of dodge then moved on and into the kasbah.Getting money is the game here. Some local children grabbed our arms hard and tried to escort us across some rocks over a little stream of water we had to cross to get into the kasbah and we had to basically push them off us
Nadine
. We were scammed again on the entrance because builders working in teams had written a sign in French that said something about paying 10dirhams to enter the kasbah an contribute to renovations. Then another guy waved us away saying the free entrance was private. Wanna be tour guide touts annoyed us until we paid the 10 and wnt inside. There are steps leading in all directions and people kept pointing us in the way of the tourist shops until we decided to just make our own path to the top and get the good views over the site. Amazing place. We wandered back and hydrated in the hotel before going out to attempt the mission of purchasing stamps for the kids postcards.Tomorrow we go back out to the desert, this time to the real desert.
