Our adventures on our first night in Morocco left sort of a bad taste in our mouths, and Kristin and I were determined not to repeat such an experience on Tuesday. We hung out in the big square until around 9:30, then decided to take a taxi home. We had been warned about how to barter with the drivers, and knowing we had pretty much been screwed on the drive from the airport strengthened our (read Kristin’s) resolve. We were looking for the place where all the taxis line up when a driver walking down the street asked if we needed one. We showed him the address to our riad and he told us a price that was too high… 70 dihram “because it’s nighttime.” Kristin told him we had taken the same ride for 40 the night before (lie! this is how it works in Morocco). For my part, I nodded with whatever the driver said and prompted her just to get in. Demonstration of why I can’t move to Morocco. Finally, the two agreed on a price and off we went. Thus began a beautiful friendship. Said (pronounced Sigh-eed) spoke very good English in an accent that is somewhat similar to Borat’s. He told us that he takes people on excursions to the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara, encouraged us by describing fair prices, and even pulled out his phone to show us videos of previous trips. He told the kids bombarding the taxi to get lost for us (which was nice) and gave us his card. When Kristin tipped him 10 dihram, he smiled brightly, and we entered our riad, safe and sound and with one new friend in Morocco (bringing our native Moroccan total to one).
Kristin and I fell in love with Marrakech, and we were reluctant to add in the travel time and energy it would take to get to Fez. We decided to stay an extra night in our riad and take an overnight train to the port town of Tanger. This enabled us to call Said for a trip to the Atlas Mountains, which proved to be one of the best days of my life! He patiently led us through the sights on the way to the waterfall, directing us when tipping was necessary and when it was not. We toured a market and a women’s co-op where they made honey, a typical Berber house where we were served green tea, a Berber bridge, and a restaurant at the base of the waterfall hike. As opposed to others’ experiences with guides in Morocco, Said never pressured us to buy anything (although we’re sure commission was involved for him), and he told us the fair price for the guide for the waterfall hike when we arrived. Furthermore, he provided endless entertainment by humming Brittany Spears and telling us hilarious jokes (about 75% of which we understood). On our way out of the city, I noticed that no key was in the ignition, although we were humming along the highway. I saw Said pick the key up off the floor and put it in. After watching this several times and whispering to Kristin about it, we finally all talked about it together. He informed us that these are his “magic keys” and that sometimes it freaks tourists out but not to worry because he is very careful. From then on, whenever he picked the keys up to put them in the ignition, he would glance in the rearview mirror and we would all laugh. He coined us “Fatima” and “Aisha” and told everyone along the way that those were our names, and most people graciously played along. Of course, we gave him an American name as well, Frank.
More than just providing humor, Said talked about his world view and gave us advice. We talked about how there’s good and bad people everywhere, we talked about his religion and world religion, we talked about Morocco’s history and culture, we talked about family, and we learned about two words of Arabic. Had we not had to leave that night, we would have surely spent more time together. At the end of the day, he took us to the train station and we said a heartfelt goodbye. Don’t worry- Kristin and I have plans to return to Morocco to be guides in Said’s taxi business. :)
PS: Not sure if our day with Said makes a good blog entry. Not sure if people can understand! But rest assured that it was amazing. Amazing. Amazing. I love traveling and making connections with people quite different from ourselves!
Kristin and I fell in love with Marrakech, and we were reluctant to add in the travel time and energy it would take to get to Fez. We decided to stay an extra night in our riad and take an overnight train to the port town of Tanger. This enabled us to call Said for a trip to the Atlas Mountains, which proved to be one of the best days of my life! He patiently led us through the sights on the way to the waterfall, directing us when tipping was necessary and when it was not. We toured a market and a women’s co-op where they made honey, a typical Berber house where we were served green tea, a Berber bridge, and a restaurant at the base of the waterfall hike. As opposed to others’ experiences with guides in Morocco, Said never pressured us to buy anything (although we’re sure commission was involved for him), and he told us the fair price for the guide for the waterfall hike when we arrived. Furthermore, he provided endless entertainment by humming Brittany Spears and telling us hilarious jokes (about 75% of which we understood). On our way out of the city, I noticed that no key was in the ignition, although we were humming along the highway. I saw Said pick the key up off the floor and put it in. After watching this several times and whispering to Kristin about it, we finally all talked about it together. He informed us that these are his “magic keys” and that sometimes it freaks tourists out but not to worry because he is very careful. From then on, whenever he picked the keys up to put them in the ignition, he would glance in the rearview mirror and we would all laugh. He coined us “Fatima” and “Aisha” and told everyone along the way that those were our names, and most people graciously played along. Of course, we gave him an American name as well, Frank.
More than just providing humor, Said talked about his world view and gave us advice. We talked about how there’s good and bad people everywhere, we talked about his religion and world religion, we talked about Morocco’s history and culture, we talked about family, and we learned about two words of Arabic. Had we not had to leave that night, we would have surely spent more time together. At the end of the day, he took us to the train station and we said a heartfelt goodbye. Don’t worry- Kristin and I have plans to return to Morocco to be guides in Said’s taxi business. :)
PS: Not sure if our day with Said makes a good blog entry. Not sure if people can understand! But rest assured that it was amazing. Amazing. Amazing. I love traveling and making connections with people quite different from ourselves!
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