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Place dJemaa el-Fna in Marrakech, Morocco
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Picture taken in February 2004.

The Place dJemaa el-Fna is one of the most amazing places I've ever been. I had always heard about the medinas of Morocco but this is the place that blew me away. At night the square fills with vendors, story tellers, snake charmers, pick pockets, drug dealers, acrobats and all sorts of other folk. The atmosphere was intoxicating and I meandered in open-mouthed awe around the square. I was lucky to be there right after the Moroccan soccer team had won second place in the Africa's Cup. The whole country was going nuts, and especially in that square.

This picture was taken by a snake charmer. I have a small snake in my hand and they have numerous cobras spread out around them. Shortly after this he wrapped a cobra around my neck and showed me off to the crowd. I was left clutching at the snake's head wondering if it was poisonous. They took more pictures of me with the cobra on. Shortly after that he clandestinely hit me up for 200 dirham, or about $20. This was still early on in my trip and I hadn't really grasped that everything has a price, or the importance of setting that price beforehand. I didn't feel in a position to bargain with him so I quietly dropped some money down for him and walked away.

Posted 09/26/04 @10:51 PM · Feedback (3/0)

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It sounds amazing.....

Posted by Jen on 09/26/04 @11:59 PM

Cool . . . yes EVERYTHING has to be negotiated in Morocco LOL.
$20 seems to be what they hit up tourists for. It's kind of a scam. $10 or even $5 is a good price.I had a taxi driver curse me out one night because he wanted $10 for a ride that should have been about $2 for locals/$4 for tourists. I only *had* about $5 left at that point (home from the medina!) so that's what he got. It gets to be a pain, but still, well worth this little hassle to see Morocco.
We found out that travelling as a couple gave us a great edge! If we saw something we liked, Denise would go in alone and ask the price. They would say $30 or whatever, and she would offer, say $10. They'd come down to $25, and she would offer $15 - looking sad and explaining that "her husband would not let her spend any more." I would walk in at this point and give her a "look." Well, with the Muslim sensibilities, the ploy of the husband restricting spending was very understood - and they usually settled for her final price.
Note that we weren't cheating anyone - they all got a very good price compared to what a native would pay.

Posted by Charles on 10/02/04 @03:53 AM

You might enjoy this picture of Denise at the snake chamer's:
http://www.sixdifferentways.com/images/snakecharmer1.html

Posted by Charles on 10/02/04 @03:55 AM

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