gnumatt

Place dJemaa el-Fna in Marrakech, Morocco

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.