"Please enter your secret number now"
Extracts from the diary: That's exactly what it is. None of this Personal Identity Number (PIN) crap. This was from a cash machine in Maroc - Casablanca even. I've decided it would be a good idea to make up some travellers business cards to hand out to the random people you meet on your travels. After all, you never have a pen or a piece of paper. But what if you just had a stack of 'personal cards' - could come in handy at the pub too. Everyone can swap myspace.com accounts...and count all their friends! Wow, it must be comforting to know you are their 253rd friend and are part of someone's extended network...Given the amount of people I tend to meet it would be pretty much impossible to keep in contact with all of them. Maybe that's a interesting aside of the internet - the ability to keep hold of acquaintances more easily. So the question is when do acquaintances become friends?
In saying that i have and still do have regular contact with a lot of people I have met on the road. Some of course are strategic...and others are just genuinely nice people.
Some impressions of Moroccan people: it's a classic tourist trap haven. You can of course buy cheap knick knacks at exorbitant prices, there is also the existence of the tourist price especially for taxis, guides - another classic although it didn't get offered too much to me, I just got offered lots of drugs, I got offered to smuggle drugs back into Europe twice by some dodgy dealers from Chefchaouen. I didn't get down to what price I could have earned as the thought of swallowing a couple of kilo's of hash, heroin, or opium didn't really enthuse me...I think greed is a big factor in Moroccan society. Yes they are a poor people and they have a right to exploit tourists as Europe has exploited them in the past. People would steal sugar cubes from my coffee at the cafe! Children would demand money for no service offered, just expecting you to fork over the cash, bragaining would involve the question after the deal was cut of "...and just some small dirhams for me?". I think it's a mixture of cheekiness, arrogance over stupid tourists, communication difficulties, entrepreneurism, and of course poverty. Damn poverty can be annoying!
Chefchaouen was a classic all-time hippie hang out. Evereyone there was offering hash...old ladies and children included, or at least it would not be surprising. There are plantations up in the hills surrounding the town for which you can do a tour of for 200dh or so...it was disappointing.
In saying that i have and still do have regular contact with a lot of people I have met on the road. Some of course are strategic...and others are just genuinely nice people.
Some impressions of Moroccan people: it's a classic tourist trap haven. You can of course buy cheap knick knacks at exorbitant prices, there is also the existence of the tourist price especially for taxis, guides - another classic although it didn't get offered too much to me, I just got offered lots of drugs, I got offered to smuggle drugs back into Europe twice by some dodgy dealers from Chefchaouen. I didn't get down to what price I could have earned as the thought of swallowing a couple of kilo's of hash, heroin, or opium didn't really enthuse me...I think greed is a big factor in Moroccan society. Yes they are a poor people and they have a right to exploit tourists as Europe has exploited them in the past. People would steal sugar cubes from my coffee at the cafe! Children would demand money for no service offered, just expecting you to fork over the cash, bragaining would involve the question after the deal was cut of "...and just some small dirhams for me?". I think it's a mixture of cheekiness, arrogance over stupid tourists, communication difficulties, entrepreneurism, and of course poverty. Damn poverty can be annoying!
Chefchaouen was a classic all-time hippie hang out. Evereyone there was offering hash...old ladies and children included, or at least it would not be surprising. There are plantations up in the hills surrounding the town for which you can do a tour of for 200dh or so...it was disappointing.
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