Free to Look

Shopping is fun, and I will admit that I almost every trip I take contains some shopping component, but Marrakesh took the shopping experience to a whole new level. In the souks, or local markets, shopping is an interactive, high-inducing, emotional roller-coster. Really, I have never done anything like it. First, you have to be able to picture the scene: narrow back alleys that refuse to go in a straight line. Lines of small shops filled to the brim with bright colors and air wafting the exotic scent of incense while people, motorcycles, and donkey-draw carts fight for space in the narrow streets. The people around speak Arabic, French, Spanish, English, German, and surely more. As you walk by the shop owners call out greetings in all languages in the hopes of catching your eye and ushering you into their shop. This madness goes on indefinitely and a foreigner could wander the twisting streets for hours without ever emerging. It is truly other world.

Friday afternoon I got my first taste of the souks and Saturday afternoon two friends and I plunged into an unknown alley to begin our shopping earnest. There are several different types of shops. There are the shoes shops that sell the Aladdin-like pointy-toed slippers as well as some many other leather slippers and sandals. Then there are the wooden-goods stores with jewelry boxes, small figurines, and beautiful bowls. Jewelry was also very popular. Some was delicate silver earrings and bracelets while other shops featured heavier, stone necklaces that the shop keepers said were from the Berber tribes of Africa. My favorite were the textile shops - endless amounts of pashmina scarves, bedspread, kaftan shirts, and more. The colors were incredible.

Souk shopping is exciting because you have to bargain for what you want. To not bargain is an insult. Now, I have never bargained before and I was more than a little nervous about it, but I had read a lot on the Lonely Planet message boards and was armed with some useful tips. In case you're headed to Morocco anytime soon, here they are: 1. Since you're a foreigner, seller inflate prices ridiculously. Begin bargaining with 1/3 of the asking price. 2. Don't get angry and be rude. Bargaining is part of the buying process and shop keepers take kindly to those who seem to be having fun. 3. Never offer a price if you're not willing to buy at that price. It's incredibly bad etiquette to name a price and then decide you don't really want it. 4. The sellers will never go below a price they are willing to pay, so if they're not budging just walk away.

It took me a little while to warm up, but pretty soon I was bargaining all over the place. I am SURE I got cheated, but everything was still pretty cheap and I honestly cannot remember an afternoon that was more fun. As my friends and I walked past the different shops, the men tried all sorts of tactics to make us try and stop. My personal favorite was the one who yelled "ugly girl, ugly girl - look over here!" Needless to say, I didn't look. Another good one was "free to look." The shop owners would come up to us in the middle of the street and remind us that it was free to look, wouldn't we just take a peek to make them happy? When I was interested I would wander into a shop, answer the owner's greeting, and insist I didn't want help (smiling the whole time). The men were not so easily persuaded, however, and if they saw me eyeing a shirt they would pull it off the hanger and try to put it on me. The first time this happened, I vehemently said no and skedaddled, but after a few stores I realized this was just the way it worked and did try on a few things. I always tried to ask how much something cost before trying it on, but the men would just say that it was a "democratic price" and ignore me. After I tried it on and decided I liked it, they would finally, finally list a price. Of course, it was ridiculously high. I would laugh and give a ridiculously low price. (At least, I thought it was ridiculously low - I never was quite sure of the value of anything). I'd go up a little and then just keep saying that price. They'd come down a little, I'd go up a little more (I always ended up giving in before they did) and then if they still didn't like it I'd begin to walk away. That's when they would call after me, I'd return and we'd settle on something we were both happy with. The whole thing really was a rush, although, like I said, I'm sure they still cheated me.

There were some negative experiences (one guy got really, really angry and wouldn't let me friend go when she decided she didn't want something) but there were also some really positive ones. We went around a corner and these three guys thought it would be really funny to wrap scarves around us in the Berber style. At first we were terrified, but I think they meant well and it was all in good fun (nothing got stolen and they didn't make us buy anything). There was also a guy who wrote our names in Arabic and another who professed his love for us. By the end of the day I was exhausted and my wallet was a lot lighter, but it was an awesome afternoon.