Oh yeah–I think I read somewhere that William Burroughs wrote The Naked Lunch there. Anyway, I know he spent quite a bit of time there.
I am not sure I have enough knowledge of Morocco to start such a thread. Plus I am not sure this kind of thread would have a good reception. Did anyone start threads like: “ask the kenyan guy” or “ask the malaysian guy” ? hmmm, I’ll have to investigate that. I’d love to learn more about other countries.
I didn’t have the best experience when I visitied Tangier for a day a few years ago, but I’ll speak about my experiences as best I can. (I was studying in Spain and took the ferry down to Africa.)
I and a group of other students chartered a package tour deal–which turned out to largely be a tourist trap, as they kept taking us places where we would end up spending money. The guides did at least give us a nice tour of the city by pointing out historical sites, celebrity homes, a giant pet cemetary, etc. Not a horrible trip, but I did often feel pressured into buying stuff.
The street vendors were…problematic, as you simply had to be the most assertive you could be, plus another 10%, to get them to leave you alone. Fortunately, I didn’t have any money with me, so once I made this obvious by showing my empty pockets, they backed off. (Being harassed by vendors wasn’t a new experience–this happened a lot when I was in Athens–it was the magnitude of vendors that surprised me.)
I found the fact that so many people had to make a living this way rather sad, but it was an eye-opening cultural experience. I largely came under the impression that Morocco doesn’t have a middle class–in fact, all the homes we saw were either extravagant mansions or crowded hovels. Is this impression correct?
I was glad to be in a large group, because we were repeatedly warned of theft and even kidnapping. There was a thin blonde girl on our trip, and some street men actually offered to purchase her from us in exchange for two camels. (I was holding out for three, but what can you do… :rolleye:) The best we could do was hold onto our wallets and stick close.
Two plusses: the food at the Moroccan restaurant at which we ate was great (we got a belly dancer at that), and I got to see a snake charmer in action.
Gozu, I hope my impressions aren’t more negative than they’re intended to be. I realize that I kinda flew through your country in the course of a few hours, and that Tangier is only a small part of it. Anyway, I’m learning a lot more from the other Dopers above. (Hi Kyla!)
Quite unrelated but, if I am not mistaken, Winston Churchill loved marrakesh and used to paint there.
Ah, and by the way, the fact that I didn’t start an “ask the Moroccan guy” doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be willing to try answering your questions to the best of my abilities.
and what are you guys doing browsing the board a saturday night? 
Not much. I know they were one of the formative influences on medieval Spain, that they’re fighting with Spain over several small, rocky islands on the Meditteranean coast, that our Secretary of State Colin Powell made a none-too-convincing show of soliciting your king’s advice on the mideast conflict recently, and that Matt Lauer of the TODAY show filmed a segment there earlier this year.
I couldn’t name any famous Moroccan singers, writers or actors.
ResIpsaLoquitor : You are right, I would never recommend anyone to pick Tangier for an extended stay.
First, the north of morocco is where all the marijuana crops are. It has a much higher ratio of drug dealers (some harmless, some dangerous) than the rest of the country. Those big mansions you mentionned (and you didn’t see the mini-palaces a little south or west of tangier) are often owned by the plantation’s owners. the hotels are usually packed with tourists and moroccans from the south (especially marrakesh which becomes hot as hell in the summer)
Second, The rifis (pronounce: ‘reefees’) who are the berber population of the Mountains in the north of Morocco are…umm…very machos/machists. There is an anecdote of a rifi whose mule has died asking a friend of his if he could borrow his wife to go shop at the market. You don’t want to repeat this to a rifi since they are also very brave and fiersome warriors. (they gave so many problems to the spanish with their guerilla methods that they were left alone during the colonisation). Anyone who only visits the north of Morocco would get a distorted image of how women are treated.
third: The north being a quite poor region, many people depend on the rich european tourists for a living. That causes many annoyances and bad impressions among the visitors.
The camel anecdote is quite funny. Camels (believe me) are a rarity in Morocco. You find a few in the north which are used mainly as tourism attractions and in the deep south (Sahara desert and surroundings) by the bedouins. I tend to believe that guy was only joking.
I have a friend online from Morocco who gets REALLY pissed off if someone suggests he is an Arab.
He is a BERBER, and he makes that abundantly clear.
Yes. Most berbers are proud of their identity and wouldn’t want to be mistaken for “aroubis” which is a mildly pejorative term derivated from “arabs”. Nowadays, it means “ignorant peasants”. Of course, berbers have a reputation to be miserly among other groups. In the same vein, fassis (from Fez) have a reputation to be manipulative, Casaouis (from casablanca) to be savages, marrakchis (from marrakesh) to be repressed homosexuals, and the list goes on
Morocco… those are those things that you shake them and they make a rattling noise, right?
I am a US citizen, which I forgot to mention earlier, but where I’m living now, it’s Sunday morning.
[sub]Of course, last night I was also at home browsing the board.[/sub]
If there’s one thing to avoid when going to Morroco, it’s these one-day packages to Tangiers from Spain. That’s the overwhelming opinion of most of the people who went there. Your (negative) experience is pretty typical. You’re basically transformed in a wallet on two legs for the day. Tangiers isn’t representative of Morroco. Guides, shop-keepers, street vendors etc… can be pretty obnoxious in places where there are a lot of tourists (in Marrackech, for instance) but it’s nowhere close to Tangiers.
As for the the shoggy-looking building, you could occasionnally be surprised to find out that a house which looks like it’s about to crumble is furnished like a palace when you’re inside. In my limited experience, when morrocan people have enough money to afford it, the interior decoration of houses (furniture, table sets, trinkets, etc…) can be amazing. Of course, there are not much of them which can afford to live in luxury…but still…
And the “trading the girl for camels” thing is an usual joke made by shopkeepers to tourists.
how long have you been in Morocco clairobscur?
Please tell me the fez is still in fashion.
Well, some people still wear it. I think I wore it twice in my entire life. It’s kind of ridiculous and it’s use decreased drastically these couple last generations.
I know that Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin) wrote the lyrics to Kashmir while driving the road from Goulimine to Tan-Tan. Why he decided to call it Kashmir, I have no idea.
because it sounded good I guess.
[ul][li]The Marrakesh Express (Thanks Crosby, Stills & Nash)[/li][li]Fez’s (Thanks to The Simpsons)[/li][li]Princess Grace. Aye Carumba! That’s Morocco. (Thanks Simpsons)[/li][/ul]
:smack: X 1000!
That’s Monaco!
D’oh!
:wally
For the record, despite the fact that I know I used to know it (I remember taking a test and getting it right) I couldn’t even accuratly point to Morocco on a map.
I know nothing about it at all. I can spell it, and that is about it.
I think of the desert and the French Foreign Legion. There is an ongoing revoultion in Western Sahara/Spanish Morocco isn’t there? I seem to recall something about a fence built accross the country to stop guerrilla infiltraters. Also I remember hearing something about human rights abuses from that war.