.gif "And Then We Got Scammed in Morocco, Thrice!")
The ‘helpful’ guide
.jpg "And Then We Got Scammed in Morocco, Thrice!")
We continued our day and just laughed about it. I laughed at Nico and his gullibility, forgetting that karma is a bitch that will come back to me with the velocity of Speedy Gonzales…
The henna doodles
So, there you go, 4 days into our vacation we got exactly what we were trying to avoid: classic Moroccan scams. Did we learn anything? We thought we did, until we got to Marrakech. Nothing could have prepared us for Marrakech’s endless touting and fake-nice-guys everywhere.
Fake-nice-guys are those who know exactly the second you feel that you are lost and they will just relentlessly try to strike up a chat, leaving you with no space or time to think, they will make you walk with them and therefore they have the right to ask you for money because they ‘have helped’ you showing the direction you need. They can be very rude if they don’t get the amount of money they want. I have heard from fellow travelers in our hotel that they had a worse experience with those fake-nice-guys.
I have read that this kind of fake-nice-guys are an organized crime, well, okay, saying it is a crime is a bit too much (maybe). But here is the thing, once you are looking a bit lost or ponder where are you heading to, a guy will always come, either he was (acting) he was just passing by next to you, or directly wave at you. Then somehow along the way, his cousin pops up and he will ask his cousin to help you with direction because he needs to be somewhere else. This gesture should make you feel like you are in a good hand, that the guy was only wanted to help you. They do it so smoothly and naturally, well I bet they had the chance to practice it a couple hundreds time a day to every tourist they see. Don’t be so naive. Will they actually bring you to your destination? They will make you walk in circles until you get confused and lost, in the hope that you will appreciate them with a certain amount of money for ‘saving your live’ and bring you back to the square, or whatever tourism spot you were heading to.
And then there was Marrakesh
Things to do to avoid these scams (or any scam) while you travel in Morocco:
- Download google maps apps before you even take your flight. It has a fantastic offline GPS usage,
- Get yourself a sim-card once you arrived at the airport and get connected as fast as possible,
- Politeness is your passport in this world, but don’t be naive,
- Take everyone, every cat call, every comment you got with a grain of salt, shrug it off and walk away,
- Ignore anyone who offer you a help if you don’t need one, politely and firmly,
- Always walk as if you have a purpose,
- Never take unofficial guides. If you need a guide, ask your hotel,
- For women, try to dress properly, covering knees and shoulders, to draw less attention,
- Bargain when you shop at the medinas, give your counter bargain down to the amount you want to pay right away, don’t waste your time (and the vendor’s), pay for it or leave it,
- Shop in Fes, instead of Marrakech, more choices and better price.
