NOTHING DISCOURAGES PUSHY SALESMEN

By Bob Van Leer

  (MARRAKESH, MOROCCO, July 1, 1992) - Today featured a tour through the Kasbah in Marrakesh, shopping at local markets and concluded with dinner, dances and a show put on by Berber tribes.

  In the Kasbah and surrounding markets were the pushiest salesmen we've ever seen. Nothing you say discourages them until they are finally convinced you are absolutely not going to buy.

  In one large ship I made the mistake of showing interest in a muzzle-loading pistol. It was an antique, but badly abused and not something I would want at any price.

  The salesman started off at $500 U.S. I turned him down and walked away. He followed asking me to name a price. When I wouldn't he started dropping his price. In the crowded store I walked down other aisles hiding from him.

   I couldn't leave the store until our guide returned and the entire party was ready to go.

  Going outside to the alleyway was not an option either. Out there it was like running the gauntlet of peddlers worse than those in the store.

  The store peddler kept finding me and dropping the price. The $500 pistol dropped to $100 before he finally gave up in disgust. 

Pull At Your Clothes

  In the narrow alleyways the peddlers shove things in your face. They try to get you to take their wares in your hand. They tug on your clothing, follow you for blocks.

  We would have bought more if shopping wasn't such a hassle. As it was, mainly we wanted to get out of there.

  Prices are high in Morocco and much of the merchandise they were trying to sell us is available elsewhere at lower prices.

  Even after a little bargaining a peddler wanted 150 durhan ($18.75) for a quite ordinary T-shirt.
Showing money in the Kasbah is like throwing some bread to one seagull. Almost immediately there are dozens around.

  We were taken on a tour of a palace built by a sultan to house his four wives and couple of dozen concubines. Muslim men are permitted four wives.

  I asked our guide, Achmed, if multiple wives were still common and he said not. He said mainly the old people had more than one.

Two Wives

  His father had two wives. The reasons for the fading of multiple wives, he said, are two-fold.

  One is simply the cost of having more than one. The second is the beginning of a "Women's Lib" movement even among the Muslims.

  The Berber entertainment included dining on Berber dishes in a tent while being entertained by drummers, singers and dancers.

  One annoying thing here is everyone wants to be tipped for any minor thing done. Every dancer and singer wanted money and they are not shy about asking.

   Berber horsemen put on a show and those guys were good. One rider at a full gallop would bounce his feet off the ground on one side of his horse, swing himself up and over his horse and bounce on that side and then back and forth.

  Another picked a rag off the arena floor at a full gallop. The riders hung from their saddles by their knees and feet and did one run with one rider on the shoulders of the one in the saddle.

Sirocco Wind

  Random notes: there is a desert wind, "sirocco" that comes up about 5:30-6:00 p.m. and blows until about 9:00-9:30 p.m.

  Power was off for a couple of hours this afternoon. This is not nearly such a pleasant place without access to air conditioning.

  This is our last night in Marrakesh and tomorrow we head northwest to Casablanca, Morocco's largest city, which is situated on the Atlantic Ocean. Casablanca is best known for the Humphrey Bogart movie of the same name.