Thursday, April 13, 2006
Back to Marrakech
I am back in Marrakech for a couple of days, staying in the nicest Riad (converted Moroccan house) that I've been in so far. This has been the nicest part of my trip... I'm just on my own now, no fellow American entrepreneur tourists, just free to wander in the streets, the markets, the plazas, etc. I also have no guide, but the proprietor of the riad where I'm staying, a pleasant older Danish man named Peter, has been extremely welcoming and helpful. I'd say this has been the best part of my trip so far, and it's making me want to come back. Maybe I'll take up dealing in Moroccan carpets to finance my trips here.
As I've said before, I'm trying to make some sort of graceful transition from being a full-time businessperson into more of the performing arts, but I still have entrepreneurial blood, and everywhere I go I see opportunities and possibilities. On this last part of the trip I've made some really interesting contacts too, so who knows.
I've seen some lovely ceramics being done here, leather work, carpets, tanneries, tile, brass, furniture...
American tourists are targets here, not so much for theft as far as I can tell, but for shameless overcharging. They'll happily ask $2500 for a carpet, then negotiate down to $1500, telling you that is a rock-bottom wholesale price that leaves them just barely breaking even. Then when you get back to the states you can find something similar there for $1000 if you shop around... which means the dealers are paying quite a bit less, when you consider markups, shipping, overhead, etc. Last night I had a small streetside restaurant try to charge me about $40 for a meal that should have been $4. That was an interesting scene. They didn't get the full amount, but it cost me more money and stress than it should have. Another educational writeoff.
Since someone asked, yes, I got my luggage, after 3 days. Two hours before I got word that it had been located, I bought a few days' worth of new clothes which I soon discovered I didn't need. Oh well.
The architecture here is quite interesting. These old riads are former homes, rather large ones. They are maze-like, designed for a man who usually would have multiple wives. The idea would be that he is somewhere near the center of the maze, and he has access to all the areas of the house, the wives' and childrens' rooms, but they enter his area only by invitation. And of course the whole thing is enclosed, since women and children historically were kept cooped up in these gilded cages. To the outside world, it's just a big, nondescript box, with perhaps a somewhat decorative door/entrance, but that's about it. On the inside, safe, quiet, pleasant, welcoming spaces... beautiful rooms, courtyards, gardens, sitting areas, and of course the maze of staircases.
If I can scrape together a million or two, and a few wives, I could set up a nice operation in one of these riads, and do the B&B thing to finance the upkeep. Alas, polygamy has been outlawed here just within the last 10 years or so, and I was told it was just about 3 years ago that laws defining wives as property were taken off the books. I guess now having spouses or lovers as property has to be arranged in a private de facto way, as in the USA and the rest of the world.
I return to the USA in just a couple of days now. It has been a successful trip in many ways. I may get some of my photos up soon... though they were all taken with a cameraphone, which doesn't have the absolute best picture quality.
Thanks for reading.
As I've said before, I'm trying to make some sort of graceful transition from being a full-time businessperson into more of the performing arts, but I still have entrepreneurial blood, and everywhere I go I see opportunities and possibilities. On this last part of the trip I've made some really interesting contacts too, so who knows.
I've seen some lovely ceramics being done here, leather work, carpets, tanneries, tile, brass, furniture...
American tourists are targets here, not so much for theft as far as I can tell, but for shameless overcharging. They'll happily ask $2500 for a carpet, then negotiate down to $1500, telling you that is a rock-bottom wholesale price that leaves them just barely breaking even. Then when you get back to the states you can find something similar there for $1000 if you shop around... which means the dealers are paying quite a bit less, when you consider markups, shipping, overhead, etc. Last night I had a small streetside restaurant try to charge me about $40 for a meal that should have been $4. That was an interesting scene. They didn't get the full amount, but it cost me more money and stress than it should have. Another educational writeoff.
Since someone asked, yes, I got my luggage, after 3 days. Two hours before I got word that it had been located, I bought a few days' worth of new clothes which I soon discovered I didn't need. Oh well.
The architecture here is quite interesting. These old riads are former homes, rather large ones. They are maze-like, designed for a man who usually would have multiple wives. The idea would be that he is somewhere near the center of the maze, and he has access to all the areas of the house, the wives' and childrens' rooms, but they enter his area only by invitation. And of course the whole thing is enclosed, since women and children historically were kept cooped up in these gilded cages. To the outside world, it's just a big, nondescript box, with perhaps a somewhat decorative door/entrance, but that's about it. On the inside, safe, quiet, pleasant, welcoming spaces... beautiful rooms, courtyards, gardens, sitting areas, and of course the maze of staircases.
If I can scrape together a million or two, and a few wives, I could set up a nice operation in one of these riads, and do the B&B thing to finance the upkeep. Alas, polygamy has been outlawed here just within the last 10 years or so, and I was told it was just about 3 years ago that laws defining wives as property were taken off the books. I guess now having spouses or lovers as property has to be arranged in a private de facto way, as in the USA and the rest of the world.
I return to the USA in just a couple of days now. It has been a successful trip in many ways. I may get some of my photos up soon... though they were all taken with a cameraphone, which doesn't have the absolute best picture quality.
Thanks for reading.
