Er....Dave, I'm not sure if you mean that you didn't feel as threatened in Morocco as you have been in other countries, or that you didn't feel as threatened in other African countries as you did in Morocco.
I meant I felt safe there. Places like Nairobi scare me half to death!
FWIW, I would genuinely rather plonk myself alone at midnight in a backstreet of any random town in Morocco than the equivalent backstreet of any random town in England......There's hardly any alcohol culture in Morocco which makes it 10x safer in my experience.....there are no mental health care institutions like we have, so you do find more mentally ill people roaming the streets there than you do here, but thats extremely unlikey to cause a problem....more of a sad type of amusement if I'm honest about it.
Oh I definitely saw / met some folk a few sandwiches short of a picnic! All seemed smiles and lightness.
With a use name like 'Dave', I guess you're not a buxom wench, but given the choice, I'd also rather leave my Rosie in a bar or cafe in Morocco in the evening than in one in the UK as well....I suspect that the level of respect shown would be far higher and the level of risk far lower in Morocco than pretty much any UK town....You just don't see guys leaning from scaffolding in Morocco shouting out 'Waheeey darling, show us yer tits!'
Agreed. Except of course, everywhere you looked there were men sat round the tables in the cafe, smoking and drinking tea / coffee whilst the women were out in the fields or carrying huge loads on their backs.
I don't know if you got to talk properly with any Moroccans either...it sounds like you didnt TBH, because nearly all I've met are extremely proud and dignified people.....the Islamic culture (and I mean culture not faith) shows itself very strongly in helping others, being proud to serve rather than seeing it as a chore, respect and so on.
Yes I did. Took an impromtu guided tour round Imilchil with one chap who was a teacher. He was back visiting his father. Took us round the the whole place from the new medical faility to the fields. Wanted to show us the women working too so we could see the different tribes there - explained how the tribes frowned upon inter-tribe relations.
Also took a guided tour round Alnif with a chap who was very proud of the decaying Kasbah and the fact his uncle lived in one of the crumbling houses. Showed us the access for men, and seperate small doorway for women.
Since my French is pretty good I took the opportunity to talk to locals wherever I stopped - in the cafe's, garages, in the evenings etc. Everyone I met was helpful a friendly. They simply didn't see the trash for whatever reason and I was too polite to point it out.
I've also never seen so much pride in the UK as the Amazigh (Berbér) people demonstrate in their culture.....You don't get a Yorkshireman coming up to you and introducing himself as 'Dave, I'm a Yorkshireman', but it's extremely common in Morocco to identify yourself by tribe or clan.
The Berber were proud of being Berber and pretty much despised the Arabs, who had suppressed them for a very long time under the old king. Things were better now of course, but they pulled faces when the call to prayer went out!
It's a shame you've come away with the feelings you have......I don't think you've seen or felt the 'real' Morocco at all...
Have to disagree old chap. I HAVE seen the real Morocco, and "Yes it smells, yes, its rubbish strewn, yes, they do things their own way"
And it's not for me. I do not agree that being poor means you can't keep you own village tidy. Where is the pride in that?
Is it a display of Berber pride when they dress up in the traditional garb and drag fat French women out into the Dunes at sunset on camels? Or just someone capitalizing on a bit of history to make money like the blokes on Blackpool beach?
Is it pride which makes a kid insists you look at his wares when you have very firmly but politely said "I do not wish to buy"?
Is it pride which makes them serve you the same damn food every night because 'this is traditional Berber dish!'?
Gimme a break! Be inventive, stop trading on history, cuz every damn joint in this village / road is doing the same thing.
I have no objection to dead animals - coming from a farming background I am perfectly well aware of where meat comes from - but they have electricity and fridges, and I do believe that they know food hygene should go beyond a truck full of sheep carcasses being driven across the mountians open to the flies and dirt.
I don't expect "clingfilm wrapped sanitised meat in fridges in
" but I did expect at least some education and common sense!
They seem content to live as they have done for 2000 years, with all that entails, and I suspect that it is a place
most folks will visit once and never go back to, simply because too much of it is the same...
