Five Weeks in Morocco; Beautiful Country, but the constant hustle is exhausting. You're a walking bag of money to this people, full stop.

• Picked up a hitchhiking woman and drove her for 30 min. When I politely asked her for a picture before she got out of the car (I would have totally accepted a 'no') she immediately said 'ten dirhams'.

• Ticketed twice by cops for bullshit reasons (going 63 in a 60/failing to use blinker at a roundabout) and make no mistake, the fee can be paid in cash on the spot. Don't worry friend, we'll only charge 150, it should be 400!

• Restaurants/cafes deny having a menu and will make up prices on the spot. One time I saw the menu when I went to the bathroom and saw that he overcharged for coffee.

• Have to negotiate for every single purchase in every little shop unless its explicitly labeled.

• Taxis run too many scams to list, even if you explicitly declare a price before they'll insist you agreed on something different. This happens in restaurants too.

• If you pay someone with a bigger bill and ask for change, they'll often feign confusion or insist they have no change. They will even nod when they see the bill as though they have change to give.

• Parking attendants charging parking fees to park literally anywhere and if you decline, they'll key your car. They are just random dudes in high vis vests.

• this happened to me twice: arrive at a hotel (with a pre existing booking) and ask to book a room. The quoted price is always much higher, and when I say I already have a booking, they'll 'clarify' that they meant for the small room/something.

• People will talk to you about historical sites as though they are just passing the time or being polite ("I used to pray here as a boy with my father...") and then demand money when the conversation ends (which they started)

• random "guides" will insist that a guide is mandatory at so and so historical site. It usually isn't. Even if you stay completely silent they will follow you around and bark "facts" at you in poor English/French ("this stone... Very old. Very old.") and demand money later.

• Every ive spoken to a child (not beggar kids, im talking kids playing football or walking to school), every time without fail, they've asked for money. There's no simple "hello", they will follow you and ask for money with their hand out.

• Everyone has friends and family in every country. I've said I was Bulgarian, Romanian, Greek, Polish, Finnish... They've always got a cousin there. They'll list some major cities as proof.

• Servers at restaurant will bring items not ordered and charge you for them later. As they bring you fruit or tea, their tone (take, take!) implies that it's a gift. Usually isn't.

I've experienced this North and South, urban and rural. I was told to expect famous Berber hospitality. Maybe the tourism industry has rotted that away.

I get that there's a drought and unemployment is high. I get that covid devastated the tourist industry. But bro... There's no human connection here. I've made a handful of Moroccan friends my age, and they've been great and kind. But otherwise, I've always just been hustled.

Submitted November 19, 2022 at 06:28AM by HandsomeLampshade123 https://ift.tt/V1Kdi8l