is located in Africa; it was truly an experience of a lifetime! We witnessed the Moroccan culture, people, and how these two things interact. Morocco is located in the North West part of Africa and Marrakesh is located towards the middle of Morocco. Morocco has a side of its territory that lies on the Mediterranean Sea, which as we all know allows them to trade and communicate with other nations much easier than a city or country located in the middle of Africa. Allow this country is still far behind in development, you can witness their outside influence through many things within their culture such as their irrigation system, their language, and the way they conduct life. One of the major attractions that we witnessed and experienced during our stay in Marrakech was the Djemaa El Fna Square and the adjoining souk streets. “The Djemaa El Fna Square is the geographical, cultural and social centre of Marrakech.”
(http://www.marrakech-cityguide.com/en/sightseeing/street/jemaa-el-fna.shtml) This square dates back to the 11th century. The translation of the squares name is argued still to this day. One side says that it means the “site of the destroyed mosque” and the second side says that it means “assembly of the dead.” (http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Djemaa-El-Fna-Square-in-Marrakech&id=2370715) One of my most vivid and most frightening memories occurred within this place during our first night. We had just finished touring the Square and were working our way back through the souk streets. As we worked our way back the smell of dirt, sweat, and spices filled our noses; the site of hundreds of open store fronts filled our eyes; and the sound of many dealers saying “Come in my store, very low prices” filled our ears. After walking into a few of these store fronts and coming back out with only a few purchases, our group had many dealers following us and bugging us. The only thing that we could think to do was continue to tell them “no thank you” and keep walking. In my mind, I was worried about being pick pocketed, someone being taken, or being jumped. At one point in time a dealer walked up to me and grabbed and pulled on
the back of my shirt, I was a bit nervous at this point and started to turn around and say something to our tour guide when I noticed that he was nowhere to be seen. At that point I said to the group “We need to turn around I don’t see our guide anymore!” Thus we turned around and walked past all of the dealers that were still heckling us and ended up running back into our guide who was waiting on a few of the members that were still in shops purchasing things. After we had the guide with us the dealers stopped bothering us as much.
Now throughout the rest of the night and into the next day I thought to myself, “What makes these people act the way they do?” A few things came to mind: it seemed like there were multiple dealers with the same exact products, they are a poor nation and their income isn’t that high, and this is how their culture has raised them since they have been young children.
As we worked our way through the souk streets and looked at the dealers, it seemed like many dealers were “repeats” of what we had already witnessed. It seemed like every dealer was a rug dealer, a pottery or woodworking dealer, a cloth 
or clothing dealer, a leather shoe dealer, or an olive dealer. Our guide described and talked to us about the importance of the Olive to the Marrakesh people and economy. He said that Marrakech was the third largest grower of Olives in Morocco. We visited what they called a garden but what we would call an Olive field. They had built an irrigation pond with irrigation canals for the hundreds of olive trees in this “garden”. It was very apparent how important the olive was to this economy, because of the fierce competition that exists within this market, it leads the dealers to be very pushy. You could also see how all of the products that were being sold linked back to the environment of Marrakech and Morocco.
The second reason I came up with was because of the poverty level and level of income of the Moroccan people. According to the World Bank report in 2001, the per capita household consumption (in constant 1995 US dollars) was $951. The richest 10% of the population accounted for approximately 30.9% of household consumption and the poorest 10% approximately 2.6%. (http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Morocco-INCOME.html) This explains why the dealers would do anything to make a sale, even harass you and bother you to the point of being terrified. This explains their economy and economic position in their economy.
The third reason that answers why they act the way they do is because of the way they have been raised since being young children. As we walked through the streets we had many 5 year olds coming up to us asking for money. The second thing that I witnessed and experienced was negotiation for a product with a 12 year old. His father was the owner of the store and he was negotiating with me for a product. It will be very hard to ever break out of this tradition due to the training that they have at such a young age. This explains their culture in way.
Through all of the scared moments, I had a wonderful time (and eye opening time) in Morocco and would recommend all of you to go… just go the smart way and book through a travel agent!
Other Links
http://www.marrakech-cityguide.com/en
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/marrakech/3949010002.html
http://www.ilovemarrakech.com/
Map to The Djemaa El Fna Square
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