I met a Japanese couple on the train from the airport in Morocco who were just here for the day. This evening they catch a plane to Guinea where they’ll take a course in drumming (him) and dancing (her). We got ripped off by the taxi driver who wanted 50 dirhams ($10) for the trip to town from the station and then wanted 50 each when we arrived. He didn’t get the latter. That was really the only negative experience of the day.
The locals love to talk and some get so carried away that they forget to try to sell you something. Ayumi was admiring the carved wooden door next to a shop in the markets and Sayid, the owner of the shop, came out to talk to him. It turned out he was a drummer of the Berber style and the two began talking. Suddenly he was dragging us through the warren of narrow market streets to a tea shop in a whitewashed culdesac. He called the mint tea ‘Moroccan Whiskey’. Ayumi was asked to pour (apparently that’s an honour), but we didn’t yet know the protocol. The tea is served scaldingly hot in a small pot. To cool it down, the locals pour it out from great height (the higher the better, as long as you don’t spill it) into a glass, then pour it back into the pot. This might be done a few times until the tea is cool enough to drink.
We sipped at hot syrupy tea for half an hour while Sayid dug up drumming tracks on his mobile phone for us. Ayumi wanted to see the drums Sayid played, but they were at his house so he took us to a store that sold drums and gave a small demo of his skills in the shop. Then he pointed us in the direction of the mosque so we could get there to see the worshipers at sunset.
In the end, he paid for our tea and spent an hour with us but never once showed us into his own shop.