Hiring Morrocan Faux Guides
What You Need to Know About Hiring a Guide in Morocco's Medinas
Aug 15, 2008
According the CIA World Factbook, Morocco is the world's 137th poorest country, putting it in stark contrast to the majority of it's foreign tourists, who come from the world's richest countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan, and the countries of Western Europe. Unsurprisingly, any one who looks foreign will be constantly approached by totes offering services, from hotels, to bars, or any other other attractions imaginable. Most of the them will simply want to show you around the medina.
These are the Moroccan "faux guides" or "false guides," unofficial workers who charge a fee to help you navigate the city. Navigating a Moroccan city is not as simple as it sounds and their offers should not be taken lightly. Most of Morocco's medinas are labyrinthine constructions of winding, walled paths that any foreigner without a built-in compass will get surely get lost in. Unless you are careful, or have an excellent sense of direction, you will probably find them helpful. Here's what you should expect from your guide:
Haggle
Despite their outward appearance of poverty, faux guides are invariably multilingual, highly knowlegable, and would easily put America's top salesmen out of business if given the chance. So when hiring a guide, haggle. Foreigners, especially Americans, are notoriously inept at this, so they should not feel bad about arguing over price. The original price quoted to you will almost certainly reflect how much the guide thinks you are worth rather than his (and it will always be a "he") estimate of the value of the service. Counter-offer as little as half the original price and work from there. Have no fear if you cannot work out a price that makes both parties happy - Moroccans are better hagglers than foreigners and will not avoid accepting a losing deal, and you can always find another guide.
Pros and Cons to Hiring a Guide
The immediate benefit of hiring a guide is obvious: you will be oriented and you will have a local to converse with who can explain the unfamiliar surroundings. They also provide you with the great benefit of not having to constantly refuse the offers of other guides, who will often follow potential customers for blocks after being turned down.
There are, however, negative aspects to consider as well. No guide's mission is complete at the moment of being hired. The purpose that they serve is two-fold: the tip they get from the tourists they guide, and the comission they get from the customers they supply to the stalls in the medinas. Those who contract a guide will inevitably be lured to a rug vendor or some other business, where the process of haggling begins anew.
Having no guide, however, does not shield you from the aggressive sales pitches of the marketplace. In fact, it may simply open you up as a target for more sellers. If you have a guide, on the other hand, you will be "taken," so to speak, and avoid excess commercial ploys.
Sound Tiring?
It is. But Morocco does not lend itself to strolls around the block. For foreigners it is, first and foremost, a marketplace. For those who do not want to spend, Morocco can be an exhausting place. But for those prepared to immerse themselves in the market for exotic goods and sights unavailable anywhere else, it can be a heavenly experience. Your guide may be the one who opens it up for you.
