Our train arrived in Marrakesh at 8:30 am. Still half asleep from the fitful night of trying to sleep on tiny couchette train beds, we wandered towards the city. We had only a vague idea of where we were going – the name of the central square and directions from there, so we followed signs with the name of the square. We ended up next to a tower that we thought was the square (it wasn’t. at all), and got all turned around in the nearby streets. It was here that we were approached by a guy in a blue shirt who led us into a tourism office to tell us about camel tours. We eventually managed to break away and headed out again with the camel tour flyer in hand (this is the company we ended up booking the tour with a few days later), only to get lost again in the busy, narrow, overwhelming streets. Eventually, the guy in the blue shirt popped up again, trying this time to sell us a hotel. We eventually managed to get through to him that we had one already, and he insisted on calling the owner and leading us to the place. We tried to refuse, but couldn’t do so politely, and ended up following him the actual square, which was filled with vendors and tourists. He left us there with our directions, and we got lost again (of course). Another guy promised to help us find the place, without charging us, so we reluctantly followed him for a while. Then the guy in the blue shirt popped up again! Out of nowhere! It was bizarre. The other guy warned us that the blue shirt guy would charge too much commission for camel tours, and the blue shirt guy talked rapidly in Arabic to everyone he saw, and we were too tired, dazed, and overwhelmed to do anything but follow the two guys down a narrow alley. Luckily, this was actually where our hotel was, and both guys left without demanding anything.
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