Bryce's Berber Barber

We had scheduled just one day in the Atlas Mountains, which allowed us to take another awesome hike on the donkey trails by our Casbah hotel. Today, the kids went willingly. and Sue got some more great pictures of the surrounding area.

We had another great lunch, and as we were getting close to our taxi pickup time, I went down into town by myself to meet our driver ahead of the family.  What I didn't realize was that the trail up to the hotel was rather convoluted, and I got lost several times on my way into town.  I found myself on a series of donkey trails, in the middle of a Morrocan mountain town, with no clue as to where I was.  It was a little disconcerting. Fortunately, I found a group of French tourists, and followed them into town. Sue and the kids had arrived two minutes earlier, and our driver was awaiting.

On the drive back to Marrakech, we asked to see a Berber market, so we stopped at the Saturday market in a town called Asni. This was similar to many of the Mexican markets we have visited - lots of produce sellers, hardware, electronics, clothing and other knick-knacks. 

 

 

As we walked towards the edge of the market, a haircutter greeted us and motioned for Bryce to sit in his barber chair "for a photo".  Bryce was way overdue for a haircut, and the barber asked if he could trim here and trim there, and we were far enough along that Bryce was OK just getting the full haircut.

Apparently our Berber barber moonlighted as a dentist, as he had a variety of tooth extractors next to his haircutting tools. A tooth sat on his tray as well.

When you're in a poorer country like Morocco or Mexico, and someone performs a service, we have seen that the locals have figured out they do better if when asked for a price, they just respond with "whatever you like".  In most cases, foreigners will overpay on the current market rate.  I gave our barber about $12, and he snatched it from me so fast (with a very polite "thank you") that I knew I had overpaid.  But he still did a decent job, and I'm OK with helping the local economy - especially so far out of the city.

The neighboring vendor saw the transaction, and immediately became very interested in us, wrapping both kids in local head-wear. Laurel looked cute in her indigo wrap, and Bryce was given the Tuareg treatment. In case Bryce hated his haircut, we figured the Arab look would be a good backup.

 

 

The vendor, having seen the transaction with the barber, wanted $17 for both wraps, but I offered him $6, and refused to budge.  He continually went down in price until we arrived at the $6 point (which was still more than the locals would have paid).  It was pretty funny watching him try to negotiate, since it was obvious he was trying to overcharge.

After that, we were done with the market, and headed back to Marrakech.