Fes (Morocco)
As per last entry, Abdul seemed to be a nice enough kid but there was something that wasn't quite right about him. Not that I got caught out but latter that night (that being on the day that he 'made himself' my guide) I think I may have come within an hour or so of getting royally ripped again, but I'll get to that story a little later on.
So, within the market place we were, wondering around, chatting and I was generally taking in the sights. All of a sudden Abdul starts putting the speed on and gets to be walking four or five metres in front of me. Every now and then I stopped and called him back, at those times he seemed kind of irritated by me. As soon as I put the question to him, 'Hey, what's the hurry ?', he mentioned that there were people that he didn't want to run into. Oh right, an alarm triggers in my head yet again - it's amazing how many times this happened in Morocco and on how many occasions I was actually correct in trusting my suspicions. The funny thing is, it was this aspect that made Morocco far more enjoyable than your average, sedate, 'run-of-the-mill' country.
We did a hell of a lot of walking that day, covering the old medina, one of the main Fez tanneries, the Andalusian side of Fez, a few more 'artisan' stores, the city walls, some great food stalls and a few other nooks and crannies. By the end of the day we were kind of wrecked, we had spent the last part of the day in direct sunlight and it had been well over 40 degrees. Abdul and his cousin guessed 47, probably not that much but not too far off either. In any case I discussed some possible plans with Abdul for that night, mostly including sheesha and heading into the 'new town' to one of the cafe's that he knew. It didn't sound like too bad a plan, so I organised to hook up with him at my riad and then we'd take a short cab ride to get our sheesh on.
Later in the evening I was waiting for Abdul at the riad, we had organised to catch up at 8pm. He was running 15-20mins late and to tell you the truth I was loosing my impetus to get some fruity smoke into me, so I split and headed to a local cafe where the Euro final was being played (Spain v Germany), no prizes for guessing who the Moroccans were backing. The cafe was absolutely packed but the atmosphere was brilliant. In any case after the game was over I went to an Internet cafe in order to write up a post, somehow Abdul found me when I had been bashing away at the keyboard for sometime. Strangely he looked a little agitated and I asked him on several occasions if everything was ok, he said that he was but he was keen to make a move as soon as possible. Just reflecting a little on some of the situations in Morocco, I'd have to say that quite a few dealings were tainted by some inherent 'shiftiness' of the people that I was 'cohorting' with. It wasn't intimidating but it definitely put you on your game, which at times was fun and at other times was cumbersome - on this occasion however I had an altogether different feeling, call it one specifically underlined by a sense of unease.
Abdul and I left the internet cafe, walking up past the main gates which were brilliantly illuminated with blue lights. I had my camera with me and I decided to stop to take a few pictures and for the second time on that day, Abdul decided to move a significant distance away from me. I noticed that we were almost directly in front of the police station and hence I deliberately called to him, trying to get him to walk to me - he ignores me, no reaction at all. As we move away I ask him what the hell is going on, he tells me that the police quite often harass him, as he called it, 'they like to have fun with me, play games'. I'm thinking, Abdul, you're really starting to sound like you're full of shit. We may have walked an additional 100mtrs when another guy, probably in his early 20's turns up and starts talking to Abdul, in an instant the conversation gets heated. I actually recognised the guy as someone that I'd been speaking to in another cafe the day before and he had recognised me as I walked by. This guy tells me not to trust Abdul and then asks where we're going. I explain we're going to the old town for a sheesha. He tells me not to go, that Abdul and his 'cousins' are shady and that they would set me up in order to steal my cash. Abdul is trying to defend himself by saying that this guy is jealous and he doesn't like people having fun - of course a piss weak defence. The 'cafe guy' as I'll call him tells me about a Japanese fellow that Abdul had befriended and whom ended up having his possessions stolen after being 'drugged' - again he tells me not to go and that I'd end up in the same situation. Now Abdul and this guy are nearly screaming at each other and I have of course by this time decided to call it a night in light of this new information, I say 'thankyou' to the 'cafe guy' and offer to buy him a drink or rather a 'mint tea'. He politely declines but adds that he hopes that I have a good time in Fez. Abdul is still in my ear, now extremely agitated and trying everything to get me to go along, sorry Abdul by 'stuff that for a joke'. I don't know what kind of 'potential' set up may have been waiting for me but at the end of the day I'm glad that I wasn't given the opportunity to find out.
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