Agadir

Friday 22^nd November

Today I went out with Vi and Tricia and we were taken for a ride - literally but not metaphorically. It started with a taxi ride to the local shops, supposedly, for 2 euros. Three hours later we still had not reached those shops. First of all we were taken to an artisan centre with expensive goods, including Tricia (who we had met in the ballroom)! The salesman was so besotted with her that I asked him how many camels he would offer for her. Tricia says he offered 50,000 but I think it was 5,000. Nobody offered camels for Vi or me.

 Back in the taxi, I could see the souk I wanted to visit and kept on and on telling him 'Gate 8, 9, and 10.' He said there was no such thing. He said the goods were old. We insisted and he dropped us at gate 1, fruit and veggies. We looked in a spice shop where I am sure the shopkeeper offered me Viagra (herbal equivalent?). Vi bought a hard piece of sandalwood. We walked further and looked at slippers and clothes and Vi bought a kaftan. We were shown the plant from which twigs are pulled off to use as toothpicks. The shopkeeper demonstrated on his teeth and then put the twig back in the plant and put it on display. Vi was interested in the lipstick substitute until she realised that the shopkeeper was spitting on his finger and then rubbing it on the hard substance before demonstrating the colour on his hand. Hygiene was not a basic consideration!

Back in the taxi, we thought we were at last going to the local shops. Several kms later and a few back streets and potholes, we ended up at a medina on waste ground where we were expected to pay an entrance fee. By this time we had had enough. Vi had been a bit worried on the lonely tracks. I got stern. ‘Take us back to the shuttle bus!’ He was obviously annoyed. He put the radio on loudly. I asked him to turn it down.

At the shuttle bus, he wanted us to pay him 20 euros in addition to the 3 euros we had already given him. No way! I stood my ground and told him he had taken us to places we had not asked for. We had asked for prices along the way and he would not tell us. He had insisted on waiting for us; it wasn’t our choice. We handed over 10 euros and he argued at first but then he legged it when an official came over. He knew he was in the wrong. (I had got prices from the internet so I knew what was standard for the places we visited.) Hopefully he will have more respect for women tourists in future.

Despite the concern about the taxi driver, we had a good time together and laughed for practically the whole 3 hours.