At the end of the eponymously-named avenue running west from the Jemaa El-Fnaa stood the Koutoubia mosque. As an active place of worship for Muslims, anyone within earshot would hear the muezzin’s five daily adhans (Islamic “call to prayer”) broadcasted through the loudspeakers nestled in the windows of the ornate minaret. It is one thing to hear the call echoing in the background of a Hollywood movie yet it is another thing completely to hear it live. The call was both mesmerizing and sobering. These adhans were repeated across the globe, in countries with large Muslim populations; some of which looked unfavorably at Westerners and their ideologies. For the most part, Morocco was a safe setting but for me it still lent an exciting albeit irrational hint of danger during our visit.
FUN FACT: The five daily prayers are determined by the position of the sun relative to the worshiper: the Fajr prayer began at dawn or up till sunrise, Zuhr at noon or at the sun’s zenith, Asr in the late afternoon or when the shadow of an object was once or twice its length, Maghrib at the beginning of sunset up till the end of dusk, and finally Isha at night.
At first it was endearing, young tawny-skinned boys and girls doe-eyed and sporting wide smiles sidling up to you to reveal an unopened packet of tissues, hoping you could spare some loose coins in exchange. As the days wore on, you begin to notice that they swarmed around certain tourists in groups of 2s or 4s. What might have seemed innocent early on in your mind slowly shifts to disquieting as you recall the traveling warning you read while preparing for the trip–beware pickpockets! Yet there is a part of you that yearns to do something. It would be unconscionable if children were doing the same in your own country.
TRAVEL TIP: “No, Thank You”, “Non, Merci”, or “La, Shukran” in Darija, the Moroccan Arabic dialect.
A flat, open, paved space. Crowds of tourists and locals milling about, oblivious to what could be happening down at ankle-level. No protective glass to the shield the viewer from the viewed. No manufactured environment of acrylic and concrete for the creature to retreat to when startled. No information panel indicating that Naja Haje or Egyptian Cobra is one of the most venomous species of snake in North Africa and who is uncomfortable in open areas or that the Puff Adder (Bitis Arietans) is responsible for the most snakebite fatalities on the continent. Just an unsettling reassurance from snake charmer that a paid photo with a deadly serpent was worth a thousand words.
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