Carpet bagging
.One of the few things that I knew about Morocco before this trip was the Berber carpet. Since orientation I have been excited about the prospect of buying one of these beautiful rugs for myself. My culmination came in Marrakesh. the adventure began on Tuesday, Carpet buying, when done correctly, is a multi day process. Our Marrakesh maestro, Gita, brought us to one of her favorite carpet man, Shariff, on our tour of the souk. We were whisked upstairs by Shariff, served mint tea and looked at carpet after carpet. I quickly narrowed down the search to the Middle Atlas style Zemoul, then just those carpets with the deeper red or Rouge Francaise, many were too busy until I found my carpet.
Gita constantly reminded me that I needed to fall in love with my carpet. I couldn't just like the carpet, I need to have a relationship with it. Our first meeting was not love at first sight, but it caught my eye. Not to busy, good color, three "pillars of wisdom" as Gita called them, and highlights of deep purple, very unique. I asked the price, trying to sound casual so as not to be eager. Shariff thought, "High quality rug, but you are a friend of Gita so 2,800 dh." or nearly 400 dollars.
we ended our first day, the group was hungry, I would return on Thursday to look at more rugs of a similar style and to negotiate a price. Thursday was the carpet auction, where the berber town folk come to sell their carpets to the dealers. Old men draped in ornate carpets moved from dealer to dealer, looking for the best price on a carpet. Before this started, I met another one of Gita's carpet men, who showed me more carpets, but I could not find another like the one Shariff had shown me.
Armed with the price of a competitors carpet, I went to find Shariff and bargain on my own. I looked at more Zemoul carpets, but in the end it came down to My carpet. So the bidding began. He offered 2800, I said could we do better, 2600. A little chatting and I mentioned the other carpet that was less than this one. "Well the quality in not the same look." Shariff pulled out a lighter and lit the end of my rug on fire, but it didn't burn, just a bit of smoldering. Then it was the imitation, witch lit on fire and burned like yarn. Oh, well now I know what I am buying. I countered and stuck to my price. Eventually after a bit of, "oh I am a poor student," we agreed. He showed me the price tag that he had on my carpet, 12000 dh, that is Marrakesch. So he packaged it up I have to carry with for the remainded of Morocco, but with nowhere to admire it.