After just one day in Marrakech, I am completely exhausted and don't want to leave my hostel room.
Look, maybe I was naive - I knew Marrakech would be hectic, but I wasn't prepared for just how hectic and stressful it is.
The main square was my idea of hell - people shouting, loud drums and pipes, hustlers, smoke. I'm sure some love it, but it was, for me, horrendously overstimulating.
Likewise, the souks, although a cool atmosphere (early in the morning), got so busy by the afternoon that walking through them wasn't even fun.
However, what overwhelmingly stood out to me was the complete sense I got of being seen as a walking wallet. Walking through the souks and being approached by sellers is a given, of course, but just the one day was enough to make me completely distrustful of any interaction with a local - at one point in the day, what appeared to be simply a helpful local offering me a lift, with no implication of money being involved, turned into me being taken to a leather store and pressured into buying something, and then to tip him for the lift (neither of which I did).
Later, a boy no older than six ran up to me, poked me with a stick, and simply said "money."
It meant that, later, when a woman noticed me looking lost and offered to show me the way back to the main square, I was initially reluctant to follow, until she noticed my hesitance and assured me that she didn't want money.
I understand that, as a Western tourist, I am important to the livelihoods of many people in Marrakech, but the purely transactional relationship has swiftly made me cynical and reluctant to even spend time in busier areas.
I don't know, that's just my thoughts after one pretty hectic day. Maybe it was just bad luck, or maybe not. It's worth acknowledging that I'm not a big city person, and am only briefly stopping over before I head down into the Atlas Mountains. I hope my experience there is better.
Anyone else feel the same way? Or do you disagree?