Welcome to the land of hassles
Arriving at the port of Tangier, who exactly are those men who walk around doing nothing while expecting to be paid for that by tourists?
Al Bayane newspaper continues its exposé of tourist anxieties, this time zooming in on the port of Tangier.
Customs and immigration officials aside, the ferry dock in Tangier is the domain of men who carry badges with ”Écrivain public”, which translates into ”public writers”. They help people write letters to the authorities and fill out official forms.
With a literacy rate of 52 percent, “letter writers” still make sense in Morocco. But the “écrivains publics” in the port of Tangier generally don’t focus on their less cultured countrymen who arrive by ferry. Instead, they swarm around foreign tourists like flies.
Al Bayane describes the way the écrivains work in amusing detail. Pretending to be part of Moroccan officialdom, they keep close to the customs officer. When he leaves with the tourist’s papers to register the vehicle, the écrivain moves in and asks the foreigner for money.
Perplexed, a lot of tourists believe that this is part of the entry procedures, and pays the guy a tip. If only because they have just seen their travel documents disappear somewhere and are anxious to get them back. If it takes a bribe to make that happen - quicker or at all - well, okay then.
The problem is that these guys are the ferry docks’ equivalent of air hostesses. Asked about their official role, a spokesman for a ferry company tells Al Bayane that the écrivains are there to smoothen the coming ashore of passengers, answer their questions and show them the way.
“In any case, not relieve them of their money,” the paper concludes.
One French tourist is asked “So where’s my gift?” He gives the écrivain a keycord, a gesture that is not appreciated. The écrivain throws it back and says, “I don’t need your keycord, I want euros.”
The French tourist’s wife, meanwhile, has her own écrivain standing by her door. “Lady, give me cigarette please,” he tells her politely in that wonderful brand of Moroccan French where definite articles are not part of the grammar. She hands him one, and the écrivain shouts: “No! I don’t want one, I want the packet!”
Finally, the French tourist has had enough. “Fuck off!” he yells*, threatening to call in the authorities.
And there’s the next problem, Al Bayane writes. The real officials stand idly by as tourists are hassled by the touts. Why is that, the paper asks a customs officer.
“These guys make no money at all,” he explains reluctantly. In a “give them a break” kind of way.
But is that the tourists’ problem?
On top of the “tourist prices” for hotels, taxis and souvenirs, we rip them off the minute they arrive, the newspaper fumes. “No wonder then that so many prefer to travel elsewhere for their next holiday.”
“A satisfied visitor equals ten new tourists,” Al Bayane ends. “The opposite is also true.”
- *Useful French #1: “Fuck off”, we learn, is “Foutez le camp!”
February 1st, 2007 at 9:41 pm
Dys, you have so many great posts, I can hardly keep up. I like the new banner, too…ahhh, the mountains!
Question - what is a “key chord?” And “Foutez le camp” really means fuck off? :)
February 1st, 2007 at 10:13 pm
Oops, typo: it should be “keycord”.
“Foutez le camp” is pretty much “Fuck off”, but not literally. It’s an old expression that has now become to mean, “Get the hell out of here”.
February 2nd, 2007 at 2:18 am
Do you mean a keychain? Or a lanyard?
Must remember that French phrase… :)
February 2nd, 2007 at 2:23 am
A lanyard.
February 2nd, 2007 at 4:46 am
Well, I’d throw a lanyard back too, LOL - they always give them out here at corporate-type events, along with other company branded stuff - plastic water bottles, seat cushions, mugs, etc..
All crap.