Everything for Sale in Rabat
Rabat is probably one of the sleepiest cities in the Middle East/North Africa region. It’s certainly the quietest capital city that I’ve visited. It’s clean, relatively well developed and easy to navigate. But, there’s not a lot of character or energy to the city.
Probably the most character (or more appropriately, characters) I have experienced so far was at lunch today. I sat down at City VIPs, one of the many small street-front restaurants this afternoon. It is basically a fast food place with a few Moroccan dishes. I was the only American there, and the only person eating a Moroccan dish (I had a chicken tagine) rather than a burger or pizza or pasta.
Within minutes of sitting down, an odd assortment of street vendors and beggars passed by my table to offer their wares or solicit handouts. First was a shoeshine guy. I’ve noticed more shoeshine guy in this city than I can remember seeing anywhere else.
The shoeshine guy was followed by an old woman begging for change, and then another woman begging for change. Then came a kid about 10-years old selling cologne, perfume, and pens. He was followed by a man selling gum, and he either had about six packs of gum wadded up in his cheek, or he had a rather unfortunate deformity.
Next, a man walked by selling a mix of folded maps, and large laminated maps – not one of the more practical items to sell on the street.
As I sat and ate, this parade of vendors continued. A total of five shoeshine guys tried their luck – one rudely banged his brush on my table to get my attention and not only ignored my polite “no”, but also failed to notice that my shoes were freshly shined (by the free machine in the hotel lobby).
I counted a total of six young men who were selling pirated CDs and DVDs, three kids selling nail clippers (two were also selling key chains and batteries), three young men selling sunglasses (always fascinates me when people on the street try to sell me sunglasses when I’m already wearing a pair), a man selling new shoes, another beggar, and two men who were selling what looked like sheets or think blankets. One guy had a little of everything, sunglasses, a book, a radio, and who knows what else in his bag. And the guy with the maps made another pass as well.
The entire time, not a single customer at the restaurant or the café next door bought anything. No one got a shoeshine. None of the beggars received anything (other than a scolding from the waiters).
Given the economics of a large supply of street vendors selling the same items/services, and the apparently minimal demand, it’s hard to imagine that any of these people make enough to even feed themselves. Perhaps some of the young men are students or have other work, but it still doesn’t even seem like selling bootleg DVDs or nail clippers on the street is going to do much to augment other income. But, if nothing else, it adds a little color to a quiet city.