The first excursion with all the students was not a bust though - we saw many different shops and production locales, all due to the fingers that our tour guide had in the pots of these different shops he took us to. We visited a small apothecary, or natural pharmacy where I purchased genuine saffron, 5 oz for $10 (plenty to share!), a perfume, and a cooking spice mix. Others bought kohl for their eyes, argon oil, lip balms (which I wish I had bought!!), and perfumes.
We also saw a tannery, where they prepared and dyed leather. Before entering we were given sprigs of mint to hold up to our noses against the unpleasant aroma of the place. The sellers were very aggressive, converging on us as soon as the presentation was over, pushing us to buy leather jackets, purses, wallets, and all manner of leather tooled goods.
I sensed that my time would come to barter, and that came true when we entered my weakness - the carpet seller's shop. After the presentation, and service of mint tea, we were free to touch and examine the plethora of Berber carpets that adorned the shop. None of my peers were knowledgable or experienced in the art of carpet buying, and merely remained seated, afraid to touch or stand on the massive pile of carpets layed out in front of us. I immediately stood and walked to a carpet which caught my eye, so that the seller would see my interest early on. He approached me quickly and asked my price. "500 dirham is all I'll offer," I replied. Shocked (typically), he gasped, "No madam! Only 1500 dirham can I take! No less! The quality of this carpet is too fine! This took many months for the women to make! This is impossible!"
Other students began to take my lead, standing, touching, fingering and examining the carpets, and he was quickly distracted by them and began selling to them. Not bothering to barter one inch, the students combined bought about 9-10 carpets of various sizes from him. He repeatedly came back to me to ask my new price, and I always stuck with, "500 dirham, no more." Exasperated he would return to other students, after entreating with me to understand his position, that no way can I be expected to buy this for (by this time) less than 1000 dirham. 1000 became 800. 800 became 750. I held my ground. As the students finished with their purchases, and we all began to stand to go, he asked me one last time to come to a reasonable price. I told him that my reasonable price was 500 dirham, no more.
My true time came, when I knew it would happen, the moment when I stood and walked to the door. Seeing that I was almost out of my shop, in front of all the students, he ran to me, through the group, and pulled me back into the shop crying out that, "Madam! Because I do not want you to leave my shop empty handed, because you are now my friend, I am now willing to sell this fine carpet to you for 600 dirham! Take this price and shake my hand!" I eyeballed him critically, glanced at the rug longingly (a feint though, as I liked the rug, but not so much that I couldn't possibly leave without it), looked back at him and said, "550." Crying out to Allah he begged me to be reasonable, to realize that he was all but GIVING me the rug, and asked for 600, for me to shake his hand. I looked at him squarely, and said, not without a self-satisfied smile, "600."
He shook my hand and LEAPT to the rug, wrapped it and packaged it in record time, and took my 600 dirham (which equates to about $60). THIS is the type of shopping that I enjoy!
The rest of the trip was fun, but the carpet buying was by far my most satisfying moment.
What a great story. I'm really jealous over the trip to the tannery...seriously.
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