We made it to Meknes and Bess survived! We had lunch at a traditional restaurant and the food was delicious! We then had a few hours of free time before we headed to Fes, so me, Bess, Megan and Mitch hung out together. We were interested in seeing the sites, but at our pace. Lunch was fantastic, but we ate a lot and it was pretty hot outside so we were all tired! Bess was feeling a lot better, but didn't want to be rushed to go see the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail or the other sites, so we rested in the restaurant for a bit longer after everyone left and then left.
We were going to go see the Mausoleum of the Moulay that reigned when Meknes was capital, but we first went into what seemed like a souvenir shop. I started talking to the shop keeper and he then asked if we were interested in seeing rugs. I wasn't, but I knew Bess was so I said yes. He took us to the second floor of his shop, which was huge and started showing us his rugs. Bess found the rug of his dreams and negotiations begun. He said the tourist price for the rug was 20,000 dirham(Mad), but he gives tour guides who bring the tourists a 40% commission. Because we didn't come with a tour guide, he gave us 12,000Mad as the initial price to start bargaining. After much conversation and bargaining, Bess finally got him to go down to 3,500mad and they shook hands in agreement! I'm really glad I was a part of the bargaining experience! She got an incredible price, given that the keeper "calculated" the sunk cost at 4,500!
By the time the bargaining finished, we had no time left to visit the sites, but this was quite the experience so I'm not too sad about it!
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