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Cost of Living: Morocco
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Cost of Living: Morocco

Can't post in the other thread for some reason.

Morocco:

Currency: Moroccan Dirham (MAD). Current exchange rate 8.5MAD/USD; approx. 10MAD/EUR; 13.5MAD/GBP.

Prices depend heavily on bargaining abilities.

Lodging:

Starts at around 70 MAD/night. In Taghazout, this gets you a bed in a large house. Maybe shared room, maybe single. In M'kech, you'll be in a shitty dorm packed head-to-gills. In Essaouira, five of us rented a nice apartment that slept all five comfortably for 350/night.

I paid 130/night for a long-term stay in a penthouse master bedroom with private balcony overlooking the water in Tagh. Cheapest decent hotel I could get in Mkech was 200/night for a single, 300/night for a triple with wifi.

Bottle water, 1.5 L: 4-8 MAD, six packs from 26-36 MAD

Beer: LOL SON THIS IS MUSLIM LAND. No, seriously. To get beer in Tagh, it's a 7MAD bus ride or 50MAD taxi each way to Agadir and then beers are 16-22 MAD each for 16oz cans with no discount for volume. If you can find a bar - easier in the cities, but still an adventure - expect to pay 30-50 MAD for a 12 oz bottle/can.

The cheapest way to get drunk on decent alcohol is to buy Stolichnaya or Moskovskaya, which are around 175-200MAD for a liter.

Food: A restaurant meal will set you back 40-70 MAD, plus a week of low-grade diarrhea, for standard fare. Street food is cheaper and safer, plus better tasting. Rabat and MKech had the best street food. I got a delicious and filling kefta sandwich with egg and cheese in Rabat for 16 MAD. Spend 100 MAD in M'kech's Djemaa el Fna night market and you will gorge yourself silly on some of the most amazing delicacies known to man.

Groceries: Eggs are 1MAD apiece. Yogurt 2MAD. Box of oatmeal will set you back 18-20. Bread is dirt cheap, but I don't eat wheat often so I don't remember the prices. Your cheese option is La Vache Quirit and it's 20MAD or so for 8 wedges, 30 for 16. Toilet paper is so cheap I forget what I paid. Fresh vegetables are done by weight and 10MAD will buy a lime, cucumber, bell pepper, couple carrots, onion, and few cloves of garlic. Meat at the butcher shop is 70-80MAD/kilo for steak, 90MAD/kilo for ground beef. You end up getting a bone-in ribeye or porterhouse for about $3-4. It's good meat, but tough. Fish varies from 20-50MAD/kg.

Travel: Trains from Rabat/Casa to Mkech are 130MAD 2d class to around 220 1st. I took 2d each time and didn't notice any difference passing by the other cabin. I think you're guaranteed a seat in first class. Buses are cheap enough - Agadir to Mkech is 90-100 each way. Grande taxis are a different matter - you rent the entire taxi and split the cost among all travelers. We took one from Tagh to Essaouira (2.5 hrs) for 480MAD each way split 4 ways. Petit taxis, which go around cities, are metered. Usually. Mkech drivers try not to use them. Djemaa el Fna to the train station should be 10-15MAD by the meter. You'll get quoted 40.

Clothes: Can be cheap for Moroccan clothes, if they're real. I got suckered and I'm a veteran at buying clothing in third world markets. If the guy says it's any sort of animal product, pull out a lighter and see if it melts. Some shopkeepers will do this right off the bat to show you the quality. Western clothes are more expensive. Haggle, haggle, haggle - but at some point, your time becomes worth more than the fight. Case in point: I bought a leather jacket. It should have been 650-700 MAD, according to my Moroccan friend. I got quoted 1500 and left with it for 850 after an hour and a half. Silver is cheap, too. I had the Moroccan buddy buy that for me. Expect to pay about 20MAD/gram for the finished piece.

Carpets: Are you an absolute expert in rugs? Then don't buy one. You're getting fucked.

Hash: Enormous variance. How well do you know your cannabis products? How Moroccan are you? Low-end price I saw was about $1.20 USD/gram for the best-quality stuff, bought by a Moroccan in the Rif Mountains. High-end price I saw was around ten times that, for low-end "top quality, double zero, my friend" hash bought by a young Australian in Taghazout.

Marijuana (green): I didn't see any, but logic dictates that it must be available at least in the form of shake if you go to the source.

Other drugs: none.

Surf equipment: expensive. $45USD for a traction pad or leash, $3 for wax, $20 and up for ding repair, etc. Bring your boards and wetsuits.
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