Last night I had the pleasure of meeting Farid, the husband of the step-daughter of a friend. Farid's father is from Morocco, but Farid himself grew up primarily in London, and moved back to Marrakech as an adult about three years ago. He was kind enough to show me around Gueliz, the "new" part of Marrakech. After meeting and chatting at a really nice bar/restaurant called La Renaissance, we walked a ways to a restaurant / club called Mai Tai, where we were joined by Farid's friend Nadia (hopefully spelled properly).
The contrast with the day spent cruising the Medina was striking: opulence very much in line with what you would see in high-class places in London, Paris or pretty much any other major city in the world. Farid and I had many interesting conversations about some of the social/cultural inconsistencies, and how Morocco has advanced in some ways, but is still very much a third-world country in other ways.
If I remember correctly (the evening's memories were slightly blurred by a curtain of alcohol - another difference from the more traditional Medina), there are some seven different hotels in Marrakech that fall in the "Palace" category, which is above five stars. The most expensive has suites that go for $20,000/night, as much as it takes to buy a nice place in the Medina for a typical Moroccan.
On the other hand, living in Boston I can step over a homeless person literally on my front steps, and within a five-minute walk I will be walking by the Mandarin Oriental on Boylston, gawking at the Ferraris and Bentleys parked out front...
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