The skinny old man shuffled around the corner of the building into the open-air café. He cradled a shallow, plastic laundry tub with his two, sticklike arms. In the rear of the room, there was an electric scale on a counter, the power cord hanging limp and unplugged. He skirted the tables and plopped the basket on top.
With a practiced grip, he pulled out a panic-stricken chicken. It was scrawny, nasty, never would have made the cut at Frank Perdue. The bird’s shrill, tortured cries seared our soggy brains. We were tired, hung over, and generally beat to shit from one insane party after another in three different cities.
London. Marrakech. Essaouira.
“That’s not lunch, right?” I could hear the disgust in my girlfriend’s voice. Courtney has blonde movie-star hair, eyes you can drown in. She was wearing a straw fedora and sleeveless shirt. She screamed tourist.
I easily pass for Middle Eastern thanks to my family’s Syrian roots. Dark complexion. Hazel eyes. I’m cursed with perma-stubble no matter how often I shave.
“At least we know the chicken’s fresh.”
“We can’t eat that. We’re gonna get sick.”
“We’re already sick.”
[
Four of us huddled around a wobbly table, just steps off the road. Me, Courtney, two of our closest friends. It was July. Despite a brisk wind whipping off the Atlantic, the air in our café was thick with a uniquely Moroccan funk of dead fish, seagull shit, body odor, car fumes and, of course, second-hand hash. Yeah, the smell was nauseating. But we were happy to kick back and take a breather after meandering for hours through the souk that morning.
The old man was small and bent, shorter than me, his nose hooked like a scythe. His skin was wrinkled and reminded me of tobacco leaves crisping under the sun. He wore a taqiyah, a short, rounded skullcap. It was gray from perspiration, blotched with cooking grease and, probably, the backsplash of chicken guts.
Our detour to Essaouira was kind of a vacation. It’s a little over two hours west of Marrakech. Two hours north of the civil war in Western Sahara.
Max Keiser, who hosts the Keiser Report on the Russian media channel RT, took us to the Groucho Club in Soho. That’s where you go to spot the glitterati. Keira Knightley, Kristen Stewart, pick a star. Over drinks, Max told us that the goats climb trees in Morocco. I never would have believed him had we not braved the desert drive from Marrakech to the coast—armed checkpoints along the way—and seen it for ourselves. Sometimes, there were eight to a tree.
Essaouira is quaint in a crumbly, third-world way. In the evening throngs of fishermen clog the harbor with their blue skiffs and sardine trawlers. They head to sea at night and return in the morning to trade their catch. For most tourists, the walled town is the main attraction. Not for me. I went for the hippie trail, to walk in the footsteps of Jimi Hendrix and Cat Stevens.
Hallowed ground.
Al Jazeera breezed through our café and spilled into the streets, the anchors describing Egypt’s Second Revolution of the Arab Spring. I was the only one in our group who spoke Arabic. But we all understood the television footage. On July 7, 2013 there were thousands of people in Tahrir Square, maybe hundreds of thousands, all cheering the military’s ouster of President Mohammed Morsi.
The old man stopped to watch, too. He glanced over his shoulder at the back wall. Satisfied, he turned and walked our way. Chicken in one hand. A butcher knife in the other. The dirty blade was crusted with blood, about the length of his forearm.
I looked at Courtney. She was pale, arms crossed tight, eyes like plates.
The old man ducked his head and presented the bird, holding it upside down by the bare area between feathers and feet. “Dick jai'yedah?”
His words mean, “Good chicken?” Pronounced JA-YE-DAH. He was requesting permission to cook the bird for our lunch.
“Mumtaz.” Excellent. I nodded and smiled yes.
He smiled, too, relieved to be speaking Arabic. Years of poverty had taken their toll on his teeth.
Something clicked for me. I got this bright idea—partly to do right by the old man and partly to avoid the hassle of paying in dirham, the local currency.
The ATM lines in Morocco are painful. You stand forever in blistering desert heat. Then the machines run out of money. And even if you soldier through the wait and find a machine that still has money when it comes your turn, you can’t take out more than 4,000 dirham. That’s around $440.
Credit cards aren’t a reliable option, either. In Essaouira it’s hit or miss whether merchants take them because the 2.5 to 4 percent fees—paid to American Express, Visa, the usual suspects—are too expensive for small operators.
“Do you have a cell phone?”
I knew the answer. Maybe there’s a shortage of decent toilets in Morocco, but everybody has a mobile, 116 of them for every 100 people. In the United States, we have ninety-three. Way behind countries like Panama with 203, Lithuania with 167, and Iran with 130. Developing nations might be poor. But they’re connected.
With the chicken hand, the old man reached over and grabbed his knife. Triumphantly, he pulled out a cheap phone with the other hand.
“Inteth bedak Bitcoin?” I asked. Do you want Bitcoin?
He eyed me, puzzled. My friends didn’t say a word. They were stuck on the bird and butcher knife. I pulled out my state-of-the-art mobile, grateful to have it still. A pickpocket tried to snatch it a few days earlier in Jemaa el-Fnaa, the main square of Marrakech, while I was dancing Gangnam style with the snake charmers. That would have been a disaster. But I punched him in the face and grabbed it back.
With my forefinger, I navigated to an Arabic video describing Bitcoin. What it is. Where to buy it. Why Bitcoin is an electronic currency as well as a method for sending payment, one that saves time and money. The explanation played for the old man courtesy of YouTube. He listened closely, indifferent to the wriggling chicken.
When the video ended, he looked at me thoughtfully. He weighed his words for a moment, his silence making us uncomfortable. He finally said, “Ew.”
Not eww as in yuk. “Ew” is Arabic for okay. He agreed to take my Bitcoins.
It was another victory in the global monetary revolution, the old man another convert to our cause. Bitcoin is breaking down borders between countries. Putting pressure on the fees charged by middlemen. Making ordinary people question the future of banks.
I wanted to pump my fist and cheer like the people in Tahrir Square. To teleport all my Bitcoin friends to this place, this moment, this small victory for a better way of doing things. I wanted to give the old man a big hug. But that’s not exactly wise when a Moroccan cook is holding a long, scary knife.
Instead, I asked, “What’s your phone number?”
He rattled it off. I texted him Bitcoins on the spot, added a fat tip, and prayed we didn’t get food poisoning.
Ping.
The payment appeared immediately on his LCD display. No delay. No government-imposed currency controls. No middleman siphoning off a percentage of our money. Paying for a meal with Bitcoin might seem like an insignificant event. But to me, it was everything: two guys cooperating freely, peer-to-peer. A Muslim and a Jew in a Moroccan city contributing to each other’s quality of life.
Could things be that simple?
The old man was happy. Me and my friends were happy. The chicken was the only party that lost out. But it was the best rotisserie I have ever eaten.
Nice that you really participate here and show some private moments of your life.
The pic with the goats is outstandingly good. I've never seen that before.
'Skinny legs and all' by Tom Robbins is a great book about an Arab and a Jew who own a restaurant in New York. I just had to think about it after reading your story.
oh man I should read that!
Yes, it is veeery veeery good!
Reading this, all I keep thinking is how much we need Charlie Shrem. Thankfully he can share these bits of wisdom and stories with us.
Awesome post. Very nice.
I love how you artfully told this story. I just learned about a part of the world I have never seen. You are a cool cat, @charlieshrem!
Great story! People who say BTC is going to "revolutionize the financial services industry" are so missing the point. As billions of "unbanked" people shun the government sponsored nightmare of modern banking, the old, entrench industry can wither on the vine as people no longer see the point of the unnecessary expense and complexity, based on 50 year old technology. The replacement might not be BTC, but it will be something like BTC. The current industry is beyond reform IMHO.
I read the whole article, but missed the answer. How much bitcoin was it for the chicken Morocco?
Despite the misleading title, it was a good read.
This story multiplied by millions of chronic financially under serviced people in the world is why I believe Cryptocurrency will thrive in the future.
i was in Marocco. i love your article !
Thanks for the story! This looks like the original owner of the goats eating argan seeds if you want to add a credit
https://500px.com/photo/63872529/morocco-goats-on-argan-tree-by-francis-naef
Bitcoin buys a chicken when goats climb trees. Great story @charlieshrem! The global opportunity with 2 billion unbanked is enormous.
Charlie, what are your thoughts regarding XMR? - I thought I would bring some of Satoshis old posts to your attention - would love your insight here as you did time in Prison.POSTS ON BITCOIN + ANONYMITY BY SATOSHI:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=8
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=13.msg15997365#msg15997365
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=7.new#new
damn, XMR moving since this post... Wonder if there's a correlation?
I like all the people that spend btc or cryptocurrency instead of statal currency without the needing of changing money state from state.
I'd appreciate so much all the help, you all may give me to explain my friends the cryptocurrency community commenting on my last post https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@frick/bitcoin-the-world-currency-that-people-still-thinks-you-can-use-only-on-darkweb
Charlie. Your a champ! Pushing Bitcoin this way must be tough. Can't believe the guy just accepted it this way.
Crazy how the world of money is changing, really.
Great story!
Oh vey.
You're definitely on to something with the cell phones and crypto in the developing countries. The part about traditional banking and ATM's being a pain in the ass and failing them makes for an incredible opportunity tho :)
Got to love Essouira, went there for the awesome Gnawa music festival !! Incredible, best thing I have ever been too !! Go Charlie !! Hope you hangover is better, but then does the Moroccan spice really give you a hangover ?? ; - )
Its such a beautiful place!
Awesome story. This is how it is spread, by word of mouth, by each person using it around others who may not know about it. Its like how Roger Ver gives free BTC to a lot of people he meets. Its the best and quickest way to show someone how great it is. Nice blog, keep up the good work :)
It is very nice to see cryptocurrency spreading to be used by average people.
The banks only feast on those poor people, we need more frictionless trade to get Africa out of poverty.
So many of smaller countries are starved for services. Interesting post and I love the goat tree. Never seen that before this.
This was a perfect example!
Many wow such story very chicken to the moon ! Nice journey of chickens there mate .
How Much Bitcoin for a Chicken in Morocco?
Sing praises to the creator of Bitcoin and the decentralization of peer to peer currency. Are you sure the goats in the trees weren't running away from the fate of the poor scrawny chicken. Had theses goats taken a puff or two of the local hash they probably would not have cared. When the old man decided to take bitcoin a chorus of Hallelujah must have been heard in the background as cultural lead met with cultural lag ( look it up ). Why does your last photo remind me of Hunter S Thompson, " Fear and Loathing in Morocco", Ron
Nice bitcoin happy ending :-)
That's what I'm talking about!!!
amazing story and travelling
Can't help but feel sorry for the chicken... I know, I know; but still
Lmao @ I punched him in the face and grabbed my phone back
This is great dude I loved this story.. It was very damn cool especially the snake dancing to gangnam style and punching somone in the face!
Did that really happen lol!?
I am always saddened by these stories.
Bitcoin/crypto-currency has to be a solution.
Banking the unbanked must proceed at warp speed.
Great story Charlie! It deftly shows the human side of bit currencies and how it can bring positive change to someone's life. I missed the picture of the goat tree though.
You have had big things shake up your life the last three short years.
https://500px.com/photo/63872529/morocco-goats-on-argan-tree-by-francis-naef
@charlieshrem Killer post ! You had me at
Talkin the talk and walkin the walk Bro ! +1 Man after my own heart !
But no picture of the 8 goats in a tree .. = Epic Fail ! LMAO (EDIT) Saw pic of goats, LMAO !
(Hope you helped the old dude get the Bitcoin xferd to his currency ? !!!
You have quite a skill for story writing. Loved it :)
Even freedom smells different in the heat of the desert...lol.
Thank you very informative happened
Wow, I was captivated by your descriptions. Such a great piece of writing. Thank you so much for sharing that. Just reminds me again that there is so much more to experience out there!
Nice story, tried to spend bitcoin when traveling and except big cities it is difficult to spend them, and always forced to use bitcoin debit cards
Hi Charlie, great article!
Look, here is our new film competition on Steemit:
http://bit.ly/2bGwzy3
How do you like it?
I'm happy you came to morocco, it's my country welcome anytime I'm in Oujda city ;-)
Nice story Charlie!
A brave man who was able to put a little bit about his life.People are happy for him that he can not afford such a life.
Hi Charlie, your story inspired me to write down one of my most extreme Bitcoin payments. I believe I made the southernmost Bitcoin payment on this planet - prove me wrong!
http://bit.ly/2bAmzJp
After watching an interview I became quite a fan , fascinated about your past experience and this story is super nice showing a bit of a private side of you. Georgous girl you got on yours side . Lucky man ! Hello via Bali. Let me know when you come this way one day . Might be interesting what you can buy here in Indonesia 🙈
https://steemit.com/steem/@mindhunter/why-should-charlie-shrem-profit-from-spreading-fud-on-this-site
It's almost 40 MAD which is equal probably to 3.9 Dollars which is equal to 0.01 Bitcoin. and the this amount changes from city to another .