Drink Spiked in Essaouira

Essaouira is a great place but I had a pretty bad experience there
and in the interest of making sure it doesn't happen again, I
thought it would be prudent to put up some posts.

Arrived at La Mare club in Essaouira. There were two men on that
table and they were sitting with two attractive foreign looking
women who looked like they were related.

One of the guys grabbed my arm and I think he asked if we were
English and then started talking to us. My friend C was sitting to
my left and my friend S was on my right. The other English guy
started talking to Friend C. Their accent wasn't just well-spoken
it was the Queen's English and really could not have been faked.

The guy talking to me was about 6ft, curly sandy hair slightly
messy and still thick but beginning to thin. He said his name was
Will as did the other guy. He said he was 25 but he looked about
28/29. He was extremely talkative and didn't seem to be able to
stop babbling. I had to keep telling him to relax. I wasn't really
interested as he seemed very young and I wanted a girls night but
he definitely grew on me because no matter how sharp I was he
seemed to like it and take it in his stride.

These guys made us laugh saying that the place was full of
prostitutes and it seemed like everytime they thought they had got
lucky they were asked for 100 euros.

He was quite up front about the fact that he liked me and this
appealed to me. He said that he worked lived in Finsbury Park but
mentioned coming from Wiltshire for the Civil Service as a manager
and was very funny and utterly disarming. Then he and then other
Will said that they never got women, which sounded unrealistic to
me so I just rolled my eyes and said "Yeah right". I asked him why
Englishmen never seem to ask girls out so he said "Well...will you
go out with me when we get back to London" and I said "Alright".

Then I said I wanted to go out for a cigarette and he just got up
and led the way to the terrace. I asked him if he smoked and he
said he had for 10 years but he had given up, so I said "What
are you doing coming outside then!?" but he didn't say anything and
came out anyway.

When we got out there I told him he was mad and that I was hard
work, I also told him that I am 34, that he was far too young for
me and that I was at a different stage in my life and I was
looking for someone who I could have kids with. Then I said that I
did find him interesting and it could be fun. He said he was "Fun
central" which made me laugh. It all seemed very comfortable. He
also said that h was very dominant and he liked me because I
wouldn't let someone like him push me around. He said that in
relationships he liked to lose some of the battles but win the
war - which I thought was a strange thing to say and he apologised
for saying it wasn't a very nice thing to say.

I got up from the table and asked someone on the next table for
a light in French. I just said "Une feu s'il vous plait?". He
heard me and said "You speak French very impressive" to which I
said " I don't speak it very well". Later he wanted my phone
number and when asking for a pen he said about 3/4 sentences very
fast in fluent French which was a little strange.

He started babbling then, kept saying I was hot which I found
endearing, he seemed very earnest, he sat opposite me, no table in
between us, leaning forward. Then he said "So, will you go out with
me when we get back to London then?" and I said "I said that I
would", he said he would take me somewhere special and I said "To
be honest a couple of beers in the park would be fine" which he
seemed to like. He kept asking if I liked him, I said "Why are you
so interested?" and he said " I just want to know" so I said " I
wouldn't have agreed to a date if I didn't like you, but I don't
trust you. You do seem interesting", then he looked at me as if he
was going to kiss me. I didn't kiss him and we just went back
inside. It all seemed very sweet and innocent. It was the kind of
chat that my little brother probably does!

When we got back there was an older man sitting next to the
prostitutes, Will said he was their pimp. Friend S was busy dancing
with the waiter and Friend C was talking to the other Will but
really didn't seem to be very well at all so we gave both the guys
a hug and left.

Next day, I assumed they had left and the day passed without
incident, then at about 7pm I got a text saying that they had
overslept and missed their bus so they would be at the club that
night I told them we would be there. I told the girls I was going
to ask him back to our terrace that night but not going to do
anything as I wanted to go on a proper date back in London and
didn't want anything to spoil it. neither did I want to drink too
much for the same reason.

We (the girls) arrived at the club and had some dinner. They had a
great band on so we went down to check them out. I looked for Will
but didn't see him the couple of times that we went to the
dancefloor so we all just sat down and chatted. Then the "Wills"
came bounding up and asked if we wanted to sit near the dancefloor
but it all looked too crowded so we didn't bother and he said he
would come and join us, which he did.

I said to Will "Would you like to come back to mine - you're not
getting laid", he laughed and said he would love to come back to
mine and not get laid". Then we went up on the dancefloor but
didn't seem to do much dancing just stood there chatting and came
back fairly quickly.

Will 2 asked us if we wanted a drink, I refused as I didn't want to
get drink to much with Will coming over.

We all started chatting and having a laugh, we talked about lots of
things. My Friend C mentioned that I had done voluntary work in
Brasil which I avoided talking about as it is quite private and
can be depressing and also sound a little bit pious, then we moved
onto astronomy and the constellations which I love and Will 2
seemed to be knowledgable about but Will 1 didn't seem very
interested in which made me laugh.

I asked what their favourite moments were, I can't remember what
Will 2 said but Will 1 said that he had worked teaching kids in
Malawi (I think), he said their smiles were amazing. He did seem
legit but my initial thought was that he mentioned it because he
had picked up on the Brasil comment that Friend C had made as I am
a little bit sceptical about people who talk to strangers about
their voluntary work as it is like they use it as a tool to
impress people which I don't like.

There was a Moroccan guy who came over and stood behind myself and
Friend S, we ignored him, I just didn't take to him. He went and
sat down at the end of our table.

There was a glass of white wine on the table which I assumed was
Friend S's. I was sipping this wine, but only to wet my mouth while
i was talking.

The Moroccan guy started to introduce himself to us and when it
came to shake his hand I just looked him right in the eye for ages
and out if nowhere i just got a terrible felling about him. I said
"I am sure you are nice but I don't trust you and I don't want you
anywhere near me or my friends, go away", I became very agitated
when he didn't leave and told everyone to get up as we were
leaving. So everyone got up, the Wills said something to the man
and took us out but instead of turning towards our place we turned
the other way. I must have been trashed because I just followed
them and the girls automatically followed me. I kept apologising
and saying "I'm sorry but there was something about that man that
just wasn't right" I kept repeating this, then Will 2 said "You're
right not to trust him" and looked at Will 1, I caught this look
and became very agitated as I became conscious that it could have
all been a scam. I thought about the way in which I had been
chatted up and the Moroccan guy and his potential connection to
these two guys we were with.

We arrived at a door in an alley and I just went completely mad and
started shouting at them that there was something "not right", I
pushed them away and I told them to get the f*** away from me and
my friends, shouted at the girls to run, Friend C and I ran around
the corner where started punching the wall. Friend S had stopped
to talk to them to find out what was going on and Friend C went
back to get her. I shouted "Don't follow us".

Friend C said "Let's just get out of here" and we just ran on to
the road and made our way home.

I was in a very bad paranoid state for the next two whole days nor
could I eat or sleep - I thought it would never end, it was
terrrifying.

When I got "straight" back in London I went to the doctors who
confirmed that it was a spiking incident. I tried going to the
police afterwards but obviously with no hard evidence there was
very little they could do other than keep his description/details
on record. So I sent a text to him to say that I had been to the
police and he called me back and asked a lot of extremely
suspicious questions which confirmed that this was a very well
organised plan and that the Moroccan guy at the bar was actually
their boss. He also mentined a club/bar called Taros in Essaouira
where he said there had been a spiking incident. I never found out
what was in their room - for all I know it could have been full of
men waiting for us. If you DO encounter these men please ensure
that you keep an eye on your drinks and your friends (and whoever
they are talking to) and make sure you see a doctor and the police
STRAIGHTAWAY if you suspect you have been spiked.