so i will begin my arabian tale!! yes i can say i´ve been to the deserts of africa! ok so here it goes::::
i awaited the departure of royale air maroc, alone amongst families & couples holding each other in excited anticipation. the seats were rather comfortable considering the occasion. awaited the infamous saying ¨now boarding passengers, rows 10-20¨--my turn has arrived! i get up, hand my ticket over the the arabian princess standing in front of me and walk the plank -the line was long & moved slow-- a glimpse of the moroccan world to come-- i entered the plane & found my seat was along the window- i love window seats, esp on planes! i also found the seat next to me empty- for a while at least. a middle aged woman moved in to be my companion. we exchanged a few sentences but i soon became the person strapped into headphones too entranced in her own luis-filled music world to care about anything else. after a while we spoke about our journeys coming up & she was going to morocco with some fellow teachers for a tour. melody decided to go ahead of everyone else to see what else there was to explore. after looking at a magazine of morocco i saw an ad (yes, thank you advertisements!) for 'festival casablanca'--a celebration of arabian music & films. i decided hey, this is a great reason to stay. i glanced at her ´lonely planet´book & wrote down some hotels, restaurants, streets to avoid, exchange rate of dirham (1$ = 8.5 dH) and decided if the cost to change my ticket was not beyond my means i would stay. i arrived early AM in morocco -cleaned up in the bathroom, changed clothes into something cool (my green linen dress that does not expose too much) & made my way to the travel agency inside the airport. spoke w-woman who stated it would be 150$ to change my ticket -my family gave me money to basically cover that so i decided if i can get ahold of sara it would be ago. i called you (your voice was like a part of heaven dropped into the receiver! ), got ahold of sara to whom i confirmed the safety of this experience & was on my way. i awaited a train to take me to ´casa port´- an area in north west morocco where there are hotels & near to festival casablanca. melody was staying at a hotel on the ocean but i decided to save my $ and make it work. i took a taxi (petit taxi --very small & red) to hotel de palais. for about 14$ it was great (not a 5 star but nice enough) - first floor corner room, balcony, queen size bed & a twin bed also, closets w-hangers, private bath, toilet, toilet paper (yes this is not a given here!), and a great feeling to it!! i felt very comfortable w-the staff and all. i went on a journey to get a sandwich & realized the city was a little bigger than i imagined & yes, french is quite a necessity. a young guy (kassem) asked if i needed help & took me to a sandwich shoppe, at first a guide, who later became a friend. i grabbed a sandwich (later realized it was lamb) with olives & salad w-french fries & fresh orange juice --man do these people have great orange juice!! yes i believe it would beat anything from the states. back to hotel to nap & shower. i awoke a few hours later rested & acclimated to jet lag. met later w- kassem & some of his friends for a nite out in morocco -also met his family -very welcoming had some moroccan tea & tried to chat w them but just basically laughed at the fact that i know NO FRENCH!!
people in morocco love their cigarettes! they sell them on the street for a few dirham for a single cigarette --everywhere you turn guys are smoking! :( and yes, the world is kind of split- i rarely saw girls w-guys unless they were young- older men stand in droves chatting, having tea & coffee in cafes, sharing stories over cigarettes! women stay w-the children (god bless them!) -i saw them eating a lot, though rarely saw the men eating -strange..?
alas after the bar i went back to the hotel to wake up for the beach the following morning. changed rooms for something a little less expensive -you may ask isn´t 14$ a great deal but for 8$ you can get another room & i was low on dH. i tell you the difference b-t 6$ is great! the new room had a small twin bed, on the 4th floor walk up, a small window & shower you needed to walk downstairs to get the key for...there also was no shower stall just a hand held device to wash with & yes, no toilet paper. well it did the trick anyway (oh, i was told later that i had to pay for use of the shower but i stated that no one told me that & so they didn´t make me pay the extra 10dH). took a bus to the ocean -swam in the most beautiful ocean i´ve seen yet! warm turquoise blue water that you can walk out maybe 200 feet w-out being too deep, rolling waves, millions of bubbles, soft fine HOT sand!! there were only a few girls there -young ones wearing bikinis but the older ones wore their long dresses & there were only a few. i tried to ride the waves w- the male youths but did not catch any good ones. just enjoyed the feel of water against my body. afterwards grabbed a shower at the hotel & walked to a cafe to enjoy some of that wonderful wonderful moroccan tea (mint & sugar)!! was the only woman outside sitting but wrote of my travels. the time stops in morocco- so laid back & hot & humid! no air conditioners here but there was a young man selling portable fans throughout the street to cars that were passing. here the cars do not like to stop for pedestrians & w-the lack of traffic lights it makes walking difficult sometimes, but you walk & hope for the best!! :) people sell everything here -sara´s father said they sell old teeth!! i did not see any of that. i got some really great bread for 1.5 dH from a really friendly older man who was quite excited that i came from nyc. people hear that you´re from nyc & grow so happy -they are so welcoming and genuinely happy to meet someone from so far away!
so 15th marks the day of festival casablanca!! i met up w-kassem & his friend arabi (very nice guy) & we went to the parade --wow! so amazing!! thousands of people filled the street - 3 huge marionettes walked (one was parisian, one a bruja, and one an older guy); filed behind them were people dressed like giraffes & of course the musicians!! so full of energy!! from the sky came 2 guys w-fireworks on their feet!! wow!! then began the rock music - a man on top of a pegasus shot out more fireworks into the air. a friend of arabi´s has a car & we drove to ain duab (the beach) to see an arabian woman singer - we stopped to see the biggest mosque in the world -it is fantastically huge! the doors were closing so i could not go inside but i looked to the outside in amazement! such beautiful architecture -clean lines, tiled floors, arches that would drive most crazy w-excitement.
made way to the concert & man the young girls were going crazy dancing!! as were the young guys! they give 4 kisses to each other if they are very close friends -it was so nice to see everyone so friendly w-each other. i really like their culture from what small snidbit of what i could see. the lady sang for about an hour -most songs sounded similar but w-a lil different beat. she´s a pretty good performer though! afterwards walked along the sidewalks to see the goings-on of this part of town but nothing of interest & all were sleepy from the hot day so back to hotel & said bye to the new friends i met. we spoke of culture, language, family, friends, loved-ones, animals & travel. i learned a few french & arabic words (salam = hi, mal salama = bye, cheukran = thanks, & hi & bye & whatever else you can say! :) ) a few numbers in french & wei (yes!), chi= hot. i kept saying wei today w-sara! i´m losing a little of my english too -words do not come as easily! :)
up early about 7am to get taxi to casa vouyage to airport- our plane se roto (not sure why but that is what i learned from the guy there) -met a wonderful couple w- a small daughter (zizi about 3 yrs old) - the wife & daughter are going to nyc to visit her sister & invited me for couscous & moroccan tea! the little one is so cute but a small horror!! decided that everything everyone had is super & she has to give it a whirl herself (my water & camera, a guys´ ipod, a lady´s lap, a kid´s candy & she even attempted a PS2!! wow she was a kick!! :) and to boot--also a delay of some guys trying to smuggle hashish in their shoes --about 2 hrs delay!! wow! so new plane (sara´s mother told me the company iberia -who finally took us- was on strike until i guess just today or yesterday -what luck!! so my arrival in madrid had come & i was on my way! :)
leaving casablanca.. walked up onto plane steps from the streetway & i just had to do it...looked at zizi & said ´here´s lookin at you kid´ no, she had no idea what i said but amidst the million kisses to my hand she just looked up & smiled.
alas, madrid decided to change the whole airport & everything i once knew did not exist! apparently the same for sara!! so there is a new train that takes you to your luggage, where the old subway once stood so i was at a loss for where i was. my cellular had no minutes so i borrowed someone´s phone to ring sara & ask her where she was...a few mins later we confirmed the new train system!! so sara & jorge were there to pick me up -so nice to see her-a great friend! :) picked up something from jorge´s house & the spanish started rolling...we were on the way to orusco (her parent´s house in the mountains) -much cooler than the 130 degrees in madrid!! i am not joking!! and here now i am-getting ready for bed after a nice swim in the pool & dinner w-her family.
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