Chapter
14: Return to Morocco
Keeping
on the move made me feel alive, as though I feared if I stopped, my
blood would cease to circulate, my
thoughts would stagnate.
--Catherine
Doi
(It's
going to be a longer one this time (TNWSS). I have some catching up
to do. I want to finish my Moroccan adventures in one entry. Then
back to Senegal. )
I
write this in a hotel near Banjul, the capital of The Gambia in West
Africa. I've had so many adventures it makes my dreydel spin. I need
to catch up... to get me here. And that means my last adventures in
Morocco:
Before
I left New York, Habibe, one of my Moroccan couch-surfing hosts asked
me to get some books for him. He needed them for a course he's
teaching at the university. They were intellectual stuff... heady
stuff.. a lot of it Post-this
or Post-that
like Post-Modernism
in African Studies or
Post
Colonial Literary Movements in Asia.
In
a typically American reaction, I asked him why he couldn't get his
own books. This is the modern world. Just go to Amazon.com and order
them.
“Mykel,”
he emailed me, “you're too American. People in Morocco can't order
on Amazon. They won't take our credit cards. We're not part of
global-banking, you know.”
If
there's anything I hate, it's being accused of being American... but
he's right. I buy him the books. That's a lot of extra space and
weight in a baggage-tight trip, but it's better than being American.
I
carry the books around for the first two weeks plus of my trip. Every
day they gain weight. Soon, I'll be able to dump them after my
journey from Tangier to Agadir... soon.
Before
we continue, I should tell you about my power. If I could control it,
I'd rule the world. In political elections, any candidate I vote for
loses... except once... when I voted for G.W. Bush to insure John
Kerry would win. As you know, it didn't work. So the power is that
any candidate I want, will loose.
With
travel, wherever I go... it rains. Rain followed me through France,
to Spain. To Morocco.
“Mykel,”
says Zayd, in Tangiers as we huddle in a doorway to get out of the
rain, “we were having a drought. Seven months no rain. It was
terrible... until you came.”
“They
should hire me out,” I tell him. “Send me to the Sahara. I'll
turn it into an orchard.”
He
laughs. He thinks I'm kidding.
After
a great three days with Zayd and my new friends from the park, I
sadly leave Tangier to head West-- Southwest actually-- to deliver
the books to Agadir and meet Habib.
[Note:
Up until now-- five weeks into the trip-- Tangier was my favorite
place... except for the rain. Thanks new friends!]
I
don't know anything about Agadir, except that it's further down the
coast-- more Atlantic than Mediterranean. Actually, I don't know
anything about traveling in Africa except “Don't trust taxi
drivers. Bargain before you go. And never let them take you to a
hotel. They get a percent from the hotel and the hotel overcharges
you. Usually it's a lousy place. Also, drivers will tell obvious
foreigners that their meter doesn't work. Then make up the charges as
they get there.” Good advice from Lonely Planet or a friend who's
been here. I can't remember where I heard it.
The
ride from Tangier to Agadir is a long one. Train to Casablanca,
another to Marrakesh, then change to a bus to Agadir. It could mean
12 hours of travel.
I
hate arriving in a new city at night. It's scary. You can't see where
you are. Spooky characters lurk everywhere... especially at bus and
train stations. I arrived in Tangier at night and hated it... As it
will turn out, I arrive in EVERY new city at night.
One
of the reasons I love travel-- especially ground travel-- is that I
can sleep, relax, get some work done, maybe take some pictures from
the window. In any case, it's better than the plane... usually.
Ground travel sometimes, though, has the same awful fault that plane
travel has.
Sleep,
yeah right. Though I'm a supporter of the Second Amendment to the US
Constitution,(for the foreigners reading this: the
right to bare arms)
I'm extremely lucky not to have a gun at the moment. There would be
kiddie-blood everywhere.
During
the trip, Habib and I text each other... frequently. He tells me that
after I arrive, I have to take a bus to his town in the suburbs of
Agadir. I ask him where to get the bus. He tells me I need to take a
taxi from the bus station to the bus station. Where does he live? Is
it in Morocco?
“Hahahaha,”
he texts me back. “It's in Tamri, a suburb of Agadir... a bit out
of the city.”
He
asks me when I'm planning to arrive. I tell him there is no arrival
time listed on my train-bus ticket. From the speed of travel, I'm
guessing I'll arrive around seven. But this is Africa, so I tell him
eight.
“Eight
o'clock?” he answers. “That's late. It's better to stay in a
cheap hotel in Agadir and come in the morning. There are probably no
more buses at eight.”
I
arrive in Agadir about 9:30. I'm beat from the 14 hour trip. No
sleep-- only a variety of screaming babies.
It's
raining. Before I leave the bus station, I ask about a nearby
hotel... something I can walk to. Even though I spent the first two
weeks of this trip in France, I spoke more English there than French.
Now, unless I want to learn Arabic, it's parlay voo France-say!
“Est-ce
que il-y un hotel... pas cher... a cote d'ici?” I ask.
I
guess the guy understands me because he answers that there is one
just around the corner. Go out the door and turn this way, then turn
that way, walk tout droit a little bit, then turn a gauche and you'll
see it en face. It's called Hotel Ata-somethingorother. It's only 10
minutes away.
I
gather my bags... go out the door... turn this way... then turn that
way. I walk tout droit a little bit... then turn a gauche. I am lost.
I hail a taxi.
“Je
voudrais alle au Hotel Ata-somethingorother,” I tell the driver,
looking at the meter to make sure it's working.
“Comment?”
he asks.
“C'est
prec q'ici,” I say.
He
tells me he doesn't know any hotel like that, but he does know a
hotel in Centre
Ville
that is very nice and not too expensive.
“D'accord,”
I tell him. I'm ready to take anything.
He
takes me to the Residence
Hotel Azure.
Just what I need: a residence
hotel. That's
what they call the SROs in New York. Bum hotels, mostly paid by
welfare. Bedbugs, winos, with no locks on the door... a theft a
minute. People sleep on the street rather than going there. Mmmm
yeah. By the time I check in, I forget how much it was on the meter.
Something like twelve
dirhams.
I
think.
“Je
vous droit combien?” I ask the driver.
“Just
give me 50 dirhams” he says in English. When he pronounces the name
of the Moroccan currency, it sounds like GERMS. In a way, it is.
Cheated
by a cab driver? What a surprise! Fuck it. I'm tired and annoyed. I
pay and check in.
Actually,
the place isn't too bad. It's a bit fancy for my taste, but they do
have a decent bathroom with a HAIR DRYER! Not that I need to dry my
hair, but I do need to wash then dry my filthy clothes. I can wash
them in the sink, and dry them before morning with the hair dryer. I
do.
Here's
a picture of the place the next day. One of the few non-rainy days in
North Africa:
Not
so bad, huh?
The
next day, I meet Habib himself, along with one of his childhood
friends who has a car. I forget the guy's name. I'll call him Mamoud,
just like my favorite hallal street-seller on forty-first street.
Mamoud is a taxi-driver in New York. The same job I held about 25
years earlier. We talk shop and promise to meet up in The City. He
has some paperwork to take care of before he can return.
The
goal is Habib's place. Mamoud drives us. And drives... and drives....
from the window, the scenery looks like Sonora, Mexico. Rock
mountains and dessert sand... an eerie dejavue.
Finally
we arrive... a small street in a small town. Far away from Agadir. I
give the books to Habib, happy to finally lose the weight. He thanks
me and again explains how difficult it is to get books in Morocco. He
shows me a double bookshelf filled with academic books.
“All
from visitors... couch-surfers... people like you,” he says. “I
couldn't do it without you.”
It
makes me feel great, like I paid for an Oriental baby to have a
harelip restored.
“Mykel,”
says Habib in English. “I'd like you to talk to my class today.
You're a writer... a published novelist... they can get first hand
information from you.”
Who,
modest, public-speaking shy, me? Talk in front of a bunch of probably
very attractive college-age kids? Twenty somethings? Me, make a
spectacle of myself? Are you kidding?
“Of
course,” I say. “I'd love to.”
At
Habib's place I drop off my stuff. It's a simple house in
way-the-fuck-out Morocco. When he arrives, Habib says something to
his roommate. It sounds like KOO-MAH. Maybe it's cool
man. I
can't tell. I'll be sharing the living room with the roommate during
my stay.
“Hi,”
he says. “My name is Osama.”
“Like
THAT Osama?” I ask.
He
laughs and nods his head.
I
barely have time to look around the house: a kitchen with a tank of
gas for the stove, a bedroom, claimed by Habib. A squatter toilet
with a large basin of water to flush it... and the same basin to wash
yourself.
“We'll
fill it with water when you want a shower,” says Habib. That's what
they call this portable bathing/toilet flushing basin: a shower.
“Time
to go to school,” says Habib. Mamoud drives us.
The
classroom is like the classroom where I taught in Mongolia. The
blackboard is half-chalk, half-whiteboard. The erasable markers are
almost out of ink. Habib introduces me to his Theory
of English Literature and Criticism class.
He teaches the class in English.
“We
have with us today, Mykel Board, an author and novelist from New
York. Mykel will talk to us about the relationship of the novel...
and his work... to structuralism, modern and post-modern criticism,
and how criticism itself influences the literature criticized.”
WTF?
Can
I bullshit for half an hour? Can I discuss the chemical reactions in
bagel-making when called upon to do so? Can I lecture on sub-atomic
particles and the implications of wave theory? Does the pope shit in
the woods?
So
I talk and talk.. play act... mention The Beats, Celine, Henry
Miller... throw in some Zen... a dash of existentialism... a dollop
of stream-of-consciousness... Then I ask for questions. There are a
ton of 'em. One guy wants me to give him a reading list.
Hooey!
This is not a modern American college class. These students are
smart. They're interested in the subject. They're eager to learn. All
of 'em. Who said that women in Muslim cultures are kept back... kept
dumb? I think people confuse Muslims with Americans who are all kept
back and kept dumb.
A
cute girl in a red headscarf asks me, “What writers influenced you?
And was the influence in content or style?”
Another
girl, in an almost burqa... only her face showing... asks me, “What
are the political implications of your writing? Do you write to make
a political point or do your politics come from what your writing
reveals?”
The
discussion continues. Light skins, dark skins, a guy in a robe with a
huge beard, a young Arab that could have come straight out of William
Burroughs. This is so much fun.
After
a bit, Habib has to stop me. He has a lecture to give. On
structuralism and the debate about divorcing work from context...
novel from author.
I
sit down to some applause. What a great class.
Back
at the house, I say KOOMAH to Mamoud and Osama. Habib prepares
dinner. Seafood and rice, along with Moroccan bread. Here he is with
his creation:
Here
too, I learn for the first time about African-style eating.
Like
any New Yorker worth his pastrami, I've eaten at Ethiopian
restaurants. There, you take a piece of the lemony Ethiopian bread,
hold it in your hand, and pick up various bits of food from a central
dish... like an instant sandwich. I figured that's Ethiopian... well,
sort of. The basic style... all eating from one dish, no separate
plates... is African. Apparently from North to South.
[Note:
Africa
is many things to many people. One of my couch-surfing hosts in Dakar
will tell me about his meeting with a Tunisian guest, there in
Senegal.
“This
is my first trip to Africa,” said the Tunisian.]
We,
each of us, fork or spoon into the delicious mixture, slurping it
down with some of that great mint tea. No beer... they are Muslim,
you know.
The
meal is terrific. I thank my host.
“Koolmah,”
he says.
The
next morning I want to go for a walk. See the town. In order to find
my way back, I take pictures of the building next door. It's a
bathhouse. Wow! A Turkish... er... Moroccan bath. I wonder if they've
got girls that give that...er... special massage. If not, at least
the scenery should be interesting. Maybe I'll find Kiki from Naked
Lunch-- or
my own version. Unfortunately, time and circumstances never allow me
to check it out.
On
the corner of Habib's street and the main street in town is the town
mosque. Not a bad looking building, though in need of sprucing up a
bit. (I hate religion, but sometimes the buildings are just so
great!)
Around
the corner is a store selling Tagines... Moroccan clay cooking pots
introduced to me by Zayd in Tangier. I've never eaten from one.
The
town is not very big, so when I get back I suggest to Mamoud that we
go for lunch in a Tagine place. There's only one... on Main Street.
Then we'll go on the hike he's promised me. Habib has to work. And
while he's gone, it's Mamoud's job to entertain me.
“KOOOMAH!”
He says.
On
Main Street, I see a bus pull up to the tangine restaurant. Out come
a buncha white guys. They snap a few photos and head for the
tables... together.... fill up the place. The tagines start cooking.
“That
was the place,” he says shaking his head. “When tourists come
there's nothing left. They're like that fish, you know?”
“Piranhas?”
I ask.
He
nods.
We
turn around and head for the highway.
“This
is where you catch your bus to Casablanca,” says Mamoud. “You
should get an early one. You don't want to get to Casablanca in the
middle of the night.”
I
nod.
We
continue our hike. The land becomes drier, more desert-like. We come
to a bridge... instead of going over it, we go under it. The “river”
is dried up. Just a trickle of water, sometimes stagnant ponds...
mosquito breeding stations. We can easily walk over it.
You
can see pictures from the hike as well as other Moroccan pictures at
my picasa site. Just click on the picture below for the other pics.
 |
| Morocco... other pix |
On
the way back, I suggest taking a different route from the one we took
first. Mamoud hikes us down a hill where we stop at the beginning of
a banana grove. Looks peaceful enough, I think. Why don't we just go
on through it?
“Two
reasons,” says Mamoud. “One is that I don't like to walk through
other people's land. This banana plantation belongs to someone. We
can't just walk through it.”
I
nod, still in culture absorption mode. Willing to accept anything.
“The
second reason,” he continues, “is that the way is blocked by two
donkeys. Look at them... see how when we get close their ears
shake... and they go back...”
I
remember the term mule
kick
and figure it must come from somewhere like this. I decide to follow
Mamoud to find an alternative path. We come to another banana grove.
There is a guy attending this one.
He
wears tattered jeans and a t-shirt. On his feet are sandals... like
everyone else around here... except me in my army boots. He looks to
be in his early 20s... handsome in a rugged Arab way.
Mamoud
speaks to him in what I think is Arabic, but later turns out to be
Berber. Not only does the guy give us permission to walk through his
banana grove, he takes us... leading the way along the slippery rocks
to the former river bed... then well along to make sure we get on the
way. He shakes hands with us to say good bye... and we're off. Just
trying to be helpful... he wanted nothing but to be nice. It's a
sharp contrast to what I will later find in Senegal and The Gambia.
The
next morning, I'm off to Casablanca. Since Tamri is about 90km closer
to Casablanca than Agadir, I figure it'll be better to go from there.
I leave at 9AM the next day. Habib comes with me to wait for the
bus... and wait. Finally, a bus appears, pulls up... and passes us.
“Mykel,”
says Habib, “I think you'd better take a bus back to Agadir, to the
station and buy a ticket there. By the time the buses get here,
they're full. And not all of them come this way.”
“You
mean I should go 90 kilometerts in the wrong direction, to come again
to the right direction, including those same 90 kilometers? That's
almost 200 kilometers out of the way.”
“I'm
afraid that's best,” he says.
“Let's
give it until noon,” I say. “Maybe we'll be lucky.”
He
shrugs and waits with me. At noon, I take the bus back into Agadir.
Then buy a ticket to Casablanca... requiring a train change in
Marrakesh. The bus isn't scheduled to leave until 2:30PM. It leaves
at 3:00.
From
the bus, I text my couch-surfing host in Casablanca.
Me:
Hi, I'm on the bus to Marakesh. Then I'll take a train to Casablanca.
How can we meet?
Him:
Who
is this?
Me:
It's
Mykel, your couch-surfer.
Him:
Where
are you?
Me:
On
the bus to Marakesh.
Him:
I
have to tell you that I live with my family. Is that okay?
Me:
I
don't care. If it's okay with them, it's okay with me.
There's
no reply for some time. In the meantime, we reach Marrakesh and I
transfer to the train for Casablanca. A woman with a screaming baby
sits behind me. A half hour into the ride, my phone vibrates.
Him:
It's
all fixed. Now I only need to know your age and where are you from.
Me:
I'm
from New York. And I'm old enough to be your grandfather.
Him:
Really?
Me:
Really.
No
answer. Nothing. I've got about half an hour until I get to town.
There is one possible solution: PUNK ROCK. A punkrocker Facebook
friend of mine teaches in Casablanca. I took his number in case of
emergencies. I know he lives with a bunch of other people, so I can't
stay there. But maybe he can help me find someplace cheap. I text
him.
Me:
Aaron!
I need your help. My couch-surfing host abandoned me. I'm stuck for a
place to stay. Can you help me find someplace cheap?
Him:
Sure
Mykel. I'll ask around for a place. See what I can come up with.
While
I'm waiting, I text the first guy again... just to be sure.
Me:
I
didn't get an answer from my last text.
Him:
I'm
sorry. You are too old. Maybe we can meet for a coffee.
Okay,
that takes care of that. It's about twenty minutes before Aron texts
me back.
Him:
I
talked to my roommates. They said it's all right if you stay here.
Call me when you get in.
In
about half an hour I'm in. I call Aron. Tell him I'm at the bus
station.
The
connection is horrible. I can just make out what he's saying... or
not.
“Take
a cab to Schadfafda adfieare,” he says.
“Sorry,”
I tell him. “I didn't get that.”
“The
Shwin Center,” he says.
“Shwin?”
I ask, “like the bike company?”
“Shwin,”
he says. “Like in the Shwin Towers in New York. You know...
terrorism and all that.”
“Oh,
the TWIN CENTER!” I say.
“That's
right,” says he, “that's what I said.”
A
short time later I'm there. We meet up, I drop off my bags, then go
out for a beer in a secret bar at the back of an empty restaurant.
Good hiding place in a Muslim country.
The
next day, I'm out on my own while Aaron works. I go to the Medina.
(Every Moroccan town seems to have a Medina.
I figure it either means “old city,” or “port.”) In any case,
I'm far from the tourist area: an obvious stranger in a strange land.
It looks like what we used to call a
dangerous neighborhood.
I
pass a school... just getting out... Junior High from what it looks
like. Students in blue and white uniforms. Boys and girls in seperate
groups. The girls look at me, say something in Arabic, and laugh. A
common reaction... except for the Arabic. I just walk ahead, looking
for a place to have some coffee at an outside table.
I
find one. As I prepare to sit down, a bunch of boys... obviously from
the school... come up to me and shout. I don't know what they're
saying, but it's menacing. They make shooting gestures with thumb and
forefinger. One of the older boys, bigger than the rest with a
handsome face and protruding ears, laughs. It is not a harmless
that's
funny
laugh. It is a malicious we're
gonna get you laugh.
The
proprietress of the restaurant comes to my aid. Matronly, with a
stern face and white scarf around her head, she yells at the kids.
Gives 'em a good scolding. Like a mother who caught the kid with a
cigarette.
The
boys look at me, touching their right hands to their heart. The
universal African gesture of apology.
The
proprietress takes my order and I sit down outside. The boys turn the
corner and look at me again. Several of them give the apology sign
again. I smile and give the thumbs up sign. They give me the thumbs
up sign and walk off. As they're leaving, the guy with the protruding
ears swivels around, holding his right wrist with his left hand...
pointing like a cop on a TV show... he aims his finger and shoots.
I
don't leave that restaurant very quickly. And when I finally do, I
look carefully around before I head into the Medina.
That
night, after Aaron returns, he takes me to listen to some modern
non-hip-hop at Casablanca's only “alternative bar.” Here's a bit
of what we see.
Aron
introduces me to his friends. We talk punkrock. During my 3 days in
Casablanca, I finally get to eat couscous... and tangine. Aaron is a
vegetarian, and declines my offer to treat him.
Finally,
it's time for me to leave for Dakar... via Lisbon. I bid my farewell
to my host and leave for the airport. I get in a taxi and tell the
driver where I want to go. Then I point to the meter.
“I
am very sorry,” he says in bad English. “The meter doesn't work.”
It's always nice to get comments to
these entries. Please leave one. You can contact me on Facebook or at
me@mykelboard.com. If I'm
traveling, however, I may not be able to answer your email very
quickly.
This is the 14th entry of my
travel blog for this trip. Here are links to the past entries:
Episode
1 here
(Before leaving New York 1)
Episode
2 here
(Before leaving New York 2)
Episode
3 here
(Before leaving New York 3)
Episode 4 here.
(Before leaving New York 4)
Episode 5 here
(New York to Paris)
Episode 6 here
(Strasbourg Party Time)
Episode 7 here
(Ryan Air)
Episode
8 here
(Paris)
Episode
9 here
(Death in Tangier)
Episode
10 here
(Resurrection in Tangier)
Episode
11 here
(Monkey Business in Gibraltar)
Episode
12 here
(Entering Senegal from the rear)
Episode
13 here (Killing Me Softly)
No comments:
Post a Comment