Blogs from Morocco, Africa - page 202

October 2nd, 2007 If cleanliness is next to godliness, then I am Raphael’s “Alba Madonna,” glowing with saintliness. I have just returned from our neighborhood hamam, now a weekly ritual, and can state out of experience that you’ve never been truly clean if you’ve been to a hamam to sweat out all the toxins and be scrubbed within an inch of your life. My first time, accompanied by Mohammed’s wife Anna, I was nervous at the prospect of communal nudity. In the States, modesty in dress is nearly non-existent, with women free to wear just as little as they please. But underneath the clothes (as minimal as they may be), the naked body is scandalous, even to people of your own gender, and self-consciousness, driven by the the stick-thin mary-kate-and-ashley celebrity culture, makes girls ashamed of ... read more

"On a slightly rough sea, but of the purest blue, the ships glides without rocking or pitching. On the left, the horizon is lined with a few clouds; on the right, by the mountains of the Spanish coast". So wrote Henri Matisse aboard the SS Ridjani in January 1912, as he sailed, for the first time, to Tangier. Ninety-five years later, an hour behind schedule, and with all thought of 'gliding' gone, the ferry ploughed its way across the Strait of Gibraltar. The sun was setting west over the Atlantic and the water was dark beneath the gilded flecks of the wave-crests. Little was visible through the smeared windows, and I was yet to glimpse Morocco. I tried to get out to deck. A plump Spanish steward with a moon face and pursed lips asked me ... read more

It is strange to be in this country just to be. I know that I have left the US. And I know that I am here with my sister. But where is here and how long will I be there? I arrived in Casablanca under cover of night last night. It is strange to fly into a new place at night, because the lights give you very little sense of the dimensions and textures and setting of a place. (In this case, however, even a daytime approach wouldn’t have helped me much, as I woke up only when the front wheels of our plane hit the runway and I was too groggy even then to process what it meant to finally land in Morocco after months of talking about it). MC met me at the airport. ... read more

This is our last day in morocco.... We wake up and meet up with our tour guide Momo who plans to take us around Fes. First he takes us to the royal palace and around there. It was a totally different scene than what we had experienced before this. It was a big city. He took us up to a mountain to get an aerial view of the city and that was cool to look at, because it seemed much more condensed than say looking at NY and it's big streets. This was a city that he also called a labyrinth. It was composed of small alleyways which twisted and turned and contorted into all different directions. It was a sight. He then took us around to see different ways of life here. But it seemed ... read more

Day three More traveling inland to get to the Sahara! We stop in the most beautiful place. Its inside this huge huge canyon. It was an oasis as well. Just imagine driving for hours on end with gray, orange, black, and all dim colors. Then all of a sudden you come across bright green palms trees and water and a whole village. We stopped for pictures at one oasis, then stopped for food at the next. We saw rock climbers on these huge walls of the canyon. We were in the vans all day traveling and then reached a small city where we met up with the jeeps. We transferred all our stuff to the jeeps and hopped in with excitement. We drove around the city for a bit then all of a sudden just went ... read more