My Current Location
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Tiznit
Arrived on
16th Feb 2012 |
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67°f
clouds.
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Blog updated: 6th Apr 2012
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My latest 5 Diary Entries
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18th Feb 2012 - 23rd Feb 2012
Human Beings
It's hard for me to believe it's only been a week since I wrote last!! Traveling in this style is proving to provide a huge concentration of incredible, truly surreal experiences in such a small amount of time. Each and every day is packed with new, unexpected situations that one could not even dream of beforehand! Backpacking by foot as i have done in the past, one cannot get too far from the "tourist trail" of infrastucture that exists. In India, the distances are so vast that it is totally impractical to expect to walk everywhere, so even if you stick to the public transport, you are confined to the limitations of the routes, creating a sort of "main artery" of travel routes. The locals that live on these arteries are much more accustome to seeing white faces than those in more remote parts that are not serviced by any bus route. Here in Morocco, traveling by bicycle, i am able to completely avoid this "tourist trail" and literally spend the entire time waaaay "off the beaten path"... El and I have had one authentic, organic experience after another! When you finally get completely off the beaten path, only then do you experience the true, pure essence of a culture. Those that are really accustomed to seeing white faces, almost exclusively in the cities, differ absolutely from those that live in the villages. Most of those that live in the cities have become heavily influenced by the "mainstream culture" broadcasting from America, (and i am not just talking about here in Morocco, tho it is very pronounced, but in many places and cultures i've been where this influence can be directly observed). Along with that "mainstream" comes western thinking, primarily the concept of capitalism, where citizens are conditioned to be voracious consumers and the aquisition of currency justifies and transcends all else. They start becoming vastly more concerned and preoccupied with material things, clothes, appliances, jewelry, all of which is mainstream western in fashion and therefor helps them to feel as if they "belong" with that which is propagated to be "mainstream pop culture", helping them to overlook the extreme poverty that is all around them. Developing these more western patterns of thought, they become less content, more anxious, unable to feel satisfied and more a part of the collective insanity. The ironic part is that almost without fail these things which help to give a "western affluence" feel are in reality fakes, "knock-offs" that are made to look like authentic western things but are made and sold at mere fractions of the price of originals. Absolute garbage in quality of course, but projecting an image of affluence and belonging to the wearer. This obviously displays the priority here is not at all quality but of image alone. But this image always comes with a price. The money to pay for these new desires must come from somewhere, and the common-mans work here in Morocco (and in India,Nepal,Sri Lanka,Thailand,Cambodia,Vietnam, Greece and other places where I have seen this influence is reaching) does not pay enough to support this image. Now money becomes essential, and the white tourists are known to have lots of it!! (because comparitively even the lowest of income earners in the West are still far above that of mostly all locals). Now it becomes an aggressive pursuit to seperate the whites from their money! This is but one reason why it has become virtually impossible to have an authentic cultural human experience while in the cities. To most of the city dwellers, because of the white color of your skin you are automatically reduced to a walking money sign! You simply cannot trust anyone you meet in the cities because 99% of the time they are trying to get something from you, money. Immediately your white skin makes you a target to an enormous range of hustles. While in the cities, you WILL be charged double or more for anything you want to buy, food, clothes, bus tickets, hotel room, absolutely anything will be more expensive for you than for a local, because they know from your skin color that you are not from around here and that the whites are very trusting when told the price of something because of how our culture works, so they know most whites will pay whatever is asked. Anyone who tries to talk to you, initially appearing innocent and genuine, will soon reveal that he would love to invite you for tea, inside of his shop that sells silver jewelry or expensive clothing of course! If someone on the street in the city asks where you are going or what you are looking for, manufacturing the image that he is genuinely trying to help a stranger out of the goodness of his heart, you can rest assured that he will direct you to "his families hotel", which actually means this hotel gives comission to anyone who brings tourists there and we will be getting charged a hugely inflated rate to cover the cost of his commission! Nobody is your friend in the cities if you are white. I am describing this in excruceating detail because I have never experienced something as abruptly contrasting as the city dwellers to the villagers!! An absolute 180 degree difference! The villagers here in Morocco, particularly the south where the Sahara Desert begins, are some of the most hospitable, kind, honest and beautiful people I have ever come across. They are quite genuine people, mostly farmers, heardsmen and other simple tradesmen. In the way of possesions, they have as close to nothing as one can get without actually having NOTHING at all, just a handful of basic, functional things. Their homes are built mostly from clay bricks or a primitive sort of concrete cinder blocks, then covered in morter and a coat of paint if you have managed to save a bit of money, or if you dont then you cover your house in a mixture of mud clay and straw, dried as hard as concrete in the blastfurnace that is the Sahara sun!! Your home is built from your own two hands, alongside the hands of your loved ones, sons, daughters, mothers,fathers, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cusins, all of which will be living in this house along with you. Because there is no opportunity for credit of any kind, you all have worked hard and saved the money you need to buy the land and materials required to build a home, therefor nobody has a mortgage payment of any kind, "once and done".. The family does not own a car, so "running to the store" becomes a literal statement, or perhaps you all saved and purchased a motorbike, old, tired and failing of course. But because of this, you do not have a car payment or any of the headaches and never-ending outflow of cash that come along with vehical ownership. Since they do not have many fixed monthly costs, or often none at all, their lives are not forced to be dominated by the pursuit of money, as peoples lives tend to be in the west, absolutely dominated by the pursuit and aquisition of currency and material junk. They have different priorities in life than we tend to in the west. They do not allow the pursuit of money to become the focus of their lives, selling vast quantities of their life in exchange for money as people do in the west. Instead they hold dear things like family and personal relationships, creating and building a strong family is seen as the purpose of ones life, and they live this concept. Before all else they hold highest their concept of God, the one single god that transcends all, Allah!! "There is but one God, and his name is Allah!"..... Religion plays an inseperable role in their lives. A true Muslim is a man of God, expressing Gods "will" through their lives in the form of unwavering honesty, unconditional kindness, and a divine sense of brotherhood amongst all men. They are some of the most honest and hospitable human beings I have ever met. They do not just talk about the teachings of their prophet and the laws of their book, as is the case with so many "neo-christians" who simply read the bible and go to church, do all the surface level things to ensure them a ticket to heaven, yet in their daily lives they do not express the real love of Christ through their actions at all, they simply talk about this and that, but never actually put the purity of Christ into practice. No the Muslim man will live his religion, if he sees that you are in need, he will be there to lend you a hand. If he sees that you are hungry, he will invite you to eat with him and his family. If he sees that you are tired and without shelter, he will offer you a bed in the very house he and his family live and sleep. The true Muslim will give unconditionally, not because he expects return, as the christians always do in the form of a ticket for a seat in heaven, but because he has a sense of brotherhood and communion amongst men that comes from a divinely deep place, a place of understanding. The Islamic faith is one of practice, they pray five times a day with the first one starting at six in the morning and the last one at eight at night, ending the day with a full hour of prayer.This allows for an incredible amount of presence and conciousness in their lives. Five times a day one has the divine opportunity to put all else aside, step back and conciously become aware of the inseperable conncetion with the divine that lay inherent in each of us! As already discussed, the aquisition of money does not rule their lives, so they take things at a different pace, time is not money here, time is a gift......What are YOU doing with the gift YOU have been given????
If i have offended anyone here then i appologize, that was never my intention. My only intention is to present to you true, factual things that i have observed only thru my own, meandering experience. If you were offended, perhaps take this opportunity to take a step back yourself, and re-evaluate your own priorities. Or perhaps Backpack and pedal your bicycle thru a purely Muslim country and have your own direct experiences, then you can see for yourself!!!!!
Many thanks for all the positive and constructive emails and FB messages!!! Its always great to hear your thoughts or questions...
Tomorrow we leave the town of Guelmim and head back into the wild Sahara!!!
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Diary Photos
| 19th Feb 2012 Tajeen Americana!! |
| Here El and I treat some new friends from the guesthouse we stayed at to some Tajeen, a traditional local dish that we've eaten more times than we can count already!! shout out to Kevin from Illinois, giving us hope that one does not have to let age defet the spirit of travelling!! very refreshing men thanks!!! |
| 19th Feb 2012 Slower pace of life |
| When you must ride your donkey everywhere you will think twice before making arbitrary trips to here and there!!! |
| 19th Feb 2012 El races the donkey |
| And looses... |
| 19th Feb 2012 Donkey Vagabonds again!!! |
| Saw the donkey vagabonds on the road south more than a week after parting ways!!! |
| 19th Feb 2012 What a sight!!! |
| They began charging ten durham for pictures!! haha brilliant |
| 19th Feb 2012 Open road ahead |
| Feeling ten pounds lighter and twenty years younger since shaving!!!! ha ha |
| 19th Feb 2012 Donkey gang |
| At first they didnt even recognize me without the beard!! |
| 20th Feb 2012 Feeling exhausted |
| Here we stop at a random lone house to ask if we can throw our tent down in their yard... |
| 20th Feb 2012 Games of schrades |
| Many moments later we finally communicated that we wanted to sleep on the ground inside the wall to shelter us from the relentless desert wind... they were sckeptical at first, im positive theyve never had a couple white people ask if they could sleep on the ground in their yard!!! |
| 20th Feb 2012 El in bandages |
| Its amazing the things this girl can get herself into!! here she has Henna applied in the very traditional fashion... little did she know she must sleep with her hands tightly wrapped all night!!!! |
| 20th Feb 2012 The family goat stock |
| They had a good number of goats and sheep, directly outside their back wall of the house.. |
| 20th Feb 2012 Nobody is a stranger here |
| Soon after communicating that we were exhausted and looking for shelter they quickly rounded up a table and had the standard communion of tea, bread and strong olive oil!! |
| 20th Feb 2012 Henna!!! |
| See how elegant and sparingly she applied it to El's hands?? hahaha |
| 21st Feb 2012 Daily chores |
| How this powerful woman keeps from chopping her fingers off with this machete is still a mystery!! |
| 21st Feb 2012 El in a Burka |
| The Matriarch of the family couldnt get El dressed up quick enough!!! she obviously had wanted a daughter but has three boys instead... she took full advantage of this situation with EL!!! |
| 21st Feb 2012 Fresh handmade bread |
| You dont get bread like this anywhere else... |
| 21st Feb 2012 Village school |
| 21st Feb 2012 Which one for dinner?? |
| 21st Feb 2012 Slaughter a goat in our honor??? |
| Here the family slit the throat of a goat and let it bleed out nice and slow so the meat tastes better... this was a huge gesture of honor for us!!! |
| 21st Feb 2012 Seriously??? |
| After the head is sawed completely off, the nine year old child quickly brings a tire pump so papa can pump air into the goat until it is full like a balloon!!! makes it easier to skin!! |
| 21st Feb 2012 Village school for women |
| Inside of a mobile shipping container these grown woman can learn to read and write their own language, a common condition amongst the villagers... |
| 21st Feb 2012 Sauteed goat |
| 21st Feb 2012 Fresh slaughtered Goat and french fries |
| A classic everyone is sure to love.... |
| 21st Feb 2012 Ancient ceremony |
| As if the beautiful disaster of henna from the night before wasnt enough, this time the neighbors got in on the action!! |
| 22nd Feb 2012 See the rope tied between the legs?? |
| That is to ensure the donkey doesnt wonder too far!! |
| 22nd Feb 2012 Starting to get barren |
| At the beginning of the Sahara desert one begins seeing much less human population... |
| 22nd Feb 2012 Inside of the dwelling |
| Basic but totally adaquate!! |
| 22nd Feb 2012 Middle of nowhere |
| 22nd Feb 2012 Mirage?? |
| After hours on a trecherous road of rocks, i round a bend to see palm trees and a castle high on the hill?? |
| 22nd Feb 2012 EL |
| As i get closer i see El under a shade tree!! I was far behind due to seemingly nonstop bicycle failure!!! I have many things to discuss about this machine!! |
| 22nd Feb 2012 Lonely road ahead |
| Big sky |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Aproaching the castle |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Look closely |
| Only after examaning this picture did we see there was a man in full desert robes standing in the sun watching us... hmm |
| 23rd Feb 2012 A deserted castle?? |
| Can this be?? an abandoned castle in the middle of absolutely nowhere?? |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Commando camping |
| Yes, it really was an abandoned castle... naturally we decided to take shelter inside of it and camp out under the stars!!! |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Man vs. nature |
| The guy on that show needs to follow me and learn a few things... like how to make a fire without trees and a squat out of a crumbling castle!!! |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Sunset from the castle |
| These clouds came out of nowhere to block the setting sun!!! didnt matter really, the stars out here are beyond compare!!! |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Natural man |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Outlook from our new castle |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Not built for the conditions!! |
| After much time spent constantly adjusting the spokes, fixing braze ons that break and bolts that snap, i am beginning to learn what i actually need in these conditions... keep in mind i started the trip with a mere 27lbs of gear.. and have only gotten lighter!! |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Dirt devils |
| Theyre so big out here they kind of freak u out!!! |
| 23rd Feb 2012 The "last resort" breakfast |
| Cucous, cinamon and sugar, laughing cow cheese, olive oil.... anything with calories in it!!! |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Abandoned castle becomes home |
| It really was incredible camping here and having the entire place to ourselves!! |
| 23rd Feb 2012 The beard |
| Had to get a side profile |
| 23rd Feb 2012 I introduce Nathaniel Muri!! |
| Man it feels good to look and feel fresh again!!... the heat and desert sands were just too much to withstand... so i shaved!! |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Kind man |
| Here is a very kind man... there is a certain look in the eyes when a person is completely illiterate in their own language.. this man has never seen a school.... |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Traditional dress |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Muslim Barbie??? |
| Here the Matriarch of the family is having a huge amount of fun playing dress up with El, this all ended up being a gift to EL!!! |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Proud of their lives |
| These people are absolutely proud of everything they have and do... totally willing to show it off if they can see you are genuinely interested!!! |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Incredible people!!! |
| First they let us put our tent on the ground outside their home... but after many hours of light hearted schrades games and a dozen cups of sugar tea, they realized that we are very different from the white faces they see occasionally zip past in a land rover, we are real travellers that are genuinely interested in them and their culture.... Immediately they invite us to sleep inside their homes in a wonderful little room with dozens of blankets and pads... ended up staying three days with the family and couldt speak a word of the same language!!! |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Father and son |
| Children treat their parents and all elders with a level of respect that is completely lost in our culture... |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Moments before slaughter!!! |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Whole family helps in the sacrafice |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Guess whats for lunch? |
| You guessed it, fresh goat liver on a skewer with yet another unknown animal substance in between... |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Not a butcher??? |
| Here she pummles the goat carcass with what equates to a hammer, or at least the meat looks like thats what it is!!!! |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Muslim Madam |
| El is really taking this Muslim thing seriously!!!! haha this was taken moments after they accepted us into their home and had began a three day dress up session with EL!!! |
| 23rd Feb 2012 El learning Arabic |
| 23rd Feb 2012 Mirleft Sidi Ifni (1) |
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