My last post wIas pretty intense, i read over it and i like what i said and i mean all of it, but i can see how someone back home might think ive gone a bit mad, or that im just being dramatic about things.... that is not the case. In this time of immense reflection, I have witnessed something which i would like to explain to those back home. I realize that many people who read this blog (or just americans in general) may have never been out of the country before, may not have experienced what travelling really is. I am not talking about "vacations" or "holidays" because that is not what i do, im talking about serious cultural experiences, international travel... To me, my adult life began when i started travelling... once i made the commitment to jump my "real" life began... From the first moments in Sri Lanka to now here in this Moroccan Village, my entire life changed when i left home. Reality means a different thing to me than it ever did before, and i see it is through travelling and its diversity of experiences that has led me. Allow me to explain what i am talking about a bit more in depth....

When one travels to a distant land with a totally different culture, it is not possible to stay the same as you were before. If a person decides to REALLY travel, i mean travel not as a tourist or even a "backpacker"... but travel as a Vagabond... a student of life that is thirsty for real knowledge and truth... Vagabonding... when you begin travelling like this your life changes. Your life seems to open to a different dimension, time takes on a new meaning, minutes become eternal, ordinary things become absolutely extraordinary... you can begin to see outside of the narrow, restricted, lopsided view of reality that you have in your conditioned, mundane daily life of routine.. the cycle of "work, consume, work, consume, work, consume; repete until death"....that is no longer stimulating for you and therefor carries no meaning anymore.... Life takes on a new depth, a richness that is without compare... if you already consider yourself a passionate person of sorts, Vagabonding will make you a thousand times more passionate... if you think you have deep thoughts and a deep understanding of reality... Vagabonding will show you that in fact you do NOT and you actually know NOTHING.... but through a huge diversity of first hand, personal experiences, you will come to know depth in your own right.... one can "think" and "contemplate" or "philosophize" all you want to... but without that element of experience the thoughts and concepts will remain only that, thoughts... not knowledge.... if you think you are alive, vagabonding will show you what it means to actually be alive, and that right now you are not alive, you are simply dreaming...

I want to illustrate this with an example, something as mundane and ordinary as eating a fish. Here is a small glimps of what i mean when i say that life takes on a new depth and dimension when you commit yourself like this... the ordinary becomes divine...


eating a fish... we all know what its like eating a fish in America: go to the store and purchase what at one time resembled fish but is now just a plastic package filled with preserved substance. Or even if we think we are getting "fresh" fish, often it is much older than its advertised and even then it comes from someone you do not know, by methods you do not know or understand, from a place you do not know!!! Like this, our connection with food in the west is almost totally broken. we have no idea where our food comes from anymore, how its grown, who grows it, nothing!! When Vagabonding, you are exposed to people who live their lives in a totally different manner, priorities are different for them, life means a totally different thing!...

Eating a fish in a fishing village...

To understand the full beauty of eating a fish in a Moroccan fishing village, one must start at the very beginning, because that is where they start and that is where the journey of nourishment starts. Waking up to do old school Yoga at sunrise, you notice EL'AZ'RK and Rasheed are already awake and out on the beach, halfway in the water and halfway out, as sunrise is when the tide is at its lowest here right now. The morning is beautiful, no sound of any motors or electronics of any kind, just the roaring beauty of the waves crashing over and over on the shore, a light fog comes in from the ocean, carrying with it that smell... "THAT" smell... anyone who has lived on the beach knows exactly what im talking about. The air is crisp and fresh, full of life and energy! Perched on a rooftop just as the sun peaks over the horizon to signal a new day full of learning, El'az'rk sees you there and motions for you to come down and help him, as your presence in the village has moved past the point of being a "guest" and as such you are expected to help carry your own weight around the place. Totally willling and eager to learn, you make your way down to the beach where they are working on their nets. In front of you is a fishing net, perhaps ten feet wide and twenty five feet long. Before in your life you might just look at this net as a fishing net, nothing more, but since you have become a student of life, you strive to investigate things much more in depth... keeping that in mind, you spent two full days with these men making this fishing net by hand! I am not joking or exaggerating here! I sat with these two men in the sand, for twelve hours each day, helping them, watching them create a top quality fishing net from a spool of string!!... Their fingers move with an "other worldly" grace to them, the fingers are thick and tough from years of daily use. They sit directly in the sand, drinking tea, smoking moroccan and tying thousands of knots, all day long! They dont talk much really, just a few words here and there about the matter at hand and that is enough, they dont ramble on and on gossiping about others and telling useless stories about the past, no they see there is no point in that kind of "idle" conversation, in fact i have read in their Qur'an that idle talk is a sin, and so they do not partake in it. (In my life too i have increasingly less and less patience for people that just talk and talk just to hear themselves talk, I do not find anything attractive about someone who talks too much and eventually i get sick of it). All day long, their minds are at ease with whatsoever is, they have incredibly long and focused attention spans, able to sit there hour after hour without moving, without becoming restless, anxious, moving around, babbleing about nonsense just to keep their mind occupied... no, they are fully present in what they are doing, giving each knot their full attention. I watch them, i see how they move, how they react, and i am overwhelmed with the beauty of it all. I too sit their in near silence, just existing, being with people who know how to just "be".... So now you understand the fishing net... back to the present story... You see the fishing net that took two full days to create, he hands you one end and tells you to go out into the ocean and where to place the anchor. He asks me to do this because he knows i am a diving instructor and he has seen i am a very strong swimmer, them on the other hand, wow! Not a single one of these people here know how to swim!! They spend their entire lives with the ocean but never learn how to swim! ... because of that, one sees the children and the adults alike "swimming" on the beach... they call it swimming but i know that it is not swimming, it is simply splashing around in the most shallow part of the waves that come in, but the moment a big wave comes in that might bring water up to their waist, the run for the shore! and i mean fast!!.... Even these fishermen have no idea how to swim, they can keep their head above water for a couple moments but they begin panicking immediately!!... So you see them on the beach, wading as far out as their comfortable to go, which is not far. Myself, since i am very confident in the water, i bring their nets out another few meters into the depths, and they like that.

SO, you have been instructed where to place the net, and you do it. For now, the work is done they say, now we must simply wait until the tide comes up and goes back down again, then we collect the fish!.... But this placement of the nets, at first it appears totally arbitrary, but after a while you begin to see a pattern, and then you see there is an entire lifetime of experience that goes into each part of the process. These men are fishermen, thats what they do, thats what they are... Their ability to read the waves and conditions is unlike anything i have ever seen before. They know EXACTLY when and where to place their nets, when to take them in, when to not even bother placing them out, and everything in between. For their entire life, since they were born, they have been watching, observing, experienceing the ocean, the weather, the stars, everything in their domain!... they know where the wind will come from and how strong it will be, a day in advance! they know exactly how high the tide is going to come and when, they know at precisely what moment to put their nets out to catch the most fish... It is very tough to describe because its something that must be witnessed to see exactly. Their brains are like computers, they recieve the input of the environment, the waves, the wind, the tempurateur, the humidity, everything... they recieve it and process it immediately without hesitation... and from their experience, the conclusion they produce is right... it IS right... they trust nature, allah, they trust it because it will provide.... It is through years and years of experience, with techniques handed down from generation to generation, methods tried and true... it is through this that they know EXACTLY how to catch the fish.

SO.... the day passes, the high tide comes in... then goes back out... there is a small window of time where they can go back out and retrieve whatever they have caught. The tide will come back up soon, the sea gulls will devour their fish if left too long and the tide becomes too low and exposes the fish, and the sun is not allowed to touch these fish, as they are absolute purists and know exactly how to handle fish... You are informed that it is time to go back out into the water and retrieve the nets, just as the sun is setting. There you are, standing on the beach in Morocco; waves crashing like thunder, sending forth a gentle mist in the breeze, the air is light and crisp, encouraging you to breath long and deep... the sun is shining strong and bountifull, you feel alive, you feel life pulsating through your veins and in every cell of your body... your breathing is getting rapid, your head is light and spinning a bit, waves of love and gratitude come pouring fourth from your heart... the magnitude of the moment is just too much to contain and your eyes become filled with tears, tears not of sadness, but tears of beauty, tears that are pouring out from your heart because there is so much love it cannot be contained.... you feel infinitely grateful to be alive, grateful to every person that ever lived, grateful to every situation youve ever been through, grateful to the divine for allowing you even one more second of life on this earth... grateful to be grateful..... this is the moment... the only moment in all of eternity....

Then you are quickly brought back to thought by the sight of the smile on El'az'rk's face when he sees there are more than fifteen fish caught in his net!!! This is it for them, they trust nature, existance, Allah, whatever you call it, they trust that it will provide, and it does. With these fish, every one of us is going to feast on the freshest of fish tonight until we almost burst!... then there will be many left over, a surplus of fish. What they do with these fish is simply amazing. The fishermen dont really need or use money in their daily lives. With the fish they caught, they will pay all of ther "tabs" at each place they get supplies or services from. The man that grows the vegitables will gladly trade them for some fish. A kilo of carrots, a kilo of potatos, a kilo of onions, a kilo of tomatos, a kilo of sweet peas, all of that he will trade for one or two nice meaty fish. And remember, the produce here is nothing but organic, they dont even know how to make anything non organic... to them, its just the way its done, no special "certificates" or any of the other bullshit that we have created around the "organic" movement in America. In America the whole "organic living" thing has become just another business, another route for businesses to make even more money, capitalizing on people who think they are buying and living more "concsiouly".... but doing so at extortionately high prices... how is it that we have to pay so much extra for something to be omitted??? for things to be grown naturally how they are supposed to be grown in the first place??? If you cant tell i am fed up with the organic movement in America ... enough on that...

Things here are done on the barter system. El'az'rk pays for everything he needs with fish. The vegitable guy, the dairy farmer, the barber, everything! Thats jus tthe way they do it around here, and to me, it makes more sense than anything we have created in the capitalist west. Like this, it is not really possible for one man or one small group of men to hoard and stockpile money all for themselves, it tends to keep greed more in check. In America, there is no limit to the amount of money or possessions that one man can have, he can go on collecting currency for himself until he has far more than any one man could use in ten lifetimes!! but on the barter system, everyone has enough, not waaaay too much like in the US, but enough... enough to live contented and peacefully.... So that is where the surplus fish go, to other people. And when the nets are dry, the locals simply keep a sort of running talley (very loosely and never written down) so that when he does get some fish, which they know he will, then he comes and gives them a few nice, plump fish to feed their family with.... it really is a beautiful thing and i believe this is how human interactions are done best, a total win win for everyone involved.... everyone has enough...

Now for the dinner!!!

Now you are inside the mud hut dwelling that is the common room. Looking out the "window" (an open wall ten feet across by five feet wide!) you view the sun as it sinks into the ocean. Even living on a tropical island in Thailand i did not see sunsets like these. Here the dust and sand that is blown into the air from the desert wind creates a sort of diffusion around the sun, allowing one to stare directly at the sun without any pain or injury to the eyes at all. Here you can witness the sun completely, as it slowly sinks into the water, creating the illusion that it is a burning ball in the sky and is in fact actually being submersed into the ocean; you can even "see" water behind it, giving the full illusion!! Once the sun is completely submerged in the ocean, the light reflected gives a color and ambiance unlike any other i have seen. Bright reds, yellow, oranges, sometimes even purples and greens, all of it you see as a gift from the divine....

El'az'rk motions for you to come near, as he wants you to see how to prepare these fish so that next time in America you can do it for your own family... he doesnt know we dont do it this way anymore unfortunately.... You walk over and do the "villager squat" next to him as there are no chairs really. You watch this man expertly scale, skin, slice and dice three or four fish, each one is of a different breed and he knows exactly how to prepare each particular kind. So here in front of you is a man that has lived his whole entire life in this village, spending his childhood watching, learning and helping the elders to fish in their time; and now he himself is the fisherman and carries with him a thousand years of knowledge that has been passed down to him from his ancestors.... You can visually see this "experiencial knowledge" in the way his hands expertly move around the fish, never hesitating even for one moment. After the fish are prepared, he skins the veggies. Yes that is something i have not seen before but i find it interesting; here in Morocco the villagers skin all their vegg, the tomatoes are skinned, the carrots, potatos, onions, everything. He takes a huge handful of the fresh herbs that he got from the neighbor today and chops them just right, mixes them with mounds of spices, and stuffs the fish with them. The spices here are really something else!.. they are not the packaged, processed, concentrated spices we are accustomed to in the West. No these are as fresh as they come, bought in huge quantity and in their raw form, then ground up only at a rate in which they are needed. The spices are not nearly as strong as our unnatural ones are in the states, so here they literally use heaping mounds of them!! Each fish recieves an entire handfull of two or three different fresh ground spices, the smell of which sends the senses into a cascade of exstacy and bliss...

There are many different ways to cook the fish, and each particular kind responds best to a certain method, sometimes directly over the hot coals, sometimes in a Tajeen cooker, sometimes steamed, sometimes boiled, all different kinds, but today this fish will be cooked in the Tajeen pot. For those that dont know, the Tajeen cooker is the absolute foundation of Moroccan cooking, it is used by everyone almost every day. It fits perfectly with the Moroccan way of life and mentality, its circular design allows for their to always be room for one more. The Tajeen cooker is a circular clay dish with a raised lip maybe two or three inches, then a circular, cone shaped lid fits perfectly over the lip on the dish. The cone shape of the lid allows for all the heat and energy to be directed back into the food, keeping all the nutrients inside of the dish instead of evaporating or being lost in the fire. The heavy weight of the lid (maybe ten pounds or more!) creates an affect almost like a pressure cooker of sorts. There is a very particular order to this as well. First, a heavy layer of olive oil, then the fish, then some garlic and chopped onion, then mounds of spices directly on the fish. Next you have the root veg, potatoes, carrots, and another white one unknown to me. Then more spices and the rest of the veggies. Put the heavy lid on. This is put over a bed of hot coals and allowed to steam/cook for two hours or more! All the while socializing and interacting with the beings around you, creating a strong sense of comradarie... nobody is really "waiting" for the food to be done, its more of an opportunity to spend time with those around you, laughing, telling stories with incredible animations, making lots and lots of music, smoking moroccan, drinking tea, simply enjoying your life and the time spent together... how nature intended it to be...

Two or three hours later and it is time to eat. The Tajeen is taken off the coals and placed on a small, circular table and the lid is removed. One by one we are called over to the spot where one person is providing hot water with which we "wash" our hands. This is not really a washing like you or I would imagine, but more just a way to remove the excess dirt from ones hands, in no way cleaning it of germs or bacteria at all as soap is never used. Once everyone hands are "washed" we take our seats at the table. In Morocco they do not use chairs, they simply sit on the ground or sometimes a pillow of sorts is used. So five or six of us are sitting cross legged around a small circular table with the Tajeen dish in the middle. One man takes loaves of circular bread and literally "breaks bread with his brothers"... they rip the bread into quarters with their bare hands, then hand them to each person at the table, making sure that everyone else has some before they themselves have some. Bread is eaten with every meal, no exceptions. The bread is torn into small pieces and used as a sort of "scoop" to gather the food from the dish. No untensiles are ever used, simply the hand, always. The pieces of bread soak up the juice and make a very nice "package" out of each bite. This takes some practice, believe me; and they know exactly how long you have been doing it by how you eat it!!... with the statement "bis-mill-ah" (god will provide) the meal begins and everyone digs in, literally with their bare hands.

So here you are, in a tiny sea side fishing village in a remote part of Morocco, inside of a hut built of mud, sitting around a table with a half dozen Moroccan villagers, the only light is comming from the one single candle in the center of the room. You are eating with your hands, and in doing so you are beginning to understand how much deeper of a connection one has with their food when they use their hands to eat it. Looking around you, seeing the contentment on the faces of these villagers, you are grateful for everything life is giving you. With your hand, you scoop up some fish, the bones literally fall to the floor, and you taste this fish. You take one single bite of this fish and suddenly you understand, you understand the connection that man is meant to have with his food, his sustanance. These men are experts at what they do, and you realize that you are eating the best fish that a human being can eat, caught only hours ago from nets that were made by hand, placed by hand using ancient knowledge, and prepared by hands that know. Looking around you, seeing what you are doing, just "being" in the moment and in the experience, you understand this moment comes only once in a lifetime, and you are filled with gratitude and love for everyone and everything. The experience you are going through is so raw and so intense, that you know your life cannot ever be the same... something has happened here, an expansion; an understanding of what it means to be human, what it means to be alive... what it means to love....

And like this, Vagabonding expands your life and your entire concepts of reality. Here i have used an example that is very ordinary, very normal, everyone has eaten a fish before. But when you purposely place yourself in situations like this one, life takes on a new dimension; a depth that was not known before. The oridnary becomes absolutely extraordinary. You begin to see beauty where you did not see it before. You begin to see truth in a way that was not revealed before. This example is a very small example, yet extrodinarily powerful. And imagine, if something as normal as eating a fish is transformed into an experience with infiite depth, imagine what other experiences are like, ones that are so powerful and so magnificent they defy words, they defy thought.... Some things in this world are of an entirely different quality... from a different place... and that is the place where i must be....