Experiences

I have since moved on through Rabat again and on to Marrakesh. But I would like to take the time to catch up on some experiences I've had.
One of the most moving experiences was when I was praying the afternoon prayer in Fes. It was a normal afternoon prayer in the mosque in the neighborhood where I was living. (in the midevil part of the city) The people there are simple, hard working and without most of the modern conveniences which I for one am used to. I walked over the horse and donkey dung, up the narrow dirt ally, past the fountain where both children and horses were getting a drink in to the mosque. It is situated on a hill with an amazing view of Old Fes. I went to wash in the fountain in the courtyard for prayer among the local men. The prayers began in the open air mosque and ended as usual. However after the prayers ended I noticed commotion in the center of the mosque. There was a body being brought in on a wooden stretcher wrapped in a beautiful green textile with Quranic verses embroidered on it in gold. I realized right away that it was a corpse and a very strange feeling came over me. Everyone stood and we then retook our positions in the ranks and prayed the funeral prayer for the deceased. I had never done this and was actually taken aback by the experience. The body was then taken to the graveyard but I did not follow. It was such a simple yet reverent process. No parades no massive flowers. Just this mans body and the congregation. And whether you knew him or not you stopped to pray for him. Very moving.

Fes Fotos

Sweets for breaking fast.
Me drinking Tea at Zubair's house.
The oh so reassuring structure of the old city. This picture is also accompanyed by the smell of buring electric devices which pop and spark when it rains.
The old city of Fes. Right outside of my gracious host Abdel Malik's place.
The craftsmanship.

Feservation for 1 contd...

So sorry again but I haven't been on the camera ball in Fes. This place is still blowing me away. I walked around the new city a bit today and the difference is insane. The old city really is like living in ancient times. I have to admidt that the grid structure of the european style with a main avenue made me feel relaxed. Perhaps because in city atmospheres you don' really have to worry about people bothering you. There are plenty of banks and stores...a bit of realibilty I suppose. But in the old city it's the people who are fantastic. I came to one of the main gates and it took me an hour and a half to go a hundred yards. Not because I got lost this time but because people kept pulling me aside to talk. There is this old man who is facinated by me being muslim. We tryed to talk for a very long time. Sweet old man. There were two young guys as well one of which has a fiance from Tucson! Small world.
Being able to stay in my friends apartment has been great. I've been under the weather so its been nice to lay low. I actually cooked tonight which was a nice change. Going to the market to buy fresh stuff is the best. Super cheap by American standards as well. I did have to fight off a cockroach the size of a surfboard though. Cest la vie. Bugs are a part of life here.
Fez is mostly craftsmen. Which is very cool. Every where you go you look into a room and see men making jalabeeyas or sandals or metal artwork. The craftsmanship is incredible. All the production shops are off of the the tourist stroll where I live. There is also a school right on the ally where the apartment is so it can get noisy but cute. The amount of religious study here is amazing as well. Al Qaraween university and mosque have been stong centers of Islamic learning since the 12th century. That is why it is hard to take flicks here. It is just a beehive of life that is almost better if not better left to experience. It will be hard to leave.

Feservation for one

The road to Fes was a long one. I jumped on another local bus company because the CTM company was full (but then a ticket mysteriously opened up when i got to the train station and was looking at the other company) The off brand was leaving earlier so I went but not after getting hit on by some nasty perv guy who wanted me to travel to his town with him. Not cool. Then there was a huge fight on the bus. Moroccons are very emotional people...kissing , hugging...yelling.Usually that is all that is. I have noticed a real primal need to be heard first and loudest in order to assert dominance and everyone does it not just men. I sat back and watched this huge drama unfold which eventually lead the bus driver to pulling the bus over like in highschool or JR high. When one of the guys did get off the bus I looked over qnd he had a rock in his hand. Half the bus emptied to be evolved...except me and the spanish couple.
All was well though qnd we arrived to fes which is a swirl of history and poverty and dusty wind on that day. A friend of a friend picked ,e up at the bus station and has put me up in the flat he is borrowing for the last 3 days. We also attended a break fast at a prominant sufis house and then went to a gathering later on. it was unreal. Kind of like people being fillied with the holy ghost in Christianity. Well the cyber cafe is shutting down so ill finish this later.

Chefchoun (Too nice for a funky title)

So the bus ride was...not bad but long. I took a smaller bus company which left from near by the hotel in Asilah. It was a total local Greyhound type of thing. The bus was packed (as usual for Moroccon transportation) but I got there super early so I got a seat. I was told that it was a direct bus to Tetoun which is directly east of Asilah and also where I would switch buses to Chefchoun. I might have been too early or something because we went to Tangeir first which I was trying to avoid. But it was ok. After arriving in Tetoun (which I made sure to ask if that was it...and I can read the Arabic signs now...Thank you UW) The bus to Chefchoun was right in front of us so no problem transfering. The funny thing is the baggage fee varies with what you have in your hand so this time it was 10 because I gave him a 20 as a opposed to five for the previous (and longer) ride. Whateves.
I was a bit scared of getting car sick but it was ok. Mountain travel on a packed bus can be tough. No problems though. We arrived in Chefchoun and there were no taxis which is rare and the hills here have seattle matched. I walked up one and found some English speaking backpackers who gave me the general direction. I found a cab and then headed to the hotel. I haven't been calling ahead because there doesn't seem to be a need to. But this place is crawling with tourists and backpackers trekking in the nearby mountains. The first place I went only had a shared room right off of a parlor where there was a lot of smoke and talking. Lots of young hostel types too. I must be getting older because I just want to be left alone (at least right away.) Long story short...the guy moved me after I threatened to look for another place but then after walking around a bit got bumped back to the bad room because a family had a res. I was a bit upset so set out to find anther one which most were full. Found one but then I went to pray the evening prayer and break my fast...Calmed down and then right then a guy in the mosque told me I was going to eat with him. He was a very nice Iraqi man from Norway who spoke English. He then took me to his hotel where he is staying for all of Ramadaan and introduced me to the staff and we ate together. Then He talked the people in to letting me stay there for 60 dirhams a night which is like 8 bucks. The rooms are simple and run down and the bathrooms have seen better days but it is allright. We ate dinner later on and then our morning meal which he has the staff prepare special for him. Goat cheese and bread with butter olives Hhoney and sweets...all kins of yuminess.
I went with the market today with him as well and he introduced me to all his friens and showed me the best way to buy eggs and all kinds of things. What a blessing. Right at a low spot. Seems to be happening alot lately.
The town is gorgoues as it is set at the base of the mountains. Espically at night. We sat outside the mosque and talked last night...good stuff. The allyways and doors are National Geographic like. I'm debating staying a 3rd day or heading for Fes where there are some people I talked to there to meet. I'll let you know.

Like water to a fish

I arrived in Asilah which is just south of Tanja and was automatically in love. It is something about small ocean towns that grabs me. Tourism is heavy here so of course there ws a tout (guy who tries to get you to go to his hotel or shop) right off the train. Annoying but managable. I wandered the town until I found my small hotel which is nice and cheap. The rooms remind me of a monestary or something in there simplicity but it's like 14 US dollars a day. The people are really nice as well. I have this knack so far of making friends with the older Muslim desk guys. In fact this guy invited me into his little room and fed me and I bought him a liter of coke which we shared. He kept overflowing the glass caus of the bubbles which amused me greatly. He speaks like 4 languages and is really sleepy in the way he speaks.

I relaxed a lot here. I spent three days and ate some really good fish prepared in a morrocon dish and walked around quite a bit to see where this fish come from. I made friends with another guy in the mosque but he worried me a bit more than my buddy Fouad so I kept my distance. He was allright but a bit preachy.

My arms fot enough sun to look Morrocon by now which is fine by me. I went in to a bakery and there bees all over but no one seems to care. It freaked me out...but the bread ws still really good. I like the small towns, they are a nice break but cities are a bit more accomidating. I also met a barber here and had my beard trimmed up a bit. The whole place is beautiful and reminded me what typ of atmosphere I would eventually like to live in. Tomorrow is a 6:30 bus to the mountain town of Chefchouan. Mark your maps...I'm on the move.

Nice to Ken-eet-ra

My Rabat portion of the voyage ended well. I recieved the visa from the Mauratanian embassy which was funny in and of itself. I didn't fill out half of the form because of the French/Arabic stuff and the guys were like "whatever." They asked for an adress in Mauratania and I said I would be staying in hotels so they said write "hotel" then. Quite the beuracracy. I'm sure it was more about the 200 dirhams that it cost.
I met this young guy named Fouad in the mosque one night and we became instantanious friends. He loves the Japanese culture and swears that he is half Moroccon half Japanese. : ) He even uses terms like "in Japan we say... " Very funny. Amazing person and he showed me all around Rabat and then he mentioned that he was going to visit an old friend in Kenitra. I told him that I was going to go there to visit the place where my father had been in the military even if it had changed. He told me in very typical Moroccon/Islamic fashion, "You will stay with us." I told him I would get a hotel and maybe we could get together for break-fast. The next day I finished up laundry and then jumped on a train to Kenitra. I sent him a text saying I was headed up there and I'll call him later. No less than a few minutes later I get a call from him telling me to get off at the first station (which was good caus I thought there was only one station) Long story short he and his friend took me back to his friends house and I stayed the night and met the family. We ate (well). Homeade Moroccon food is the stuff dreams are made from. We broke fast and went to the mosque and then I let the young friend talk me and my buddy into going with him to a "club."
Moroccon clubing is more of a testrone fest than anything else. It was a bunch of guys drinking soda pop playing billiards and smoking like chimanies. Loud musiq and a lot of starring...my type of night. My buddy Fouad is more religious than his friend and it is clear thay are kind of growing apart in this way. Suhair was more concerned with Tu-pac and MTV than reciting the Quran. Nevertheless it was an experience. We then went back and ate a late night meal which was great. His family is very sweet and well off so it was a treat to stay in their house. Suhair (the young friend ) was in slumber party mode and wouldn't let us sleep. But it was a great chance to see a real suburan neighborhood and watch kdis play soccer int the street and such. God bless that boy's parents. Tooo nice.
The next night I slept in a hotel. Downtown kenitra is shadey and not on Lonely Planet's top ten list for sure. I was safe though. I think that a few fights have broken and a few more drugs have been done since my dad was here in the sixties. I was glad to leave the next morning and head off for Asilah which is a small coastal town just south of Tangiers (Tanga in Arabic) popular with the Euro crowd. Beach time.

More Rabat Photos

Beautiful ally, Kids Fishing


Guard of tomd Muhammed V

Guess who

Women walking
Check out my Facebook page for the full albulms along the left hand side of the page. Just do asearch for Thomas Littleton.

Experience this

So I've been in Rabat long enough to stop the play by play action for a bit and share some of these great sights and smells with you. Photos on the way but this will be all written.

I've been really excited to play human frogger again. For those of you who don't know my Cairo experiences...human frogger (yes the Atari game) is aka crossing the street. It's also like human tetris. You have to have good spacial awarness and risk will pay off with a quicker dispatch of the body to the other side of the street to where you want to go. Standing in the middle of the street while cars pass on either side is all right. Or the stop go method works very well too. Stop...let a car pass. Go. Stop...let a car pass. I absolutly love it. It's clear that there is no such of a thing as a jay walking ticket here. And I love it.

Pollution and dust I do not love.

The kids here like to rollerblade at top speeds through completly packed sidewalks espically at night through ramadaan crowds. There is a real letting things happen around you type of thing going on with me.

The beggers are...poorer than any begger in the US by far. I have seen some horrible deformities that automatically make the hand go for the pocket. Espically in the old market here. But this is counter balanced by the smells of nuts and spices. The beautiful colors of vegtables and fruits...leathers and shoes.

The mint tea here really is the good stuff...but not to be taken to close to bed time. And the Sweets...they deserve a capital S! Oh my God! I'm suprided the country is not on UN diabetic assistence. But I'm not compaining.

The people...people are people, but some of the nicest in the world live in this country. It really is quite western in a lot of ways in Rabat which is good and bad but it is all good.

The angry taxi driver today had me gripping my seat when he drove on the other side of the roead to escape traffic facing oncoming cars! But you just got to let it happen man!

Rabat Photos

Ave. Mohammed V...at like 12am this is packed. Mohammed V Mosoleaum

Fountain in cortyad of hotel Maakdoonaaldz...No I didn't eat there.



Rabat

Casa Photos

Building from my window 'Aiin Daab nighborhood/oceanfront


Artwork at Hassan II Minuret at Hassan II...This place was HUGE!


Inside the Mosque after night prayers

Arigato Mr. RABATo

So I said bus but I meant train. And by the way I've been having problems uploading photos so I'll have to catch you all up soon. I havn't been taking to many either. I get real concerned about what people think of a big wihte guy taking their picture during Ramadaan...but I'll try harder. Back to the train.
The trains run great here, pretty much ontime and such. It is a real nice way to get around too. It was about 5 us dollars to get to Rabat which is an hour away. Not bad. I pulled my famous move and got off of the train early though! I don't think this one was my fault caus I swear the automated lady said my stop in Arabic. Everything is in Arabic or French so you really have to pay attention and ask questions. Well I didn't ask until i asked the parking guy where Mohammed v street was...I was confident that I could walk to my hotel from there according to the map. Well I got off early to reitterate. Rabat has two train stops and this one wasn't that far away from the center but I didn't want to be defeated by the train so I went back inside and the guys told me I could get on the next on which was an hour away. Ok I thout so I sat down and started reading over som materiels about senegal and such. Then I saw the train to Kenitra (hey Pops!) and I asked the food lady on it who was hanging off it to get some fresh air and despit I got laughed at a bit she helped me back on and I rode it one stop down to the one I wanted. (5 min. away ha ha_)
The hotel is nice...the shower is downstairs but in good condition and the hall bathroom is by the head of my bed but it is not that busy so... I've generally like Rabat betterbecause of the European layout and the amount of French style bakries with RAmadaan goodies! Ummmmm!
Around 4 oclock pm the streets get busy with people crammed into the bakeries to but parts of their break-fasts (this is how Abdur Rahim said the evening meal in Casa) The streets then quite don until about 9 pm after the night prayers are over and then Baaam! Super crowded espically on the weekends...crazy. Until like 1-2 in the morning.
I also met a classmate from UW here who is studying here with his girlfriend. That has been a blessing to sit and eat with some one who speaks english and I already know. They have been brilliant. They gave me food for the morning meal and acsess to thier computers and info about the city. Good stuff.
So I'm just waiting on the Maurtanian Embassay to open tomorow then I'll head down there and try to get a visa. I caught a stomach bug last night...it was enivatable. I was just suprised that it took this long! I suppose fasting cuts down on your chances! ha ha. Something might be going on in my chest too but I am prepared with my meds if need be. Don't worry mom, I'm not fasting today in order to rehydrate and I'll continue to do that until I'm better.
The thoughts of how long this thing is is still plauging my my mind but I keep having positive experiences which push me forward so...

Casa to Rabat

So Casa ended up well. One of my SERVAS connections finaly came through after really woking the "Moroccon" time. I caught a bus to his neighborhood which was really poor. And I found the bus by asking a guy on the street who was going that way. The guy had told me to call him as soon as I got on so he could time it. The man working on the bus had to get off with me and was nice enough to wait for my guy to come through. He did though and then we went to his hous and broke fast there. It was great. His family was very nice and I started to relax pretty quick. I was going to leave for Rabat that night but his brother took me to the Hassan II mosque for Ramadaan night prayers. Amazing! There were about 20,000 people there. That was crazy. And he showed me around the mosque and we spoke in formal Arabic which allowed me to learn quite a bit. He drove me back to my hotel after picking some people he knew from his neighborhood in the small car. It was a tight fit but one of them spoke English and was practicing on me.
Didn't sleep well because of the jetlag but I did rest well enough to catch the bus in the morning to Rabat...

mi casa, su casa blanca

Therese and I finished up the NY portion by checking out a few favorite stores of her's and then we headed to central park for lunch which took place by a nice jazz band. The weather was beautiful as well. We shut my phone off which brought a weird sense of sadness. To think that you can't get a hold of the people you call every day or at least at your lesiure is hard to get used to. As we got closer to the airport my anxiety grew a bit but I was all good on the plane ride.
Even the plane ride was nice. There is a huge since of community in the Muslim culture and this kid kept falling off the seat because he was asleep and every time about 5 Morrocans were there to catch him. One even held him in so his father could get some sleep. These people don't know each other. Pretty amazing. These same type of people helped me get on to the train into Casa which had no words on it. That was tough caus I knew I was in Kansas any more. But a guy made sure I got off all right and then came the cab drivers.
The guide book said that it would be about 10 dirhams and the fist one said 40< I ditched him since he wouldn't run the meter and the second said 20 so whatever. Except he was trying to hard sell a hotel he was getting comission for the whole way. Akward! Were weren't all that nice to each other as I got out, but my bag had leaked some soap on the back seat which he was pissed about but there you go jerk number one!
The hotel guys were cool but the room was super basic and on the street with a shower that is a step over form the bed. That's what saving money is all about. I tossed and turned the whole night with the craziest thoughts running through my head. I had bought a cell phone the first day which has helped but Casa is a functional place...not alot to see which I guess is all right because people leave you alone. Unless there weird and trying to sell you something then they walk all around with you and speak English. But weirdly enough these have been the nicest guys you just don't know what they want...probably the reason for the niceness I know. I'm ready to move on or go back home...The sense of quitting this whole thing has been huge. But I'm going to stick it out for now. It's just being buy yourself in a new city not knowing what to order food wise and such is really hard. And this is going to repeat itself over and over for me. Wooohooo! Pics coming soon. I'm having troubles uploading them right now.

New York New York...

New York was all that and a bag of chips! My sister, Jen and I came in on the bus from Reading PA. after leaving Jens mom and -our lovely hosts- house. (sorry no apostrophies...Im in Casa bBlanca and the French keyboard is strange) We got in and dropped off our bags at the hotel and Jens eastcoast nature and hotel knowledge saved Therese and I from sharing a bed that night. We then picked up our train tickets for the next day like good little travelers and headed out into the city. Just the train station alone was crazy enough. Ive never seen that many people of different ethnic backgrounds in one place before! I loved it. Being my first time to the big apple and all I totaly did not expect to see so many sneaker shops and barershops in one place! Just the amount of shops in general was nuts. You really can get EVERYTHING there. It was pretty hot but beautiful weather so that means hot and sweaty subway stations. But this did not take away from the pure ecstacy I was feeling from the big rumble of NY silver. Ive been in love with subways since I was a kid qnd other systems Ive ridden on dont compare. Sure they might be nicer qnd newer but this is NY what can you say!
We popped out in Soho, got a slice (pizza), bought a new water bottle (lost the first one for the second time) and walked down to see the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty. We walked alot...ALOT! And you know it is alot if a huge walker like me capatalizes it. We took a taxi to the hotel (which was real nice) and the taxi had a TV with internet accsess in it! Wild. I washed off a layer of NY grime and then we got lost in a maze of the biggest Brazilian festival Ive ever seen. The crowd for the concert alone took up 4 blocks! Common Market (my friends band) beat that! We were starving at this point so the sizziling sticks of meat were killing me! I did have a Hallal one earlier on from a street cart. Another food dream down.
After some super nice chinese noodles we said farewell to Jen, went to see Times sqare qnd took in the view from the top of therockafeller center. Wow! After a day like thqt we crashed out hard. Leaving NY and trip to casa up next... dont change the channel!

Jazz Hands!