Morocco

I arrived in Casablanca on the afternoon of April 22nd. Somehow, just saying that I arrived in Casablanca sounds romantic. I was very excited. The weather was perfect: sunny, warm and dry. My friend Fatima had her sister and brother-in-law come to get me at the airport, which definitely made my life a lot easier. The fact that her brother-in-law, Mohammad, speaks English, too, was also a big help. Within just a few minutes of arriving, I found myself creating a linguistic hodge podge, trying to communicate with the 5 words of French I speak, the 2 of Arabic, and sometimes throwing in English, Spanish and Italian just because they come out of my mouth first.
My first night here, I stayed with Nadia (Fatima's sister) and Mohammad's family in their home just outside of Rabat. They live with Mohammad's parents, his two sisters and their daughter, Rita. I was introduced to the Moroccan custom of having tea before dinner. It was the Pennsylvania primary, so they very kindly had the TV on CNN most of the time. Given that we are 5 hours ahead, though, I went to bed before finding out what happened. Al Jazeera (in Arabic) was our other source of entertainment.
The past couple of days I've been enjoying myself, again with Fatima's family, in Fes. Fes is a fantastic city. One view of it from what used to be a fortification made me think that Jerusalem probably looks very similar, given the dry, hilly landscape and the old, walled medina.
Fatima's younger brother, Chafiq, was pretty much my tireless guide for the visit to Fes. He is on vacation from his job in the military, so he had time to show me around. Plus, he also speaks pretty good English. After picking me up at the train station on Wednesday morning, we went to a cafe' in the center of the city. I announced that that was pretty much my plan for my vacation: to sit in cafes and do nothing. Needless to say, we did a reasonable amount of that in Fes, although I did take some pictures, too.
Right now I'm in the coastal, tourist city of Essaouira. It was one helluva a long trip from Fes. I caught a train to Marrakesch that left Fes at 2am. In Marrakesch, I got on a bus (and didn't look at the city at all, believe it or not) and schlepped another few hours here. Essaouira is a beach place, and I've already been into the chilly Atlantic waters. Tomorrow I'll probably go visit a hammam and explore the city a bit. I hear that there is great fish to be had, and this is one of Morocco's main ports, so that's my plan for dinner tongiht.
One thing that I felt before leaving Fes is that I would be absolutely fine spending another month here. Oh well.
Anyway, the other thing that may happen before I leave is that I may interview someone in Rabat, the capital, about the negotiations going on about the fate of Western Sahara. Western Sahara used to be a Spanish colony, and Morocco took it over in 1975. It is also wanted by Algeria, and there is a Saharawi independence movement called Polisario. This week there was also the first Western Sahara film festival, where Ken Loach won first prize. So, if I can swing that, I'll leave this lovely resort spot a bit earlier than I otherwise would....