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‹ Previous (18/01/2007) MONTH Next (2007-03-19)› ‹ Previous (2010-06-01 - US) COUNTRY Next (2010-06-15 - US)› Spain Alhambra (see on map) 09/03/2007:
it has already been three days since, me and Alexandra started this new adventure. We have been living for the last three months in the house my parents, in Vic, resting a little after the first part of the journey: Europe, and preparing this second stage, which surely will be much more thrilling: Africa, Asia and Australia, that will last for 2 or 3 years and will be endured also by our autocaravan. We have been going towards the south of the Iberian peninsula, Alexandra with a lot of diverse emotions but me not so much, as if this traveling is becoming a routine or as if i assume that this is my way of life; a life that passes calmly along many countries and vicissitudes; a life that I have chosen and that makes me happy, very happy. We have arrived to Granada in two days, without haste, since for another hand we have had to stop a few times: in Sant Sadurní D'anoia, where we loaded the material of CC ONG that we will distribute in Mauritania; in Vendrell, where we saw off a friend; and in Calp, where a sponsor inserted into the wheels a liquid that avoids the pricks. i had not visited Alhambra again since i had half of the years that I have now. Then it had impressed me and now has amazed again me, and also Alex . The visit has been a good way to keep on taking contact with the Muslim culture. Anyway, I do not believe that we will see often these incredible details of the Islamic art again in Morocco or in black Africa. Morroco Tetouan (see on map) 10/03/2007: its surprising the amount of agencies that sell boat tickets from Aljeciras to Ceuta or to Tanger. There are along many kilòmetres on the motorway and also in the boarding terminal. It is also surprising that the prices are so different from agency to agency.Anyway, all the offers are in general just for a return ticket: - I do not return ticket - i told them. - Oh! Dont worry, the ticket is valid for one year. - i agree, but really I do not come back to Morocco, I go through Egypt. Then they were turning their face from me as if i offended them with a cheap excuse. Finally, after comparing all prices, I have bought the most economic ticket, direction Tanger, that was 72€ for two persons and the autocaravan. Only after sailing through the waters of Gibraltar we realised why the price was so cheap in comparison to the other offers: the boat was quite old, even though they were giving a new look by painting it, and the journey instead of it being of one hour, as they announced the other agencies, has lasted three hours. After the disembark we have had to cross the border, where they have retained us a little checking out all papers and arguing about policy. It happens that in the lateral sides of the autocaravan, together with the logos of the sponsors, I have harnessed a map of all the world with the approximate itinerary that we are carrying out. i had downloaded this map one and a half years ago from Internet and then it seemed that there was a border between Marroc and Sahara Occidental. I had forgotten about it completely, because of that it has surprised me that an officer has made me come out of the autocaravan and look at the map . There were two more more border officers watching it. one of them asked me: - What is this? - It is the itinerary that we are making. - And this? - He asked again pointing exactly at the line that was separating Morocco in two. - This... oups, sorry, I know that this is an offence but i did not know , the map is from Internet and i had downloaded it some time ago... The apologies have been accepted but then the work of rectification came. They have scraped the sticker with the key, until the black border that according to them it did not exist dissapeared and afterwards painted it with a white paint so that the country came off visible without any division. on the other side of the autocaravan I had another identical map, but laziness didnt let me to comment that they to repeat all the process. We spent the night in Tetouan, in a gas station. We have watched a film from the computer and while we saw it we have listened a pair of shouts of goal coming from a big crowd. After finishing the film I have gone out and have discovered a bar with a hundred men sitting in front of a television prepared for seeing the second part of the game Barcelona - Madrid. They were at 2-2 and in the second part has marked Madrid and few minutes before the end Barcelona has tied, moment in wich everybody has stood up screaming and celebrating it. of course so did i. The thing that has surprised me is that they were so cheerful without any beer. Chefchaouen (see on map) 11/03/2007:
Chefchaouen is a charming town inserted into the slope of one of the mountains of the Atlases. It is quite visited, by local tourists but also by foreigners, and really it is worthwhile. The medina (or ancient helmet) it is very beautiful. The streets wind among the homes painted in white , sky blue or blue intense. The floor is paved, clean and sometimes painted also of the same clear colours, so that walking there you get the sensation of floating in the sky. There are boutiques all over, very neat, and in the low part small places handed with a few restaurants and many more boutiques. There were quite a lot of people havinf peacefull walks, probably because it was Sunday, and a lot more in the evening, when the streets have burst forth of the crowd. i already knew that a lot of marihuana is sold in Chefchaoen, because of that it has been easy to avoid the boys that from time to time came over whispering to me that they had drugs saying just a simple "no,thank s" . Fez (see on map) 14/03/2007:
Yesterday in the morning we awakened early, according to the Spanish time (one hour less in maroc) and we went to see the zoco (market) of vegetables that is held Monday but the streets of the medina were deserted . Even though the walk was pleasant, we did not find the zoco nowhere in the medina . And we did not find it until we came out with the autocaravan to direct ourselves towards Fez. The journey towards Fez was magical, with the fantastic light of the morning illuminating the green meadows. It is incredible that on the other side of gibraltar the earth is dry until Valencia and however in the south, they do not seem to suffer problems of water. On the sides of the road there were always children greeting, men grazing herds of sheep or goats or people simply expecting that a taxi stoped, all them of Mercedes brand, ancient and full to burst. Arriving towards Fez the landscape became more arid and wagons or donkeys loaded with jerry cans of water and children who guided them started to turn up. It is inserted into a big plain in front of the snowed Atlases. It has a big medina that we visited yesterday and today, with streets of soft pending all them full of bootiques, artisans working the leather, the brass or other materials, some mosque and a madrassa (the place where they educated the youngsters and where they were teaching the islam). We visited the madrassa of Bou Inania that in only one courtyard contains an art as fine and thoughtful that it can be compared and atached to Alhambra. The streets of the medina were not as clean as in Chefchaoen, even though we observed some donkey loaded of rubbish towards the outskirts. for another hand, at the entries of the medina there are also unofficial guides that make it heavy to attempt a guided visit. But with a little patience they can be taken out of about in an educated way. Today we have also visited the semi ancient medina, where we have taken the traditional mint tea while they attempted to sell us some carpets, and we have gone to lunch in the new city, rowdy and busy like a European city although in an arab environment . For eating I have asked for a delicious tagine of chicken with plums. Alexandra, who is quite a fussy person, has tried it and also found it good, so that she has dared asking for a tagine of vegetables. In the afternoon went to walk for the outskirts of the wall where we have met some nice Argentinians who curiously lived in Barcelona, where they managed a Bar. In the evening, our neighbours (a selfcaravan with Swiss registration number) came to our door. A German and a Filipin girl that have been very happy to meet Alexandra since Romania is a country that they had visited three times and they were captivated by its charm. At night, Alexandra has cursed, for third consecutive night , the noise coming from the mosques that punctually echoed through all the city superimposing the melodies. I already accustomed myself to it in other journeys and in the end i am more bothered by the annoyance of Alex than by the recitations . Meknes (see on map) 15/03/2007:
While going out of fes, we have stopped to a gas station to ask for water for the autocaravan and the owner of the gas station has offered us some in exchange for loading gas oil. While we waited we have pioneered a conversation about the situation of Morocco. I have commented that the country seems safe and that the people worry for the tourists: I have the impression that if any thief dares to steal from a foreigner in a medina, the traders and passersby will attempt to hunt and catch him. He has asked me about our journey and I have then explained the project of taking the puls to the world that we carry out during the journey and I have proposed to interview him for the project. Yusef thought that the main problem of the world was terrorism. The states should find the solution, anyway he could collaborate to give work to the people. There are people who do not have anything and they think that the suicide for the religion is the best frontage option to life. The main problem of Morocco is social, even though they are improving with the help of the government. Anyway there should be more investment in education . for Yusef it is a stable country and he feels happy because he lives here. If everybody would be happier he would also be . The secret of happiness is to love the people arround you. We have parked in the big square of Meknes and after having lunch we have gone out to walk towards the south, for streets without any kind of interest, with closed shops and the people surprised by our presence. Finally we have noticed that we were badly positioned in the map and that the medina and interesting monuments were placed in the north. Aside of the medina there is nothing more interesting than was fes. we have also visited the mausoleum of Moulay Ismail, an impressive precinct that does not have anything of envying to the very fine art of the madrassa of Bou Inania or to the same Alhambra. even though i had been in Morocco ten years ago, i did not remember these monuments with these ornamental borders, engravings and geometric paintings, that filled in each square centimetre of the walls and ceiling. Rabat (see on map) 19/03/2007:
Rabat is the political district of Morocco, and like all capitals it has quite a lot of places of interest, even though other cities are more attractive. It highlights the mausoleum of Mohammed V, contemporary monument but of an exquisite art, comparable to the former visited monuments. Near the mausoleum is raising the beautiful tower of Hassan, in the middle of a forest of columns of an unfinished mosque of the 12th century. The medina of Rabat has some interesting covered streets that flow in the Kasba dels Oudaia, a small fortified village that faces the ocean. The blue alleys of the Kasba remember Chefchaoen, even though they do not have anything of envying. Towards the outskirts of the city, in the middle of big avenues, green and clean, there is the necropolis of Chellah, the ruins of an antiq city that has surprised me for the great amount of birds: storks and other species, that were living all together in the trees of a small forest. Rabat is also a big city, therefore it was here where we could contact quite a lot of people across internet, with which we gathered ourselves on Saturday at different times. First we met with Hamid, a boy with a deep look and speaking good english, and the friend that he brought the, Nizar .even though in a basic way I speak French we could not follow the discssion with nizar in frenvch. They were both small employers. How it always matches, I was quite direct and I started to ask them about the situation of the country. First I became interested in the situation of the Occidental sahara, a region of Morocco with a strong feeling of independence led by the Polysari Forehead. They explained to me that the Polysari Forehead is formed by Algerians since according to them, Algeria has always wanted to have an exit to the atlantic. Despite everything, in spite of believing firmly that the territory belongs to Morocco, they agreed to give them a certain autonomy. For another band Nizar commented: - But why we have to divide the country if in all the world the countries are joining. What we should make is to dig up the old dream of joining all the countries of the Magreb: Morocco, Mauritania, Libya, Algeria and Tunisia. Also I asked about the freedom of speech and they manifested that there was some, even though it is logic that no one can speak bad about the king , because it is the only one that can sustain the cohesion of Morocco. Next we began the subject of the religion. They explained to me that the Islam is a religion of peace, because of that there have been more Christians who convert themselves to the Islam than the other way round. Next Hamid explained that the Koran is a holy book,dictated by god since there are countries described that Mahoma had never visited. I attempted to argue that in that time already there were travellers who could have portrayed for him such countries, but in spite of listening to me with a lot of interest he did not seem not even a bit convinced about what i said. Finally we talked about the possibility of men to be married with four women at the same time. he explained to me that this is a law that Allah gave to the men so that they did not have to search the sex out of the marriage. Since for another hand, the sex out of the marriage is totally prohibited, therefore, in Morocco or in any other Islamic country the young people cannot be boyfriends or girlfriends, they are only fiance and afterwards they marry. In the afternoon, I met with Yassine ( Alexandra stayed in the autocaravan sleeping). Yassine had a leg broken because three years ago he had a motorbike accident. he explained me that they had to operate him in a public hospital and that because of the inappropriate sterilisation of the material a posteriori the leg became infected until the bone, losing 8 centimetres . At present it is already much better, even though it is not cured completely. Maybe for this motive, Yassine was more critical with the system than the two friends from the morning. He also commented that in Morocco there is a lot of corruption, in the lower class (police,...), as well as in the upper class, fact that explains the big yachts of employers or politicians in Marbella. he also explained the case of a nurse, that only receives 250€ each month, of which 100 the rent of a flat and 2 every day for the transport . This nurse did not work at ease if not some patient helped with some tip. And according to him, this lack of motivation is the main problem in the work world. I changed the subject and I asked him about Sahara Occidental, to contrast the opinions of the morning, but he told me that he did not know too much . Only he knew that in the military hospital where he was there were several soldiers and officers because of the wounds of some mine, since the desert for that zone is infested by it. We followed the conversation about the Islamic terrorism, and he commented me that in spite of having had a failed atack in Casablanca recently, the terrorism hardly will root among the Muslims, first because the Islam is founded on peace and understanding and second, because the different media are educating a lot against terrorism. We talked again about the multiple marriages and he told me that having a second woman is better because like this the man can cover his needs if the first becomes ill. Anyway he did not know how to reply when I asked him why the women should not be able to marry more than one time. With respect to the prohibition of the sex out of the marriage he told me that in some villages in the mountains, the marryed couple, has to show a handkerchief stained of blood after the first night of marriage to demonstrate that the girl was virgin. Without taking out the subject, the conversation curiously derived from the Koran again towards the reasoning of the divine origin. he explained. - In the koran it id explained that to clean a dish without soap has to be passed seven times under the water and until little ago it has not been able to be demonstrated scientifically if it is enough to submerge it just six times .just after 7 times all the bacterias disapears. How could they know this in those times? The explanation can only come from Allah. We had sustained the conversation in the terrace of a coffee shop, clasped in some chairs placed in line. During the conversation Yassine touched my hands or shoulders to express better. I did not saw it as offensive, because for the Muslims the homosexuality is unimaginable, but it was strange in an unexplained way, maybe because people here are more friendly then in other cultures. to get up I offered myself to pay, but the same as it had hapened in the morning, Yassine insisted on inviting me. After paying, he made a call with the mobile and a friend came to search for him. They proposed me to go to take some drinks in some other place and I accepted on condition of going to search for Alexandra, which was now awake. We went to a modern bar where another boy that we had contacted through Internet waited for us. Salim, was accompanied by a french girl. Salim had been living for 15 years in France and he came back to stay in Morocco few months ago. he worked in a big discotheque, where he explained that quite a lot of alcohol ran there, even though the majority of Muslims considered that the alcohol was not necessary to enjoy yourself. We did not have much time to talk to them because they had to go, but before they went I asked Salim , if he was Muslim. He replied to me that he was a non practising Muslim. When we left, Yassine and his friend thought that this answer, could cause here in maroc quite a lot of problems. On Monday, before leaving Rabat towards Casablanca we went again to the embassy of Anglola in Morocco (on Friday already we had gone there but there was not the person who could brief us) . We asked about the possibility to obtain the visa for Angola but they replied that for us it would be impossible since the first requirement was to have the residence in Morocco. I had the possibility to obtain the visa for Angola from Spain, even though it was quite painstaking. But Alexandra had to obtain it from some neighbouring country of Romania (where she lives), because in Romania there was no embassy of Angola. We had been warned by other African travellers that to obtain the visa of Angola during the trip was practically impossible, but we had risked due to the complications of transacting it our country of origin. Now, in front of the first negative answer (only the first), I started to consider other alternatives to the plotted itinerary. Africa is an immense labyrinth, with closed borders, dangerous countries, impassable roads... If we can not go to Angola, which at present seems a relatively safe country, unavoidably we will have to cross other s unstable, like African Centre Republic or the República Democràtica del Congo (ancient Zaire). -- On Saturday also I took away the pulse of the world with the new friends of Rabat and I interviewed them: Hamid and Nizar thought that the main problem of the world is the war provoked by the inequalities and wealth. The solution would be in the understanding, acceptance and help of the other ones, independently of the colour and the religion. The main problem of Morocco is the lack of work, even though it seems that it is improving. The solution would be found investing in the country creating more certainty and security, so that new jobs were created with the increase of the tourism. They both help in the solution with the creation of their own companies. They were both happy for being Muslims and Moroccans because they felt proud. Nazir would be happier by fulfiling his dreams, for example having a family. The secret of happiness is to believe more in Allah and and to try hard to be a good Muslim. Yassine thought that the main problems in the world are the economic problems that generate terrorism, problems with oil, nuclear crises... He would not know how to find any solution because others with more knowledge havent found either. But he can make something to improve the world, for example to make boycott to the Cocacola, because it saves lives (the price of a Cocacola is the price of a bullet that kills children in Palestina). The main problem in Morocco is the lack of work and the poor quality of the education. Anyway, it seems that the country is improving in this sense. For helping in this sense, he would need more studies for reverting the knowledge to the country. Yassine considers himself very happy, since he is alive, with familia, friends... in spite of having some problems. he would be happier with a better education. The secret of happiness is peace. If you live in peace, even if you are poor, you will be happy. ‹ Previous (18/01/2007) MONTH Next (2007-03-19)› ‹ Previous (2010-06-01 - US) COUNTRY Next (2010-06-15 - US)› |
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