Moroccan butcher in Agadir
Reason 933 Why I love Morocco: Despite the rapid move toward modernization, especially in the massive metropolis of Casablanca, there remains a culture of trust and goodwill that permeates informal relationships.
The latest of innumerable examples: My local butcher, who’s known me only a week or so, sent me away with my purchase, even though I’d forgotten my money, and told me I could pay when I able. Incha’Allah.
Most people, me included, don’t seem to understand the extent of Phoenician, Greek, and Roman influence along the North African coast, but especially Tunisia. A Euro-centric bias makes us forget that the Mediterranean basin, symbolically “center of the Earth”, has a southern area that was, and remains, nearly as important and advanced as its northern…
Just over the Portuguese border from Spain is a little village with a big castle called Castro Marim. Tourist season was over, so we missed the shows that they apparently put on, which include dramatizations of medieval life and fighting knights. Unlike other castles we have visited, this one does well to show what life might…
There was some sort of celebration today that involved military displays with cannon fire. These girls danced wonderfully, for whatever the purpose, and shook their shoulders like nobody’s business!
After spending a few days along the northeastern Spanish coastal region known as Costa Brava, we took the train to Barcelona for a couple days as a stopover on our way to Seville. The capital of the Catalonia region, much like elsewhere in the area, there were flags everywhere in support of seeking independence from…
Not to be confused with the city of Agadir that was destroyed by an earthquake and later rebuilt into a tourist destination, but rather, the traditional buildings that gave the city its name. Throughout southern Morocco are the remnants of what was once a thriving Amazigh (Berber) culture that extended over most of North Africa. Before the arrival…
While walking to lunch with Erika and our new friend Catherine in Selçuk, Turkey, there came behind us the sound of honking car horns and music. At first, I thought it was young people garnering attention like I see so often at home, but as the procession came closer, I saw a boy dressed all…
On our way back from Spain, we stopped off to see some of northern Morocco. In part, this was to enable me to finally finish my self-appointed task of seeing every UNESCO heritage site in Morocco. We stopped in Tangier for a few days (that’ll be a post later), then headed to Chefchaouen, a small…
Reason 501 Why I Love Morocco: Unlike most of the West, where even eye contact is rare, you’re virtually guaranteed a salutary response, even from total strangers if you bother to make an attempt. Salamu walaykum.
This weekend, Nissrine and I joined a group teachers from the school on a safari into Quiçama National Park. The park is about an hour south of the Angolan capital, Luanda. It’s a massive game reserve. Within the center of the park is a group of what seemed like decent, air conditioned bungalows along with a…
