A jot, a vision, a glimpse, a parting—farewell, Morocco

Morocco was far more Western than I expected, but, yet, it was a world of its own—at least compared to anywhere else I’ve travelled.

Atlas Mountains

There were the mountain women doing their laundry in the streams and spreading it to dry on bushes and rocks; there were the urban families (man, woman, and children) all crammed on one small motorbike; there were the city laundromats where wringers and steam presses escaped the hoary traditions of history to live in the present; there were the smiles (beautiful smiles—even on less than beautiful people—though there was plenty of beauty in Morocco); there were bikes loaded with five or six goat heads; there were piles, circular cones, of spices… the boats, the camels, the Charlie Chaplin movies… the crowds of people, bikes, motorbikes, and everything else trying to jostle their way through the narrow, old streets.

Wheat fields--often harvest manually

And the food: the tangines, the orange juice, the pureed-fruit drinks, the dates, the egg sandwiches, the chicken shawarmas (the one I ate in Tangier was the best I’ve ever eaten), the cakes, the… and on and on.

Atlas Mountains

There was something officious, something friendly to the country. There were things to buy, things to remember, things to forget.

Of the latter, the trash, the filth, the unhygienic practices—piles of trash here and there, food fallen on the street picked up and re-sold, food served on grubby dishes and with dirty flatware… Everywhere noble aspirations were apparent, but the lack of skill, oversight, or the maintenance made them empty mockeries of what could have been…

Small town in mountains

Underwriting it all, however, was a bustling vibrancy, the exuberance of life, an undercurrent of movement, glossing over and dignifying many faults.

(Note: I liked Morocco, but, for good or for ill, I cannot gloss over the overtly public urination scenes in parks, along roads, in cities, and pretty much everywhere... so be warned if you plan to travel to Morocco. 
 
Pictures from the Straits of Gibralter and the Moroccan countryside