Security Checkpoints

After Spring Camp ended, I visited the Mediterranean coast. I figured I should capitalize on being so close to the coast. In the town of Saidia, I went for a pleasant stroll on the beach. After thoroughly assessing the beachside cafe and restaurant options, I settled on a place where I could get a fish sandwich for a low price. I paid for what I got. The baby shrimp panini for 35 dirhams wasn't that good. However, as I ate it, and after I ate it, I watched the waves crashing on the beach, which, in soothing splendor, thankfully eclipsed how lamentable the sandwich was. After enjoying the view, I caught a taxi back south.

The next day, I headed south from the city of Oujda. Until the turn for the town of Jerada, the landscape was verdant. After we passed the turn for Jerada, the landscape was stark, brown and barren. Consequently, it was a long bus ride to the town of Figuig, where I was staying for the night.

Soon before arriving in Figuig, our bus was stopped a couple of times by the gendarmes, who are the local law enforcement officers. The first time, the gendarme who came onto the bus asked me to step off the bus with him. Then he asked me for my passport. He asked me the purpose of my visit to Figuig. I told him that I wanted to walk in the palmerie, which is the massive grove of palm trees there. I'd heard it's a beautiful town and area, and had been wanting to visit for a while. The gendarmes asked me some basic identifying information in addition to that which they could glean from my passport. Then they let me get back on the bus. The second time we got stopped by the gendarmes, I had a similar interaction with another gendarme. While there are security checkpoints in various places here in Morocco, these gendarmes were more inquisitive than gendarmes usually are at security checkpoints here in Morocco. Why? Figuig is very close to the border with Algeria; in fact, it's so far east in Morocco that Algeria is only a few kilometers away. Figuig is surrounded on three sides by Algeria. And, the border between Morocco and Algeria has been closed for years now. So, it seems that the gendarmes are conducting checks to ensure border security. Anyway, the gendarmes were agreeable and professional enough, so I didn't have any complaints about those interactions with them, also considering that the delays in our voyage south were minor.

When I arrived in Figuig, I was happily surprised by the price for my room at Hotel El Meliasse. Based on my research about that particular hotel, I had expected to pay 60 dirhams for the room. That hotel indeed charges 60 dirhams for some of its rooms--if two people stay in those rooms. Since I was staying in the room by myself, I only had to pay 30 dirhams. For those of you who aren't familiar with Moroccan currency, 30 dirhams is the equivalent of about 4 US dollars. And no, the room was not disgusting. While the paint on the stairwell walls is peeling, no paint was peeling in the room in which I slept. The floors seemed reasonably clean. Some of the blankets seemed old, and others seemed new. I was glad to be paying the price I was paying for the room I had. I've paid more for rooms which were not as nice here in Morocco.

While I was there in Figuig, I enjoyed one of my favorite Moroccan culinary offerings, shfinj, which are deep-fried doughnuts. Given how Moroccans love to add sugar to things, I'm a bit mystified to report that there's usually no sugar of any kind, either powdered or granulated, on these doughnuts. Despite my sweet tooth, I always enjoy these doughnuts, which have no sugar on them. I've had them in various locations in addition to Figuig, including the town in which I live, as well as Marrakech, and also on the Atlantic coast of Morocco.

After enjoying one of these doughnuts, I headed off for a walk into one of the villages of Figuig. After a little while of walking on the narrow streets, the passageways became covered. Overhead were ceilings formed by palm tree trunks, which also served as floors for the buildings which extended over the passageways. On my way back to the main part of town, I walked through the palmerie, past the irrigation canals channeling water through that desert territory, making arable but dry land more fertile.

The next day I headed out from Figuig on an early morning bus, then caught a late morning bus for a longer segment of my voyage west. At one point early in that second part of my journey, our bus had gotten detoured onto a dirt and gravel road. Given the terrain of that road, the driver was driving quite slowly. Once we had gotten back onto the main, paved road, the driver sped up. It occurred to me that perhaps my journey that day could serve as a microcosm of my Peace Corps service. Early on I seemed to be moving slowly, but later time seemed to be passing more quickly.

Later that day, I enjoyed visiting a friend and fellow PCV in his site. We always have laughs together, so I'd been looking forward to spending time with him. On my way back south, I've enjoyed seeing some new countryside. However, I'd been looking forward to spending time with people again. While I enjoy seeing new landscapes, I've been reminded of what brings me most joy: enjoying the company of others and giving each other mutual support. After all, that's why I came here.

There's No Time Like The Present

Often when I'm at the Dar Chebab ("youth center" in Darija, or Moroccan Arabic) here in town, I find myself waiting for more kids to show up. Kids aren't required to come to the Dar Chebab; they just come if they want to come. While I mention certain activities or classes to them, they don't always come for such activities or classes, even if they say that they're interested in attending. Keep in mind that in Morocco, people very often indirectly respond to an invitation to an event which does not interest them. Rather than directly decline an invitation, very often people will either say that they will attend an event, or they avoid accepting the invitation.

With the Dar Chebab re-opening this week after being closed because it was the latter half of the summer, I began to feel a sense of urgency. Time has been passing, and as more time slips behind me, of course that means that there is less time left here in Morocco for me.

So, yesterday, when one boy, a regular at the Dar Chebab, arrived in the Dar Chebab, I brought him into a classroom and began an improvised geography lesson with him. I drew the globe, started filling it in with the continents, and asking him to name them. He could name them in Darija, but not always in English. Then I started reviewing the names of oceans with him.

Another boy, also a regular at the Dar Chebab, arrived soon thereafter. Within the continents I had already drawn, I was filling in the boundaries of countries, and dotting the map with various capitals. It seemed that they were more likely to know locations closer to Morocco, which of course makes sense. They knew all of the countries in "El Maghrib," the group of countries in North Africa. Thus they knew that Algeria borders Morocco to the east, and that immediately east of Algeria is Tunisia, that east of Tunisia is Libya, and that east of Libya is Egypt. They also knew that Mauritania is located immediately south of Morocco, and that Senegal is immediately south of Mauritania. One of them knew that the capital of Senegal was Dakar. They didn't know that the country of Andorra lies between France and Spain.

I always love teaching, even when it is impromptu. In fact, I think that I might love it even more then, because I am doing it when I didn't expect to be doing it, so then it's like a surprise benefit to be helping others. Thus I definitely enjoyed the geography lesson I just taught. However, also having had so little work recently, for that reason it also felt great to have just taught. I was glad to have had even just the two of them there to teach.