Road Trip to Morocco

In what feels like a prior life, while living in Rota, Spain, I volunteered at the Rota Animal Welfare League (RAWL).  There I met some of the most interesting women from all walks of life and all ages.  The lady who managed the place, Barbara, was the x-wife of an American commercial pilot who was prior military and she lived full time in Spain on her own.  She had an ID card to use the base facilities but was not connected with the base.  I thought it was so cool that she chose to live there; back then, I had no idea people could do that.  Joan was another volunteer and she was the wife of a civilian worker on the base.  I think they had lived there for many years and she was good friends with Barbara.  Joan was a prior hippy, and she was proud of it.  She was a vegetarian and could write in the most beautiful calligraphy.  There was another lady who I really clicked with but I cannot remember her name all these years later.  She was just a few years older than me but she was the wife of an officer so we could not socialize together other than at RAWL.  I did not understand that rule and was very upset because we had a lot in common and it sucked that we could not socialize outside of volunteering.   It was not the first time the Navy screwed things up and it would not be the last.

These women loved to travel and it seemed to me that they had been all over the world.  They had planned a few days in Morocco and invited me to go along.  Six or eight of us piled into two small Spanish cars and hit the road south to catch the ferry from Algeciras to Tangier.  In Tangier we went to visit the museum located in the mansion of Malcolm Forbes.  Forbes had died earlier that year but the museum was still open along with some of the living spaces.  Forbes had a huge collection of miniatures all set up in many different dioramas.  It reminded me of my brother’s small army men toys.  What stands out most to me today was the exquisitely decorated Moorish style living areas, the beautiful pool that had recently been in the opening scene of a James Bond movie, and the row of poppies that lined the high bank waterfront wall.  The poppies had lost their blooms and the large pods had been sliced from top to bottom all around.  Joan was saying something about the staff must be making some income on the side but I did not understand what she meant.  That was the day I learn how opium was made.  Joan explained the process as we stood there at a fancy mansion looking out across a beautiful blue Strait of Gibraltar. 

From Tangier we drove south to Tetouan and I can’t remember a thing about it.  I do remember stopping at a roadside stand where some Bedouin women were selling baskets.  I almost did not buy one because they did not “match” my décor.  Joan gave me great advice I still follow to this day, “your décor will change, never let that stop you from buying something you may never see again.”  I bought three or four baskets from that lady. 

From Tetouan we drove further inland to Chefchaouen; a small town that was known for shopping.  We stayed in a nice hotel located on a hill overlooking the town.  I remember hearing the Muslim call to prayer for the first time; it was a beautiful but kind of haunting sound.  This was the early 90’s long before we knew much of anything about Islam.  I was told that Chefchaouen was closed to everyone except Muslims at one time.  I have no idea if this is true or not but it made for a good story.  We changed our dollars into dirhams and went shopping.  The culture was to bargain for everything and I was terrible at that.  It seemed like I was shopping with monopoly money, prices were so cheap it became a shopping frenzy.  I remember buying a pair of the most uncomfortable leather boots that I never wore and a colorful blanket that I rarely use.  I often think about these ladies and wonder where they are today.  I am appreciative of their friendship and learned a lot from them all.  I use to have many photos of this trip that would be interesting to post with this story but I cannot find them anywhere!! 

Tangier, Morocco

While living in Spain my family came to visit.  My dad, mom, brother and granny all flew from Texas to spend two weeks seeing Spain.  While they were there we visited Tangier, Morocco in North Africa.  To reach Tangier from Southern Spain you take a one hour ferry ride from the Spanish city of Algeciras across the Strait of Gibraltar.  At the port we met our guide Haj Shebaba, he took us through the old town to the Kasbah; something larger than a castle, more like a small walled village that was older than the city around it.  This was really the first time I had been in what would be considered a third world country, other than Mexico and that does not count.  I was fascinated with the electrical lines that had been run along the outside of the buildings and along the underside of the archways; this part of the city was built long before there was electricity. 

In the courtyard of the Kasbah was a snake charmer.  I was excited to get the chance to watch as he played his flute and made the snake dance just like you see on TV.  But NOOOO, what did this guy do?  He just stood there holding the snake for pictures, but deal my Dad can do that at the ranch with a rattle snake any day of the week.  It was a complete tourist trap!!  From there we went to Restaurant Hammadi where we had vegetable soup, beef shish k-bobs, couscous, mint tea and baklava.  My journal describes the couscous as chicken with a cabbage & grits mixture.  I know today the “grits” part was the couscous so they must have used it in a delicious mixture with chicken and cabbage.  Back then I had never heard of couscous.  I described the baklava as a sweet dessert that tasted like melted suckers poured over fried bread stuffed with some sweet spice.  While at the restaurant there was a Moroccan band playing and a lady doing a belly dance, again it was pretty touristy, but fun to watch.

After lunch we wandered through the open market, where the locals bought meats, fruits and vegetables; I think these are fascinating places to walk around looking for unfamiliar types of food.  Our guide kept walking at breakneck speed.  We also walked through a shopping market but our guide would not stop until we got to a “designated” store; AKA a store that gave him a kick back for bringing tourists.  I did not like anything in the store and it was very expensive, all the good stuff was out in the market.  The designated store actually sold gorilla hands and stools made from an elephant’s foot so I would not have bought anything there even if I found something I wanted.  After that we walked to a place where men had camels we could ride.  Again a total tourist trap but it was worth trying, when else would we get a chance to get on a camel.  Steven was the first to ride; he got on, walked only about 5 steps before the guide made the camel sit down and told them to get off.  He put Granny and me on the camel and we walked around in a big circle.  When he commanded the camel to sit down I almost fell forward into the camel’s neck but caught myself.  It was short but fun to try! From there Haj Shebaba lead us back to the port and we caught the ferry back to Spain.  

It would have been nice to spend a bit more time seeing what we wanted to see and stopping in the stores we wanted to stop in but that is the risk you take with a packaged tour.  Even today I still struggle with to buy or not to buy a package tour.  In unfamiliar places they can really help you get the lay of the land and see a lot in a short time but they always comes with those stupid tourist restaurants and “special’ shopping places.  I went back to Tangier one last time before leaving Spain with a group of girls, that will be the next post….TRAVEL ON!

The Rock of Gibraltar

Located at the southernmost tip of Spain, this British territory is home to the famous Rock of Gibraltar that you may remember from the Prudential logo.  It has been a British territory since the early 1700’s but the Spanish still assert their claim to Gibraltar so tensions can be high at the border.  To visit Gibraltar by car you must drive across the border from La Linea, Spain.  Like any border your passport is required and when I was there in the early 90’s it felt like driving from the late 1800’s (Spain) into the late 20^th century.   Once you get through the border one of the first things you come to is a stop light but instead of a cross street, you find an airport runway.  The runway begins and ends way out in the water and crosses the narrow tip of land east to west.   It would be an interesting landing and takeoff and you have to hope the cars obey the stop lights.

As you start to drive up the rock the first stop you come to is the water catchment area.  It is a huge bare portion of the rock that has a steep slope where they catch rain water for consumption.  This area has a great view toward the east that pans from the Spanish coastline in the north and out over the Mediterranean Sea.  The next stop is called St. Michaels Cave.  It is a cavern with stalactites and stalagmites but is not very interesting if you have seen the likes of Carlsbad Caverns.  From there you continue on to the spot where you are most likely to see the Gibraltar Apes.  They are really Barbary Macaques but everyone there called them the Apes.  I have no idea where they came from or how long they have been there but they are a lot of fun to watch and play with.  Legend says that if/when the apes leave Gibraltar so will the British.  They were so use to people that they would not hesitate to climb on your shoulder or head.  In fact, you really had to be careful with bags and cameras because they would steal them, carry them off to some inaccessible place and search them for food.  One tried to climb up my elastic wasted skirt but thankfully I was quick enough to grab the waste before I flashed a bunch of strangers. 

After seeing the apes you continue higher to the Upper Galleries, these are tunnels hewn into the rock that were started as a road to the top but the ventilation holes proved to be good places to stage cannons for protection, so the tunnels were carved downward and used to protect the rock from the Spanish during The Great Siege; 1779 to 1783.  The ventilation/cannon holes provided a spectacular view out over the town and ocean.   At some point in this tour you come to the very southern tip called Europa Point which is the southernmost point in all of Europe.  It is only about 9 miles from here straight across to the north coast of Morocco, North Africa. 

I spent very little time in the actual town of Gibraltar, but it was clearly a British style town.  The architecture looked nothing like the Spanish towns and very much like an old European town.  Gibraltar was an easy day trip from Rota and it really felt like a much more modern place than Spain and we often went there for a good hamburger.  Since the Brits are not known for their fabulous food, I find it comical that Americans went to a British territory to find a good hamburger.  Well, good is not the right word; let’s say it was better than the hamburgers we found in Spain.  Plus they also serve wonderful fish and chips!!  I don’t think Gibraltar is a specific destination for most people but if you find yourself in Southern Spain you must spend a day exploring “The Rock.”

Living Overseas

Rota, Spain

At the age of 21 I hopped on a plane and flew to Rota, Spain to follow the guy I would eventually marry.  He was going to be stationed there with the US Navy for three years and had asked me to marry him just before he left 4 months earlier.  I arrived with two suitcases of clothes and some money from Dad in lieu of a wedding.  That was the beginning of a great adventure living in and getting to know a different culture and country. 


Arcos de la Frontera

The first two weeks were full of setting up our furnished apartment located on the third floor of a newer building that was only a mile or so from the main gate of Naval Station Rota.  We mostly shopped at the Navy Exchange at first but it was fun to walk around town and look at all the small stores with many different things.  After a few weeks the “new” wore off and the difficulties of living and functioning in a foreign culture became real.  Nothing in Spain happens at the speed that a young American is used to.  Very few people had home phones (cell phones were unknown back then), there were only a couple of local Spanish TV channels (Satellite TV did not exist), and many locals were quite impatient with my poor Spanish.  It took a while to realize that people were not being rude or lazy, it is just how their culture functions.  Plus they had spent many years dealing with rude Americans and it took time for them to figure out I was not like others.  Also, there was no 24 hour 7-11s to pick up some forgotten item at any time of day or night, that is such a small things but the small things can make a difference.  So much was different, I really felt like a fish out of water and I was often very lonely because my husband was always gone on deployment.   It helped me to appreciate living in the US and I decided then that I would encourage my children to travel one day. 

Cathedral in Cadiz

For the first few months I did not know anyone, I did not work and did not have a car, so I spent many days just walking around town. There was no map so I just walked where ever looked interesting and kept walking until something looked familiar.  Thankfully it was a small town with an ocean on one side and a military base on the other.  After I bought a car I followed that same pattern all around the surrounding towns and that is how I stumbled across some wonderfully beautiful old structures; churches, castles, museums, and government buildings.  Sometimes I could remember how to get back to those historical places and sometimes I just had to stumble across them again.   When I got a job at the Navy Exchange my exploration days were limited and I started to settle into daily life.  I got to know some of the local neighbors but still socialized mostly with the other Americans.  As I became more comfortable living on the Spanish economy I shopped for more and more items at the local stores.  Of course, the Navy Commissary was there for all the staples we were used to cooking and eating, but it was fun to roam around the local grocery store or Hypercore (Wal-Mart type store) and buy local products also. 

The Alhambra, Granada, Spain

I met many Americans stationed in Rota who lived on base and almost never left the base.  I always wondered how they could do that without going stir crazy.  I also met people who did nothing but complain about the Spanish people or the differences in culture and lifestyle.  Those people had a tendency to think that different meant bad and they were miserable the whole time.  I wonder if they look back today and regret missing seeing as much as they could while they were there.

Cathedral, Jerez de la Frontera, Spain

I hated history as a kid in school, it seemed so boring, but I loved seeing all the historical places in Spain.  It brought those boring words in a book to life when you could see the actual place something historical happened.  Christopher Columbus actually walked the streets of Seville and he is allegedly buried at the cathedral.  Cadiz was the oldest continually inhabited city in all of southwestern Europe, supposedly first settled about 1000 BC.  Jerez de la Frontiera has some of the best sherry vineyards and bodegas in the world.  I became the unofficial tour guide.  I loved to take visiting guests or new Navy friends to see all the old forts, castles and cathedrals.  Thankfully my husband and friends also like to explore the area also.  We spent many weekends driving around Southern Spain exploring small towns like Rhonda, Arcos, Ubrique, and Gibraltar. 

Cathedral, Sevilla, Spain

Over time, my Spanish got better and I became more comfortable and came to really enjoy the slower paced life of Southern Spain.  Two and a half years later we received orders to Adak, Alaska.  I was excited about getting to experience a completely new place but sad to leave Spain.  I had become very comfortable living, working, and shopping in the Spanish culture.  I felt like I was leaving my home. 

The experience of living in Spain when I was so young really left a deep impact on me.  I still crave good Spanish cheese, huge olives stuffed with garlic, crusty Spanish bread and cheap red wine mixed with La Casera.  To this day, I try to find that same “cultural experience” when I travel somewhere, but it is almost impossible to really get to know a place in two weeks or less.  Now look forward to the time when I can once again live somewhere with a similar culture; Belize, Mexico, the Caribbean.   It also branded a love of travel on my heart; a love that has only grown over time and has lasted much longer than my marriage. 

TRAVEL ON!

The Travel Addiction

I have discovered that travel can become a full blown addiction, not much different than any other substance addiction.  Oh it starts so harmless, a quick trip into Canada or Mexico, just across the border for the day.  It is interesting; it is even a bit exotic.  That leads to a trip across the pond, maybe some place relatively comfortable like England; why not, they speak a somewhat understandable version of English.  You are fascinated by soaring spires and the colorful stain glass of old churches.  It is fun to visit places that are full of the ghosts of history such as the Tower of London, see buildings that are over 1000 years old, and imagine you just saw Queen Elizabeth peek out the window of Buckingham Palace.

That trip was a bit expensive so you tell yourself that you must stay home for a while.  Then you are invited to visit friends who live in Greece.  Why not, it’s not really like traveling alone; there are people to meet you on the other side.  The amount of history in Athens is completely overwhelming, your body is exhausted from walking and your mind is exhausted from trying to understand what you are seeing.  Then the beauty and the serenity of the islands is the exact opposite of Athens.  After staying home for a few years, as your 40^th birthday approaches, you decide to jump right into the deep end of the travel ocean and book a safari to Tanzania. 

Then you are invited to go scuba diving in the Cayman Islands with a group of complete strangers.  After that, it is a free for all of unabashed travel to any location; all around the Caribbean, the South Pacific, Iceland, Peru, and China.  Any place you can find an excuse to go.  Three or four times a year, work be dammed, you have to go.  Money be dammed, you can’t take it with you.  If you don’t have a travel itinerary on your desk for the next trip or two you feel restless, bored.  You spend your spare time searching for excuses to go somewhere and then planning and researching.  You get more and more bold and the destinations just get more exotic.  Finally you end up sleeping in a tent at Everest Base Camp the night before you cross the border from Tibet to Nepal.  The same girl who was a bit timid on her first trip to Mexico is now catching a bus to Kathmandu.  It sneaks up on you and it all happens so quickly, so innocently. 

My advice?  Embrace the addiction; ignore the friends who roll their eyes when they hear where you are going next.  Go anyplace you find interesting, just do it! 

TRAVEL ON!

Are you a traveler??

Let’s face it, some people are travelers and some are not.  If you are not sure what I mean, then most likely you are not a traveler.  Those of you out there who have traveled with any regularity know exactly what I mean.  A traveler is really good at just going with the flow.  Plane delays, cancelations, bad weather, gross food, dirty hotel rooms, rude locals, locals who are too friendly and even being completely lost won’t ruffle a good traveler, most of the time!  It’s all part of the adventure and complaining or getting angry won’t change things.  It just makes you and your travel buddy miserable.  Look for a solution, chill out and go with it. 

Dinner for orphan boys in Moshi, Tanzania

You never know if the person you choose to travel with is going to be a good travel companion until you actually get out there and then it’s too late.  When choosing a travel companion there are some red flags that will help you determine if your buddy is a traveler before you hit the road.  Do they complain about the food served to them in the states?  If so, they will never be content with food served in many parts of the world.  There are some wonderful, exotic destinations of the world where the food is strange, slimy, smelly, too strong or even tasteless.  A traveler smiles and says a polite thank you when served something unrecognizable, then at least tastes it.  Never ask what it is until AFTER you have tried it.  The wonderful tender, tasty meat you are really enjoying might not taste so well once you learn its donkey.  BTW, donkey is actually really good and very tender; they are raised for meat in China.  From there you keep smiling and then eat what you think you can stomach, or eat just a small bit and then claim you are stuffed full!!  Later, that granola bar in your suitcase will be the best tasting granola bar you ever ate.

"Fancy" Squatty Potty

Does your potential travel companion carry around an enormous purse with more stuff than they can use in a lifetime?  Do they take three bags just for a weekend get-a-way?  If so, you may find they arrive with more luggage than they can carry as they run through a train station.  My cardinal rule:  don’t take more than you can carry easily all by yourself.  It can be really hard to do, especially if you are gone more than a week or two.  I am still working on downsizing my wardrobe for a two week trip.  My goal is to get it down to one medium back pack but I am not there yet.  I still have a roller bag and small backpack.

Notice how your travel buddy acts when meeting people of different ethnicities who live in the states.  Are they uncomfortable, do they complain about the differences in accent or smell? Or do they find other cultures interesting?  Being willing to embrace another culture and respect their daily lives and habits is paramount when traveling.  It can be hard, especially in places where there is little personal hygiene or no such thing as personal space and where there is no such thing as a line.  As an American, it is so difficult for me when I have to accept the pushing and shoving of the locals just to get to security or through an open door to some event.  

Street Vendor Xi'an China

We will all make cultural faux pas when traveling so don’t fear it, embrace it and be as respectful as possible.  Whoever coined the phrase, “When in Rome do as the Romans do” was clearly a traveler!  To me, exploring different cultures, different landscapes, different food, different daily habits, and different lifestyles is fascinating.  It helps me to appreciate my life here in the US but also keeps life interesting.  

TRAVEL ON!!

China: Communism with a side of Capitalism

I am told China is a communist country…really?  The tourist wouldn’t know that by the look of things.  Capitalism is rampant and in the cities you will find a large and very wealthy population.  Many are educated at Ivy League Universities in the US and now run private multi-national companies in China.  Yes many of them are members of the Communist Party; it’s the smart thing for a wealthy business man to do in a Communist run country.  The only real vestige of communism I saw was the name of the party and the fact that all land is owned by the government.

Before my first visit to a Communist country, my mind’s eye envisioned oppressed people standing in bread lines, living very poorly in a rural tin roof shacks or dirty dilapidated city high-rises.  State owned companies, hotels and stores that are gray, uninteresting box shaped buildings with workers who are dressed in gray and could care less about their job.  I expected to see order on the streets with government police telling people where to go and how to behave.  Boy was I wrong!!

While I did see a lot of poverty, I saw many more vibrant, happy, healthy and very wealthy people.  They were decked out in the latest fashion brands and driving very expensive automobiles.   I saw many privately owned businesses from large fancy hotels all the way to small grocery stores run by one old woman.   There was no way for the tourist to tell the difference between a government owned business and a private business.  Order did not exist; chaos was the name of the game on the streets, in the airport, in stores and in restaurants.  There is no way to keep order when you have more than 1.3 billion people. 

As we drove through the country along the very nice but almost empty interstate highway system I saw a lot of farming villages.  Since the government owns all the land they designate where the farmer can farm.  The average farmer is given about an acre of land and uses it mostly for subsistence but will sell some produce and is able to earn about $200 per year.  The government also tells that farmer and all surrounding farmers where they can live so the farmers don’t live where they farm.  They congregate into small villages with townhouse style homes.  So the countryside was dotted with these villages.  I never saw any large farming operations but, of course, I only saw a small part of the country. 

Real estate development in the cities was everywhere; there is a joke about the crane used to build high-rises being the national bird of China.  You would think building a multi-million dollar high-rise on government owned land would be too much risk for developers but that was not the case.  I am told that most buildings are sold out before they are complete.  Oddly I saw many high-rise condos that looked mostly vacant; in the evening they would be almost completely dark and was told that was because they were purchased by speculators who were sitting on them in order to sell later.  Can you say, “Real Estate Bubble?”  In the 60’s the government started leasing the land to developers with a 70 year lease and no one knows what will happen when that lease is up. 

Something we are hearing about a lot in the news today is the one child policy.  Based upon our guides and US friends who live in China I am told that enforcement of rules varies by location.  With such a large country it is almost impossible for the federal government to monitor anything.  The local district and province leaders are the ones with the real power so they decide what laws are enforced and how.  In Shanghai couples who are both only children are allowed to have two children.  If you have a second child when you are not supposed to then you just pay a fine to the government.  No one in the city talks about forced abortions or forced sterilization.  Of course, it is also a problem they don’t want to talk about with tourists. 

One of 4 Museum Buildings, Terra Cotta Warrior Museum

The places we went that were obviously government run, such as the Three Gorges Dam and the Terra Cotta Warriors Museum, were extravagantly built.  Very fancy buildings, large visitor centers, beautiful gardens, decorative fountains, koi ponds, even escalators instead of stairs, plus wide and very new asphalt highways leading to them were all standard items.  The highway system had frequent toll booths and large, mostly empty, gas station/convenience stores spaced almost as often as the toll booths which were all quite overbuilt for the low number of users.  Where else can you buy pre-packaged chicken feet and Chinese beer for the road??

Chicken Feet To Go!!

I did find that many people would gloss over subjects like the brutality of Chairman Mao or the forced relocation of 1.4 million people plus 5000 years of historical relics at the completion of the Three Gorges Dam.  I got the feeling that the more they either don’t talk about it or put a positive spin on it the sooner everyone will forget the inconvenient truth and only remember the good.  From the tourist vantage point, albeit a very limited vantage point, it seems as if they have drifted from the strict communism of Chairman Mao into something altogether new:  Communism with a side of Capitalism (as long as you do what the party says).  Where will it go from here, what will it be like when these boys are running the country?