And this fellow! Guess what he is holding under his arm! An ipad! No sooner had he heard my country of origin than he exclaimed: “och aye, the noo!” It was a sign of his knowledge of music hall humour…
He is one of the few people we asked for permission to take a photo. He was proud to tell us we would find him in Lonely Planet, and no problem with taking a photo.
Lasting impressions will include the spontaneous smiles of welcome from many people, the omni-presence of the police, the never-ending looking through piles of used clothes and shoes, the multitude of storage nooks piled to the brim with junk… and the cats! Oh, the cats… sniffing around food, reigning over everything…
spontaneous invitations to ‘come to my house, my mama will be happy to see you and offer you some food’ (this from a lovely young woman who had come into the church as an act of brave curiosity and who was pleasantly surprised not to be attacked because she looked different).
The total ignorance of what was being said. Being a real stranger in a foreign land. And yet, the non-verbal agreement that if you scratch skin, blood is the same colour… we are, to use a word from my school German, ‘geschwister’: sisters and brothers.
Finally, imagine the music, the shouting, the smells, the tastes, the contrasts… and watch a short slideshow of some of the many photos we took…during an unforgettable visit to Morocco.
kirkie47 