I’m in Africa!

After 32 hours of sitting in airports and airplanes, I’ve finally landed.  Oddly enough, I’ve decided to plop down in the airport arrivals in Fes, Morocco’s ancient capital, to write this entry and to watch families reunite.  I watched a French family (the parents and three daughters) squeal as they ran into the arms of an old Moroccan couple in traditional dress – I assumed it was a mixed marriage and they were the grandparents.  Couples sharing long moments in each others arms, squeezing, forgetting their surroundings and everything but the one they love.  These are beautiful things, and I can see them here a dozen times every time a plane lands.  I won’t stay here long, though.  I think I’ve had enough of airports and would like to go find a hostel and hopefully some travel partners.  I’m just waiting for the rain to let up.

As the plane approached Fez, I saw the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen outside of an airplane window.  There was a full rainbow that stretched over the countryside and straddled a gorgeous lake of mixed blues.  The rainbow followed us as we flew, and it was really something beautiful.  My neighbor (and old Moroccan man) and I sat for a while with our faces very close to each other, sharing the window.  I remembered how rainbows symbolize new beginnings and hope, and I thought, “that’s nice.”  Walking from the plane to the airport, the rainbow had already disappeared.  I looked around me and saw subtle mountains that seemed to just barely poke out from the ground in the distance, clouds low enough to reach up and grab handfuls of.  

4:30 PM – Met a pretty girl outside of the airport named Biral from Mexico.  She looked lost (and I certainly was) so I went to ask if she was looking for the buses.  Turns out that she spoke English better than French (though still spoke French better than me), so we made friends and decided to save some time and split a taxi into the center.  She’s studying in Lyon and spending a few days in Morocco.  We walked around the Medina for a couple of hours.  The medina is a walled city within Fes and is perhaps the largest of its kind.  It has a ton of small streets and alleys, is very much alive, and is known as an abyss for tourists; you’ll inevitably get lost.  I inevitably get lost going to the supermarket in Nantes, so you can imagine what this meant for me.  It meant that I got very, very lost.  Every kid who comes up to try to be our tour guide will tell us that we need him, because the Medina has “more than 80,000 streets!” or “more than 550,000 streets!”  They all say something different, but I get the idea that there are a lot of streets.    Almost immediately upon entering the Medina, while walking down a narrow alley, I heard someone yell, “Balak!” as a donkey bullied past me.  It’s another world.  This happened many times over the next couple of hours until I realized that, when I hear someone yell “Balak!” I need to move my ass.  

A kid with a Yankees hat followed us around for a long long time before we allowed him to give us a “tour.”  I put this in quotation marks because it involved going from one shop to the next where we could buy things, but didn’t.  I was really glad we decided to follow him, though, because he took us to the roof of a leather shop with an incredible view (and awful smell) of the dyes below.  Large bath-sized cells of colorful liquids filled the view below like a multicolored honeycomb.  Workers dipped different animal skins into the liquid and hung them up to dry before crafting them into belts, briefcases, purses, etc.  Looking ahead, the horizon was made up of a mountainous earth and a mass of satellite-topped houses, much like in Egypt.  I’m very glad to have met Bilar, even if briefly, because I just knew I’d be alone for the next two weeks.  We exchanged numbers to meet in Lyon and parted ways.  Now, I’m sitting in a cafe outside of the Medina, drinking a mint tea that’s seriously the best tea I’ve ever tasted.. and I drink a lot of tea.  Seriously, I have a drawer full of tea that I take from work, and this is something else.  So here I am, drinking this miracle liquid with a plant in it and listening to the call to prayer.  I’ve been overwhelmed with sights, sounds and smells – a feeling I last felt in Vietnam, though this is stronger.  The smells are so prominent, which is wonderful, because I know that if I ever smell these odors again then I’ll be immediately transported back here, dodging donkeys.  Now, I should really try to find a hostel.  Hotels are aplenty, but I more expensive and less social.  Hopefully I’ll have some luck. 

While I’m aware of the fact that I’d be having a great time with Minh if she were here, I’m not really missing it and am hardly miserable.  So far, anyway.  Whoo!

6:00 – Circled some cheap hotels in the lonely planet map and headed back into the medina to get lost.  I asked the guy in the cafe to show me where we were and, by luck, I was right in front of the main gate where all the cheap hotels were.  As soon as I wlalked in, someone tried to guide me into a hotel.  Initially I kept walking him, as I’ve become somewhat accustomed to doing in these situations, but realized that he was trying to guide me into one of the hotels that I’d circled.  Sweet!  Unfortunately, it was all booked.  The guy passed me off to another kid who would show me a similar hotel.  He led me through a bunch of dark alleys and finally to a beautiful building with a great big wooden door.  From the outside, actually, it was nothing, but inside there’s a central courtyard with high walls that eventually open up to a blue sky.  These walls are decorated with carpets, carvings, and stained glass panels on windows.  There were tourists having tea in the courtyard, probably discussing prices.  That’s something I love.  It seems common to sit down and have a cup of complimentary tea while discussing prices (I did something similar with Bilar earlier).  They showed me a modest room on the roof with a bed, toilet, and shower.  It was very small but plenty.  I bargained the price from 300 MDR down to 200, but no breakfast.  That’s about 20 euros a night, or 30 USD.  Not very cheap, but not terrible.  I know there are places where I could stay for 10USD, but this is in a great location and I know there are other tourists here.  Actually, I didn’t get a great first impression of them.  Before bargaining with the owner, I asked the other tourists (American and English) how much they’re paying, if they didn’t mind my asking.  I just said “if you don’t mind my asking” because it’s polite to say when you’re talking about money, but never expected someone to take me up on it.  They refused to tell me because “it’s not fair” and they’d bargained down the price themselves.  Hey buddy, the jerkstore called.  

After paying for the room, the owner came up with a key for me.  He spent 10 minutes trying to work the lock before offering me another room for the same price.  It has 2 big beds and a bunch of windows with a view of the courtyard.  The windows have stained glass shutters and some sort of decorative metal panes to keep idiots from falling out.  Mouse, if you happen to read this, these would be a great addition to your project!  This room was great, but I don’t need 2 big beds.  I told him that he’s welcome to put other people in there if he wanted, because I’d like to meet some travelers that can’t be found in the jerkstore.  

I feel like people are constantly trying to trick me, much like I did in Vietnam when Minh wasn’t with me.  This kid who showed me the hotel is asking me for money now because he showed me the hotel and because he has a booboo on his knee.  What?

It’s raining again.  I checked the forecast and it’s supposed to rain every day in every city I’m planning on going to.  At least I got a hotel before it started!  I guess I’ll stay in tonight because I don’t want to be out when the sun’s down – I’ll definitely get very lost.  I do need to eat something eventually, though.  I haven’t had a bite in over 24 hours.  I guess I’ll go find a cafe.  Until next time!

Related posts:

1. Tangier Bound
2. Chilling in an Insane Fez
3. Training it to Marrakech
4. Let the Pilgrimage begin