I've Been through the Desert on a Bus with no Name!

A very unsuccessful beginning started one of our most successful days.

Woke up super early in Taghazout in order to get on a bus and head up into the mountains. We were to catch a bus from Agadir and travel to Ouarzazate, however Agadir proved to be more than we had planned for. We wasted four hours hopping from station to station trying to find any bus leaving town. No dice. After the forth station, we decided to take a taxi to the next town over and catch a bus from there. The bus station was a chaotic mess of ticket sellers running toward us trying to guess where we were going and all fighting to sell us a ticket! We were lost and had an incapacitating deficiency of the French language, which all the locals seem to know.

Greeting the ticket sellers with the two Arabic words we know made a group of gals giggle and Tim caught the word "British" to which he turned and said, "No, we're American. Do you think you could help us out?" For the next hour or so, we had three wonderful new friends: Siham, Ilham, and Wafa. They were all studying English at the University and have dreams of becoming teachers! They were very interested in the project we were doing to educate Americans about other cultures and to educate other cultures about Americans.

We talked a bit about their lives and compared studies and career goals in the U.S. and Morocco. They helped us buy some food from the market and get situated with our bus. It was a kindness we had heard about but not yet experienced. And it initiated a whole new perspective on this beautiful country.

On the bus, we met a man named Abder who we had the great opportunity to converse with at great lengths. We talked about gold mining and mineralogy (his old profession), olive and almond harvesting (his new profession), work or lack thereof and poverty in Morocco, politics and the King of Morocco, relationships, sex, and love - everything under the sun!

And under the sun we were. Even in winter, the Moroccan sun is a strong one! I can't begin to imagine what summer is like. Abder told us that as we left the city and headed up the mountain, the temperature would drop significantly. It didn't. Not on the bus, anyway. The winding roads yielded view after view of a beautiful, yet rugged landscape. Despite its beauty, I can't seem to grasp how people are living out here. The soil seems so... so non-existent! It looks like everywhere is a giant field of rocks with very few determined and uncompromising plant species that have managed to find a way to live. We occasionally passed Argon trees to which some shepherd had led his flock of goats. Tim and I would stare like tourists at the goats, which had managed to climb the trees in order to eat their fruit. Can you even imagine - a goat, 15 feet in the air and quite literally out on a limb, trying to find food? Neither can we, and that's why we stared!

Abder was very willing to share with us, and it seemed he was almost nearly as willing to hear what we had to share. Much of the conversation he related back to Islam. From what I understand, which I'll admit, isn't much, Islam is the culture of Morocco. It seems to dictate and fully define every aspect of these peoples' lives, traditions, celebrations, food, relationships, clothing, character, behavior in public, gender roles, and even their language. Understanding the culture of Morocco will only be possible by having some understanding of Islam.

We lost the battle of the buses and consequently didn't make it all the way to Ouarzazate. We had to stop for the night in a small village called Taliouine. There we met an interesting character named Abdula.Abdula was an intensely excited individual trying to make it through university. He spoke Berber, Arabic, Spanish, French, Italian, and English! He had never even received formal English lessons! Very impressive! Abdula exhibited so much potential, but was limited by unfortunate circumstances in his life. Instead of finishing his degree in Spanish Literature, he has come home to work in order to support his family. It sounds sad from a western perspective, but there is no sadness in his soul. Every fiber of his being was glowing with enthusiasm at the chance to speak with a couple of Americans. He told us about Morocco, about the history of the Berber people and the three Berber dialects in Morocco. From there, our conversation moved on to stereotypes, prejudices and religion. And when I say 'religion' I mean Islam. It seems that most conversations lead to or end up at Islam. I need to explore that further to have a better insight into these peoples thinking.

At the end of the day, we had come from not really experiencing any of Morocco's culture - only observing it - to three wonderful, insightful experiences and five new friends! All five of our new friends have invited us back to their villages after we complete our project in Tinjdad! Their generosity and kindness is something as foreign as their language to me. It's a welcomed and refreshing change from the rough start we had in Morocco.