Am actually in Mexico at the moment, and already have things I need to post from here!
Will add some more Morocco first, then skip to Mexico for a bit...
Maybe the theme could be....whatever starts with an 'M'? or, whatever place has a lot of tile?
Our beginning & ending place in Morocco was the port city of Tangier. It seems very international.
This is the Hotel Continental
in Tangier, Morocco.
we got lucky with this find--an old, aging threadbare place with fantastic 'bones' as they say...
It was my favorite place to stay of the whole time we traveled.
Kind of right of out 'Casablanca' period.
Well, that last post was from Barcelona...and can't believe I never got a chance to do any other posting
We were back in Barcelona this morning, after a night on the bullet train; then from Barcelona on to Newark & Chicago...right now we're recovering in a hotel room after that series of bus,train, plane rides.
And here's a post I had almost ready since Tues or Wed? Will just jump to Morocco, & fill in all week.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So...Hillary was in Morocco. too...
I've actually been a bit out of touch with the news...so, it was a surprise when our taxi driver in Tangier said that Hillary was meeting with King Mohammed V1 in Rabat the same day we arrived...
(as we drove down Mohammed V1 Hwy...in Tangier, which was known as Mohammed V, when we were last here, 40 years ago...
things change....yet, so many similarities....
Steve reminded me that 40+ years ago, when he came to meet me at the airport, there was also a US Sec of State visiting....Rodgers... (which he recalled, because he was pulled aside for questioning as he lingered at the airport, waiting for me... I guess without his Navy uniform, he looked like a one of the 'usual suspects.' We're having a lot of strange coincidences on this trip.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We obviously had quite different visits...Hillary, & we...
She, at the royal palace (sans King...oops...he was on a conference visit to Qatar, I guess....)
We--on what might be called a pilgrimage, to our first home, & life together in Kenitra, not far from Rabat... I didn't think culture shock would hit me twice in the same country, but it did...
It's a country where being a shepherd seems to still be a career choice...
We saw many adults and/or kids out tending their flocks in fields as we drove along the highway..
Except for missing the King, doubt if Hillary had many surprises.
We, on the other hand, had many.... like, not being able to even find our previous lodgings in a chaotic, crowded city. But worse, becoming stranded on a remote highway, after running out of gas due to several gas station closures. Regretting that I never learned Arabic...and even worse, that I hadn't brushed up on French before coming... but, as is our style, we did this on the fly...
Anyway... we survived (tho, I clearly remember saying...'we're gonna die!' out on a countryside road' & even Monsieur S. said he hadn't seen me that worried in a while...
My basic French allowed me to discern 5 vs. 15 km (cinq vs. quinze) of distance to the nearest gas station...and in the end, a nice young Moroccan man came to our aide, accompanying me to station to get help, gas & return to our stranded car. We knew we'd be okay. it's just that crisis moment!
At least we didn't have to apply for one of those shepherding jobs...and good thing, as without Arabic skills, we wouldn't even qualify.
Here's a photo I found of the gas station which saved us...Afriquia...
let's just say it involved a long walk, a 5 litre gas can, several Moroccan guys, and an empty water bottle found on side of road to serve as a funnel...
one of those memorable moments...
And here is a gendarme.
I just love that French word, gendarme.
And I love how the gendarmes always look so put together...
They're especially handsome when they have a mustache, and then they really look like they're out of those 40s movies. I did want to get to Rick's cafe in Casablanca (made recently, as the movie backdrop)...would love to see that... (esp as my blog is somewhat based on that title!)
Kenitra is the town where we lived, not far from Rabat. We did actually make it there. Though, after so many years, we just could not find familiar things. This train station was familiar though.
We once road on the Marrakech Express, and I guess we started from here, before we connected to that line further south.
We couldn't find our old apt, and not surprising as the city seemed totally changed, much bigger, more people, more buildings...
It was overwhelming to see the change.
These lovebirds were unique.
Think they may be ibis.
Very eye catching up there...
So, the mint tea.
That is very Moroccan.
We did that. Loved it.
Even bought ourselves a pot & intend on having it more often.
It's just green tea, hot water, and a pot stuffed with fresh mint leaves. Yum.
We found a little cafe in Kenitra.
and celebrated with mint tea.
Am sure Hillary had mint tea also.
Even if she was at the Royal Palace, ours was more special!
Hola from España ....
we are loving it here. wow. Spain has so much to offer. Think I could live here.
It's been a bit of a whirlwind, landing in Barcelona & then to a ship & cruising here & there...
one of the many episodes in our life that kind of came together unexpectedly...& still unraveling...
at last post--meant to query which body of water we were standing in front of (years ago...)...
L Michigan........Mediterranean........or Caribbean.?.......all of which have been part of our lives.....
(that happened to be in front of L Michigan....)
but, now we're in the Med...retracing steps from 40 years ago...
haven't had time to get pics together, and, being in 'vacation mode' coupled with sometimes very limited internet service, has resulted in few posts to the blogosphere.
I'll see if I can work on that....
This is a statue to Christoper Columbus, 'Cristobal Colon' in Barcelona...
we left from his same port... though from a city now much different...
explorers,
architects,
artists...
ancient & modern.
the city is almost too much to take in
Gaudi
house
and
Sagrada Familia so over the top
wonderful...
It's hard to get any group of pics to do justice to Barcelona, but I'll keep trying...
Mardi Gras
a stage &
giant figures
dancing about
and below, is another Gaudi creation, Park Guell
on a hill above the city... a whimsical park of structures, many covered in intricate mosaics, but all fun & unexpected...pretty much like this trip!
(I think I may use some of these ideas on Isla, especially in the walls there...& benches too !)
see the Med in the background, beyond the city...
and these lizard mosaics...
very cute...
I'll take them over the larger-than-life iguana
sculpture on Isla any day...
anyway...more from the Med...coming soon.
Barcelona isn't fading...but we were there days ago...
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
ee cummings
"i carry your heart with me" is another of Cummings' "we've got a shared secret" poems for lovers, published in 1958 in 95 poems:
My mom on Isla... we had many good times there together as a family. She did pretty good to get in a few vacations to Isla at her advanced age. We just dragged her with us & she made the best of it...
She used to like to say we kidnapped her to take her places...with her advancing Alzheimer's and our kicking back with some 'refreshments' it was sometimes hard to know what was reality...we had fun!!!!
(She didn't really drive the golfcart...but pose, yes!) what a good sport... and always so dressed for whatever occasion....always had her sunhat...probably from her days of boating with dad...
great MARGARITAS at ACANTILADO RESTAURANT, South Point, Caribbean Village... Mango mmmmmmm
I just love how that mural at the MERCADO made such a great backdrop for fotos
(K,S,J,B, MOM &C)
What a great traveling group we made...and what a lot of great memories we had together.
Blodge--is that a word? It needs to be. I think it would define my blog hodge podge.
(and from a linguist point of view...I like it ! )
I think maybe this is common among bloggers--losing focus...as if I ever had a focus. But wait...I think I did, just over a year ago when I started this. Just venturing out, knowing nothing was daring. But to think I could stick to a topic, timeline, learn how to post pics and have some cohesion...I see it's not doable. And not sure I will even continue... but, if I do, where to go with it...hmmmm.....
Technically, if I continue, I feel I should seek help through a class or something. I could/should learn how to make it look better (it's daunting to see others so put together...) and maybe I'll switch to wordpress...a thought. Blogger is not easy w/a mac laptop. Plus, the template was set up in Mexico, & is in Spanish...I just figured, oh well, I'll pick up more Spanish vocab...always a goal. I'm just too lazy to change it...but maybe...
It was about the house & Isla in the beginning, but as I/we come and go...well, life is just more complicated than that.
I'm going to be here (farm)
and there (Isla) and everywhere (Spain, Morocco) in the next several weeks. Retracing our history.
Well...I guess that's my life, and I'm sticking with it.
Seems I had one post that said something about serendipity...true enough...we've never had a set plan to get through life. It has just happened. and that's okay.
The theme song we now use as a tribute to my mom...we played it at her memorial service recently,
and it's beautiful to listen to and imagine another world, where we'll all be someday...
I'm still kind of on auto-pilot...missing a dog, and a mom... they're somewhere....over the rainbow....
(esp as my blog is somewhat based on that title!)
We couldn't find our old apt, and not surprising as the city seemed totally changed, much bigger, more people, more buildings...
though from a city now much different...
so over the top
see the Med in the background, beyond the city...
My mom on Isla... we had many good times there together as a family. She did pretty good to get in a few vacations to Isla at her advanced age. We just dragged her with us & she made the best of it...
