Morocco: If These Mountains Could Talk

It is always surprising to me how people who have not been to Africa assume the continent is filled with stereotypical landscapes of barren earth, grass huts, wild animals, native dancers…you know the picture.  I suppose this is true with any place we haven’t actually experienced and breathes truth to the adage:  “Assumptions kill reality.”  

The three African countries we visited this trip could not be more different from each other—southern, western and northern Africa each possess their own personalities, flavors and landscapes…Oh My, the Landscapes!  I wish I could pull the multiple stories I absorbed through the countless miles of travel (car, van, train, plane) from my imagination and plop it on this page.  With my nose pressed against countless windows, the steam of my exhales created an appropriate dream-like, misty frame for the stories before me.  Perhaps nowhere was this “dream” more evident than through the magical landscapes of Morocco.  The realities of this country’s ancient (Biblical) history spilled before us throughout our trek through the Atlas Mountains.  This would be our second visit to Morocco, the last time (2011) ending just outside of Marrakech at the foot of the mighty Atlas range.  This time we knew we wanted to go further, through the Atlas into the Sahara Desert for a camel trek and camp out under the magic of the desert stars.  We were not disappointed.  However, in a great lesson of staying present for each drop of the journey rather then only focusing on the goal, we were told Morocco’s story by…Morocco. 

For this entry I will attempt to let Morocco, the Land of Morocco bursting with exotic tales from thousands of years ago, tell you its story the way it did to us...through a sublime series of mind-boggingly beautiful images.  Sometimes the environment speaks much louder than its inhabitants...leaving us mere onlookers to feel beautifully insignificant...again.

Our ship ported in Casablanca

Casablanca train station--Morocco's train system is excellent--
we took the 3-hour ride to meet our guide in Marrakech

View of Marrakech from the top of our Riad--
note the Atlas Mountains calling from beyond

The winding streets of the Medina in Marrakech--
Contemporary aggressive Capitalism meets the old world.

The drive from Marrakech to the desert was a day filled with  picturesque stops
at the ever-changing Atlas Mountains...

As the elevation changed so did the climate, the way of living, the feel...
each village becoming one with its surroundings.

Conjuring images of caravans filled with Nomads, camels, tents...
the time it must have taken, the acceptance of the terrain...
we tried not to speed through and take it all in

The Atlas Mountains are the meeting place of two different kinds of air masses—
the humid and cold polar air masses that come from the north and
the hot and dry tropical air masses that move up from the south.
Cedar and Juniper explode one moment...

And the next hour is filled with spectacular dry visions of ancient times...
so much history, so many people, so much land, so many stories...

And magical combinations.

Historic Kasbahs where Berber communities lived, battles fought, families raised, cultures created. 

We often simply stood in awe of what was before us.

...

And to the promised land....

The Earth Opens and Welcomes You

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by Abdellatif Laâbi (Moroccan Poet)

The earth opens
and welcomes you
Why these cries, these tears
these prayers
What have they lost
What are they looking for
those who disturb
Your new-found peace?

The earth opens
and welcomes you
Now
you're going to speak without witnesses
Oh, you've plenty to tell
and have all eternity to do so
Yesterday's words tarnished by the tumult
will gradually burn in silence

The earth opens and welcomes you
She alone desired you
without you making a move
She waited for you with none of Penelope's guile
Her patience was nothing but kindness
and it's kindness that brought you back to her

The earth opens
and welcomes you
She will not ask you to render accounts
of your fleeting affairs
wandering girls
heavenly bodies of flesh conceived in the eyes
fruits gifted by the vast orchards of life
sovereign passions that shine
in your palm's hollow
at the end of an indifferent language

The earth opens
and welcomes you
You're naked
And she's more naked than you
You're both beautiful
in that silent embrace
where hands can restrain themselves
and steer clear of violence
where the butterfly of the soul
avoids this semblance of light
to go in search of its origins

The earth opens
and welcomes you
One day, your beloved will rediscover
your legendary smile
and mourning will come to an end
Your children will grow
and read your poems unashamed
Your country will heal, as if by magic
when men consumed by the illusion
will drink from the fountain of your kindness

O my friend
sleep well
you need it
because you worked hard
like an honourable man

Before you left
you left your office in order
neatly arranged
You switched off the lights
and on stepping out
you looked at the sky
which was almost painfully blue
You gracefully smoothed your moustache
and said to yourself:
only cowards
think that death is the end

Sleep well my friend
Sleep the sleep of the righteous
Rest well
from your dreams too
Let us shoulder the burden a little