Notebook

Unfocused self portraits are the best!


I bought a paper notebook to carry around with me in addition to the small notebook I carry in my pocket and my laptop. I think the new notebook will be a better way to record my thoughts and feelings as I have them. This should allow my blog to provide more insight into my random thoughts than I am currently doing.

I feel like I have three jobs right now, none of which are particularly difficult. I need to most importantly enjoy myself and take in as much as I can from around me. Secondly I need to keep in contact with friends and family through emails and my blog. Thirdly I need to figure out what to do with myself when I do return home, what changes to make and how to make them. Of course the first two aren’t very difficult, though the second one can be time consuming. I also feel like both of the first two items will help me with the third item. I have put a lot of thought into the third item and I started a list of things I do and don’t want to do once I return to Saint Louis.

I have finished reading all of the English language books that I had. The problem in this country is that all of the books are in either French or Arabic and I cannot read either. I could probably struggle through a French book if I also bought a dictionary but where would be the fun in that. I have no desire to learn French. I would definitely like to learn another language in the near future though. I think the two that would be most beneficial to me would be either Spanish or Mandarin (Chinese).

Yesterday (Thursday) I walked around Larache and headed south along the coastline to see what I could find. I again followed people down a walkway that lead to the ocean. The wind picked up and I was greeted with a disgustingly foul smell. I tried to ignore the smell and kept walking towards the water. The road was on a high mountain above the ocean and the mountain was covered in trash. I saw a van pull up, open the back and start launching bags of trash out of the van onto the hill and into the ocean. It was such an awful smell I kept walking south towards the cemetery to try and escape it.

I found another trail along the coast and saw some people in swimming wear taking it so I followed them. The path lead around some cliffs and then down to some rocks at the ocean where people were swimming and diving in. I found a nice place in the shade of the rocks and settled in to relax and enjoy the beautiful day. There wasn’t much trash here and the weather was perfect, I stayed for a long time simply relaxing, it was really nice.

All of these Moroccan men with their amazing bodies make me so jealous and self conscious. I want to look like them. Then I start to work out and it’s hard, it’s really hard to work out. It’s not like in the movies when they show someone working hard in a couple of vignettes and in two minutes after an inspirational song has been played they look amazing. It actually takes a long time with a whole lot of hard work to get a good looking body. Then there is the food aspect of getting a good looking body. I tell myself, I am going to eat healthy and then the waiter brings me a plate of fries. I tell myself one won’t hurt and the next thing I know the whole plate of fries it gone. Then on my way home I smell waffle cones cooking and I see ice cream for sale. That cannot hurt I tell myself, the muscled Moroccans are eating them. I will eat it one last time and then be done with it. The problem is I always tell myself this will be the last time and it never is.

This (Friday) morning I took a Grande taxi from Larache to Asilah with three hotels written in my small notebook to check out. All three of them had similar reviews and identical prices. I didn’t know exactly where they were, but figured I could wander around and find them. I went to the first one and it was fully booked for the night. Then I went to the second and it too was fully booked. Apparently there is a festival going on in the old medina and as a result the town is very full this weekend. There was a man on the street who offered to help me look and I accepted his help knowing that he probably preferred certain hotels and I would have to pay him. We walked around to at least 10 hotels and at all of them I was told they were full unless I wanted to pay $50 a night, which I certainly did not. I was finally able to find a place that had 1 room left and more than I wanted to pay but still in my price range. I paid and thanked the guy for helping me find a hotel and he headed off, with all of the change in my pocket. I put my bags in my room and headed out to explore the town.

First thing I needed was some lunch and I stopped at a sandwich shop to get something. The only meat they had was fish and since I don’t eat fish I had an interesting sandwich filled with egg, tomato, rice, onions, french fries, carrots and lettuce. Moroccan people love to put french fries in everything they eat. I have been looking for a backpack since I came to Morocco and I found a second hand shop, looks like a mix of a salvation army and a garage sale inside of a shop, that had a 1980’s looking backpack. The price wasn’t terribly expensive for a second hand bag but everything from my suitcase would fit snuggly inside and then I would still have my smaller backpack to deal with. I’m not sure if I should buy the big backpack and see how much I can cram inside or wait and hope the wheels of my rolling bag hold out on me.

Asilah is similar to most of the other small towns along the Atlantic ocean, they have an old medina that is surrounded with newer building and a beach area to the north and south of the medina. The town is different from others that I have been to though because inside the medina there are very few shops and all of the buildings are kept up very well. I believe the houses in the medina are owned by Spanish people who use it as a summer vacation home and as a result these homes are very expensive.

I wandered the streets with the crowds of people until a little after 11pm and then I went up to my room. My room is in a room on the roof of a hotel with a great view of the street. I kept my door and window open to allow the cool night breeze in until around 1:30am when I decided that it was too late for me. I looked at the street again and it was still crowded and very loud. I closed my window and door and put my ear plugs in and slept very soundly.

In case you cannot tell there are 2 different links to 2 different sets of pictures:

Thursday's Pictures

Friday's Pictures