Back to the New World

I left Morocco on Friday and 26 hours later I finally set foot on the US. Upon my arrival I realized that it had been 6 months since I left the US. In those 6 months I had been to the Dominican Republic, South Africa, Guatemala, Morocco, Spain, and England (if you count layovers). It was…

On Tourism and its Effects

Throughout the length of this trip, I have witnessed some situations that have left me wondering if tourism does more harm than good. The camels in Merzouga (Maybe I like animals more than I do humans) As part of our tour around the country, we were scheduled to spend one magical night in an Amazigh…

Visiting an Amazigh Family

I had the unique opportunity to share lunch with an Amazigh family in the outskirts of Sidi Ifni in the Ait Baamrane area near the Dar Si Hmad fog project site. Muhammed and Rashid were both poor, unemployed, Amazigh farmers who eagerly awaited our arrival in the Dar Si Hmad white land rover. The village where…

Take Interest in One Another

Two days prior to our departure to Sidi Ifni (سيدي إفني), Kris introduced us to her friend and Dar Si Hmad employee Abdelkabir Najib – who simply introduced himself as Najib. Najib later told me that he doesn’t share his real name, Abdelkabir, because people mispronounce it and so he goes by Najib. I can’t…

The Hijab & the Burka in Morocco

I come from a society were women are almost encouraged to wear less clothing. In western society, especially in Latin America, women are frequently categorized as sexual objects and their sexuality is often exploited as a means of marketing. I can very clearly remember this one billboard in Santo Domingo that advertised female lingerie on an elevated…

Getting Overly Comfortable

Glenn and I were asked to help Kris settle into her apartment the day that she arrived. We left our apartment in Al Alhouyine street and walked down the “Medina,” around the cemetery, along the coastline and finally arrived at the Oudaya. We probably took the longest possible route just so that we could avoid…

Anécdotas de Viajero: La Furia del Vecino

Estoy seguro de que ya lo he mencionado en algún otro post: mi Francés es muy básico. Soy capaz de entender mucho más de lo que puedo decir, por lo tanto, cuando alguien decide mandarme a freir churros sé lo que me está diciendo pero no le puedo responder… Hoy me tocaba salir último del…

Salam Al-Bonjo-Hel…Hola?

I am bilingual. At one point in my life, after living in Curitiba for a year, I spoke three languages fluently. But language proficiency is lost and although I can fully understand what people are saying when they speak Portuguese, I cannot speak it fluently anymore. It is incredibly similar to Spanish so I could…