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Apr. 12, 2005 A few years ago, I visited Morocco for a few days. I took the train to Algeciras, Spain, and there I boarded a ship that would cross the Straits of Gibraltar in about 3 hours, but waiting for the ship to sail and passing through customs lengthened the whole procedure to about 6 hours. I had already gained a little proficiency in Arabic from studying and living in Egypt, but immediately as I disembarked in Tangiers, I realized that the Moroccan dialect of that language is somewhat different from the Egyptian, which complicated communication a little. Nonetheless, I immediately fell in with about a dozen Arabs and we all went for coffee in the lobby of the local bus station, two or three of the Arabs being impecunious of course, but that didn't bother me. I too have been in those circumstances. What I did like was that familiar Arab conviviality and sociability. Europeans and Americans are not like that; you can consider yourself lucky if one of them ever does so much as say hello. Most of the Arabs were Moroccans, but a couple of them were Algerians. In the course of the get-together, which lasted three or four hours, one of the Algerians, a very thin youth of 25, mentioned that he was hoping to go to Spain. He was living on the streets of Tangiers with no money. Morocco had neither welfare nor shelters. He said that if he could get to Spain, he would be able to get a job, but failing that, he could at least go to a shelter, which he had heard exist in Spain, to sleep and eat. I told I would have been glad to pay his passage on the ship to Spain when I sailed back, but that he would need a visa from the Spanish government, and all he had was an Algerian passport. But the whole party of Arabs assured me that no visa was necessary. I was doubtful, but I agreed, in that case, to take him with me when I returned. But I wanted first to train to Casablanca for a couple of days. I told the young Algerian as soon as I got back from Casablanca I'd start looking for him around the train station, where he should hang around each day at the right time till then. And that's what I did do. During the eight-hour train ride to Casablanca, we also passed through Rabat, very pretty from the train window. I stayed around Casablanca for a couple of days, just walking around town. I noticed that Morocco was somewhat better organized than Egypt, a little cleaner and more modern, but with the same Islamic motifs. The evening I returned to Tangiers, I found my Algerian friend within a few minutes, treating him to supper. I told him to meet me on the waterfront at 10 the next morning. He did so. We embarked with no problems. Passage cost me $20 for each of us. When we arrived in Algeciras, I could see immediately that the Algerian youth had been wrong. Spanish customs officials were admitting Moroccans and Algerians only if they had visas. They had detained about 20 or 30 who didn't have them in an area with plate-glass partitions. In the crowd of disembarking passengers, I had gotten a little ahead of my companion, and clearing customs with ease, I was able to look back around and see him being led by authorities into the holding area. I knew that he simply would not make it, just as I had originally believed. So I thought that at least I could give him 100 dirham or so, knowing he didn't have a penny. But Spanish customs refused to allow me to give him anything or convey it themselves to him, probably more out of arbitrariness than because of regulations, from what I could judge. I considered it unscrupulous of the ferry line to have allowed him to book passage, knowing fully well that he would be denied admittance into Spain. So that was the end of that. It must be pretty miserable being down and out in Tangiers. It's not Siberia, but temperatures can drop into the 30's. ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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