I love Sidi Ifni II
Trip Start
Oct 30, 2007
1
70
99
Trip End
Ongoing
Sidi Ifni,
Morocco
Friday, November 21, 2008
On my walk I met a rather scary looking local searching the beach for something that was not seashells or rocks. He explained to me that he was looking for bulbs ("potatoes", he called them) that he would later use for fishing. He was excited for today's bounty, feeling secure that tonight he would catch a lot of fish.
An hour later, as I walked back towards the hotel, I saw him again, resting from collecting "potatoes". I sat with him and we talked for awhile in Arabic mixed with drawings on the sand and hand gestures. His name is Hader. He is 33 and despite his sun burnt skin and decaying teeth there is something very boyish about him. His friend Ibrahim joins us and we sit for a while longer. Hader gives me a gift; a leather bracelet with a beautiful small colorful rock in it. It is from the Sahara, he tells me.
Hader invites me to his home for tea and I accept. We walk along winding unpaved streets fraught with rocks and building materials and I wonder if any tourists ever make it here to this part of town. His home is a tiny room in a small house that has other rooms where other people live in. There is a tiniest communal "kitchen" that is a narrow and dark room with a counter and nothing else. There is also a shared dark toilet room with no shower or running water.
He makes the tea in room using what looks like tiny black rocks and "shiba", a plant which I do not know its name in English. The process takes about 40 minutes. His room, tiny as it is, is charming. There's a single mattress along each side of the room and together they make the living room for now. There is no coffee table. We are low enough to use the floor as our table. He shows me wood carvings he made using driftwood. They are beautiful. The walls are tastefully decorated with magazine photos and video slip covers of "Mad Max" and other movies I do not recognize. There are other things on the wall, such as a tiny rubber sandal that he found on the beach, deformed by the elements. He is certainly an artist and finds beauty in everything.
After tea he takes a bread out, fills a little bowl with oil, and invites Ibrahim and myself to join him for lunch. I remember my mother telling me that growing up in Libya they often had ate bread and oil as a meal, since they could not afford any other food. I feel very fortunate to have this experience and my heart is exploding with joy sharing such a special moment with this two gentle, generous and kind beings.
They invite me to join them at 7pm at the beach for dinner and fishing. I offer to give then 200 dirhams so they would buy some other food supplies to we can have a small party. They are sincerely grateful. Before we part ways Hader shows me his garden, a walled yard where he is growing few banana trees, a fig tree, basil, cilantro and tomatoes. He is very happy with his life and it is lovely to see.
I look forward to meeting my new friends this evening, right after the yoga class I'll be teaching in the hotel again. It seems like more hotel guests are interested in practicing with me.
