May 17, 2013
One of the
most unique aspects of Morocco is the way in which smells travel. In Agadir,
there always seems to be some scent in the air, some more pleasant than others.
Yesterday, when we walked up to the second floor of our hotel, the smell of
honey, cinnamon, and other sweet scents I didn’t recognize emanated throughout
the open hallways. These smells must have risen from the kitchen below, because
we had lunch soon afterward.
Not all
smells are of equal pleasure, however. Sometimes a faint sewage scent appears in
the air as you walk along the street or are sitting innocently in the
Casablanca airport.
Scents may
also reveal important aspects of culture. For example, I knew that Agadir must
have a large fishing industry, because the strong Saharan winds from yesterday
carried the smell of fresh fish to us when we were near the beach, even though
the marina was a good bit away.
This
morning, we took a tour of this marina and witnessed firsthand Agadir’s fishing
industry. First, we went to where the fishing boats were made. All the boats,
which consisted of mostly steel and eucalyptus wood, were constructed by hand
outdoors instead of by machines in a factory. Our guide told us that the
government has stopped factories from coming in to make the boats because the
artisan work provides jobs to many families. Artisan work is valued for
its own sake.
The harbor contained boats of all shapes and
sizes. Some were finished versions of the Phoenician-style boats we saw being
constructed, while others were small canoe-like vessels. We also visited a
small fish market in the harbor where fish could be bought cheaply. The smell
of fish was, of course, strongest here, and today there were no gusting Saharan
winds to dilute it.
Although I
had thought that fish were an essential part of the Mediterranean diet, Jamila
Bargach, the Founder and Director of the Dar Si Hmad Foundation that was
hosting us and had developed our itinerary for half of the trip, said that people
do not usually eat fish like tilapia, grouper, salmon, etc. because it is too
expensive and does not feed many people. Sardines are a more popular
consumption choice; three buckets of sardines are cheap and can feed a family
for a number of days.
After the
fishing village, we took a bus up to the top of a small mountain where the
upper class of Agadir used to live before the terrible earthquake that occurred
in the late 1900’s. Now, just a few ruins remain. We didn’t get to see the
ruins up close, though, due to the more titillating tourist experiences of
riding a camel and holding a snake. These experiences were conveniently located
in the section of concrete used for bus parking on top of the mountain. I must
say, though it’s definitely Orientalist of me, that one of my goals while here
in Morocco was to ride a camel. It was a short but fun ride – like riding a
horse, except that you’re about three times as high off of the ground. My other
Orientalist goal is to buy a flying carpet in Fes.
Laila, one
of the other speaking partners, asked me after lunch about how exposed
Americans were to the Middle East and criticized some of their (my?)
Orientalist views.
“When I was
studying in France,” she said, “I met a group of American students and told them
that I was from Morocco. They looked at me and asked me where it was on a map!
Incredible!”
Despite the
fact that until a year ago, I was one of these geographically ignorant
Americans, I understand where Laila is coming from. The American education
system is rather deplorable when it comes to teaching about foreign countries
and politics in elementary, middle, and high school. Furthermore, it is
probably a bit hurtful to some Moroccans that some Americans don’t know a thing
about Morocco. Based on my conversations with these Moroccan students,
Moroccans love American culture, and even if some don’t, they are at least very
aware of America’s presence. Clearly, this cultural relationship between
American and Morocco is not equally reciprocal.
Laila was
also a bit irritated about our camel rides. “When Americans think of Morocco,
they all want to ride camels. Why? We hardly use camels for anything anymore.
Yes, believe it or not, we have cars! We have cellphones!”
“Well,” I
said, “Americans don’t have access to Moroccan shows on TV like Moroccans do
with American TV shows. Morocco is not predominantly in American news, either.
News about the Middle East that Americans focus on is usually about the war in
Afghanistan, and more recently, the war in Syria and what exact the U.S. should
do about it. The only other big exposure to Morocco comes from Hollywood and
Disney, and that’s why the camels and ancient medinas fascinate Americans.”
I didn’t
want her to think that Americans were stupid. Most just don’t have exposure to
Morocco, and unless they seek information out for themselves, then they are
unlikely to know anything about the country. In addition, both the camels and
the medinas are aspects of the country that contrast greatly from the U.S. It is
only natural to be fascinated by animals and settings that are not found in one's home country.
“What both
of you are saying makes sense,” Abdelkrim chimed in. “I have an American friend
who studied here in Morocco for seven months. At first, he lived in the modern
apartments by the place where you exchanged your currency. He said it was just
like living in an apartment in America and hated it” – indeed, Agadir reminded
me a lot of Ocean City. “Only when he later moved into a medina did he begin to
appreciate his stay here.”
However,
the old medina in Agadir no longer exists due to the destruction caused by the
earthquake. Nearly the entire city was destroyed by this earthquake; only roads
and a few shrubs exist in place of where the old medina once stood. It makes
sense to me now why the monarchy seems to be so well liked here in Agadir,
since it was the monarchy that decided to rebuild the city. Without the
monarchy, Agadir probably wouldn’t be much of a city anymore. The new king,
King Mohammed VI, has two palaces in Agadir and visits roughly three times a
year. Abdelkrim said that people always go out in the streets and cheer
whenever he comes to the city.
Although
the old medina is no more, an artificial medina a few miles away from our hotel
was constructed. We visited this medina in the afternoon.
Abdelkrim
remarked, “This is like the Disneyland of Morocco.” He was right. The medina
was more of a tourist attraction than a real medina. Earlier, Abdelkrim had
compared Agadir to the Las Vegas of Morocco, except this comparison was made
with love rather than with cynicism, like the former comparison was made with.
A man named
Coco Polizzi designed this new medina. Polizzi is of Italian descent but was
born in Morocco. The architecture was perfect, exactly as how you’d imagine a
traditional medina to look. Abdelkrim said it was too perfect.
What
impressed me most about the medina was that everything was hand made. I saw
Polizzi’s medina featured on a TV show called Homes of Morocco on the plane ride to Casablanca. On the show,
Polizzi said that he created the medina to keep artisan work alive. The medina
trains young artisans in a variety of crafts, and then they can sell what they
create in the medina’s shops. There were silver shops, spice shops, leather
shops, herbal shops, silk shops, shoe shops, and woodwork shops. Shop sellers
would try to put different clothes on you or get you to smell a variety of
spices as you walked by.
Polizzi
also said that some Moroccans would make fun of him for not being originally
from Morocco. Family names and blood ties are still somewhat significant in
this country. I mentioned this to Jamila, and she noted that the issue of when
exactly someone becomes part of a nation is very much present in America as
well and continues to be a topic of great interest in anthropological studies.
In the
evening, we went to a space that Dar Si Hmad bought and watched a Berber music
performance by a group of college students. There were about nine students:
four sat on the floor with drums while the others danced in unison around the
drummers in a circle and sang in Berber. Abdelkrim told me that this music
comes from the southern parts of Morocco and the Sahara region.
Towards the
end of the performance, we all got to dance with the musicians. One of them
handed me a drum, so I got to play a song with them, too. It was so much fun! I
have never heard music quite like that before. When I went to bed that night,
the sound of drumbeats continued to pound in my head.
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