A Christmas Story - Morocco, 1979

 


A Christmas story from 1979.

I had just turned 24 and was teaching English in Madrid to business executives. Another teacher and friend, Phil Budinger, and I decided to go to Morocco and hitchhike around. Not the best of ideas, right? (The trip wasn't good, though later I hitchhiked around the Algarve, in Portugal, and had a really good time.)
Phil and I took the train to Algeciras and then a ferry to Tangier. From there we stuck out our thumbs, with no destination in mind. We just wanted to roam, and not go to the regular tourist sites.
We wound up in Ksar el-Kebir, some town in the interior. People followed us around, offering to sell us many products, some of them illicit. It was unpleasant. We could not shed them and walk on our own. It was Christmas Eve. We sought shelter from the pestering people in the bus station, and then took an overnight bus to Casablanca. It was crowded. During the night, a suitcase fell on Phil's head from the overhead luggage rack.
We arrived in Casablanca at dawn. A cold wind whipped trash around empty streets. Someone was sitting on the curb, head down between his knees. We didn't know where to go. It was too early to check into a fleabag hotel.
Eventually a truck came by and someone aboard threw a bound stack of newspapers at the feet of the person on the curb. He lifted his head and we saw his face for the first time. It was not a bum but a boy of around 15 -- a paperboy awaiting his newspaper delivery.
He insisted we come to his apartment to rest, inviting two strangers into his home. He introduced us to his parents who showed us to a room where we could sleep. I drifted off, exhausted, while listening to the family speak to each other in Arabic, the unfamiliar dialect sounding soothing and reminding me I was in a completely different place from ones I was used to.
After a few hours, we woke up, refreshed, thanked the boy and his family -- and probably left some money -- and ventured into Casablanca, which also had woken up. It was Christmas day.
Thank you, young man. Your kindness was amazing. I realize that now more than ever, this event pulled from dim memory, as we approach Christmas again.
e, Joe Frazier and 2 others
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