To be a Moroccan

morrocanlady, originally uploaded by veggy.

In'shallah or god willing is thrown around more then amount of sugar that is added to the mint tea in Morocco. It was only up till a few days ago that I realized why I wasn't sleeping well, because they actually add macha green tea to their mint tea, shipped directly from China.. where else! Overdosed on caffeine.

Traveling in Morocco is like traveling back in time. The horse and buggy are still popular modes of transport even within the cities, and I don't think they will go out of style either as they are effective, and non polluting, compared to the thousands of scooters that rip in around the medina of Marrakech.
Traveling in Morocco has not been easy as women, or cheap. It actually has been more expensive then both Spain and Portugal, and this is staying in low budget riads and hostels and eating vegetarian food. There are prices for tourists and prices for locals, and if anyone is going to make some money it is the Moroccan. The women here tend to do all the backbreaking work, mind their children and husband. While the men sip tea and try to hustle tourists once in awhile and are often considered lazy by the modern arab women. To be an arab man in a arab world. What a different place to grow up where men learn as children that women (including their moms,sisters, aunts, friends) are second class citizens, dogs, or even prostitutes when this could be farther from the truth. The Koran is full of contradictions (as are most religious doctrines), but it often says to honor your wife and your female children, and if you are lucky enough to have three female children you will go to heaven..guaranteed!

If the women of Morocco went on strike boy would the men be screwed. As a tourist this makes it almost impossible to even engage in conversation with men even out of friendship or curiosity over their culture because the assumption is that you are a prostitute, and supposedly there is a market for gigalos in the beach towns which really doesn't help any ridiculous stigmas because I am sure many men use prostitutes. One of my hosts told me that they had to open a brothel in his town in order to decrease the amounts of rapes that were happening in his village, and he said it seems to be working. It obviously is a deep rooted problem, and most men's first experiences are with each other, which doesn't seem to be frowned upon. So the experience here becomes about keeping your head down and ignoring the mostly inappropriate and sometimes humorous comments by young children to senior citizens that come from just going out for a walk .
You have to be on guard all the time sadly. A Moroccan won't steal from your pocket (they will gladly take your items if you drop it though), but they will lie through their teeth to get you to buy something that is almost all the time not genuine materials at prices that you could easily scoff at. I had a juice seller try and take 30 durham extra (3$ euros) and wouldn't give me my change and held up a whole different sign with different prices on it even though every single person in the square has the exact same prices. I had to yell at him to get my money back. Who likes yelling for anything, but he was hoping I would just give up and walk away. Not very zen I know, but its the principal, and its not right, and I am will not be taken advantage of.

Bargaining is part of the 'game' which is tough when you don't know where to start and people have been swindled into buying all sort of 'stuff', mainly rugs. The markets in Morocco here are full of 'stuff' or I would like to call crap. Even the many kind hosts I have stayed with think it's insane how much tourist items there are here overflowing at every corner. It is really hard to get a decent price and most items can be found cheaper at home and are probably better quality.

One nice thing was that Morocco seems to be a family destination with many people traveling with children of all ages. This isn't something that I would have imagined but why not I say, even though if they were looking for a bargain it isn't going to happen. Riads (Morrocan designed home with the open courtyard and terrace that keeps the heat out) range in price and often work well with families. They tend to be taken over by Europeans and managed by Morrocans. All our experiences with our hosts have been lovely. Most of the time they would meet us out of taxi and escort us to the Riad, sometimes they would drive us 10+km out of the Todra Gorge (from Auberge de Festival = amazing place), and most of the time they gave us the best and most honest advice which is a contrast what you find outside the Riad in the streets where people want 2 Euros for pointing the way back to the square.

As a women who loves to travel and loves to intermingle with other cultures, Morroco is a tough one, and is sadly not my favorite place even though in my last 24 hours I am feeling slightly nostalgic. I like to travel to places where at least you can make friends and not be considered a prostitute. Life is to short to be on guard that much, and it has really made me grateful for my home. I have always wanted to come to Morocco and I am glad I got to see it but my experience isn't something that should push you away from traveling here, but the reality of it was much less romantic and more emotionally challenging then I envisioned.


Everyone I have met when I told them from Vancouver would almost automatically say "Oh I love Vancouver", and I would ask "Oh have you been?" Most people would say yes, but many would say No, but I really want to go, I hear it is beautiful. I have never in my life had so many people tell me how much they love Vancouver (they don't know about the overpriced condo market ;)). In Vancouver you have fresh air, space, cleanliness, efficiency, and people that care, and some really nice people. I didn't realize how respected Canadians were till I went on this trip (and I have been all over the world). It makes me proud that we are so nice, and I look forward to the easiness that comes with being home in a few weeks.
Much love from Africa. xo

Meditation, Yoga and discussions from Nepal

Tibetan settlement - Hijan - mala beads, originally uploaded by veggy.

i got to participate in a 3 day weekend retreat at the Ganden Yiga Chopen meditation centre in Pokhara. It is a sister monastery to the well known Kopan monastery in Kathmandu. Our schedule consisted of wake up, meditation, yoga, breakfast, teachings with the monk, lunch, break, questions for the monk or discussion, yoga, dinner, and meditation, followed by silence. This is a cake walk compared to Vipassana meditation retreats. In my group i was the only one who had completed a Vipassana sitting, and it was looked upon seriously by the monk Yeshe. Yeshe is an american who has been teaching Buddhist theory for over 30 years. He has been in Pokhara teaching for over 4 years. He was a great teacher asking us questions like: "What did you live for when you where 6, 17, and now? and what has changed?" Also, "Who are you?" which he warned would stress some of us out, and i was glad that i have had this question before in yoga because it is a tough one. How does one define themselves? A lot of us define ourselves by our careers, this is usually the last thing i bring up in a conversation. I find it uncreative. Who i am, it is not what i do to pay the bills. Some people think i have been humble in the past, amazed that i am not bragging about one career path i chose, but it truly wasn't who i am.
I am a being, on the path, seeking, learning, absorbing, and giving back as much as possible. I am constantly changing. You don't see it day to day because we are not aware of the changing, but skin cells are dying and regrowing, brain cells are doing the same thing. I can't quantify what i am either and because science changes constantly, so what i know could be totally false, but i am ok with that.
A fellow student on the course who has come to Nepal to learn how to take care of himself better asked me on the last day "Do you consider yourself a buddhist?"
It was a tough question because i have never liked to conform to titles that would define me. The more i learn about Buddhism, the more i would like to say yes to this question. Buddhism is not a religion but very basic principles which i have unknowingly gravitated to without that much thought.
Buddhism believes in the idea of Karma, something that was discussed heavily in the course, mainly because we misuse this term quite a bit. If someone steals my computer it doesn't mean it is a direct result of my karma in this life (even though at the time i thought it did). The fact that i even have a computer in the first place means i have been born with good karma, unlike most of the people in this world. If something really bad happens to me it can be because of something that has happened in a past life. Buddhism believes we are reborn many, many times, and thus believes in not harming any being intentionally. Of course we may kill bugs by accident, or someones pet, or even a human, that your soul is pure during this action is what matters. If you have the intention of harming someone, this is the where the karma comes into play. There was a bit of debate on the buying of meat for our consumption and how easy it is to get it, and technically you are asking for this animal to be slaughtered but because of mass consumption you don't need to ask anymore, the animal is already slaughtered and in the grocery stores waiting for you. In this sense Tibetan Buddhist have rationalized or maybe not that this is ok and you karma is pure in this because you don't have to ask for it to be slaughtered. I question this theory, mainly because it doesn't make sense to me.
This course is a great beginner course. The yoga teaching was very questionable, and not in a good way. I am not to sure where Nepalis get their training or if it is even considered training, but we did multiple poses i have never seen or heard of before, and many things that could result in both short or long term injury, or turn a beginner off of yoga for a long time.
I was warned about doing yoga in Nepal, but i didn't really understand why. Now i do. A lot of it feels made up and still costs around $7usd (which is expensive for Nepal), which is fine if you are stretching safely, but usually you are not. I have only had two different yoga experiences so far so don't get me wrong, their could be some good teachers out there. The course i am attending with Yogi Nomad is an organization that is part of the Yoga Alliance which from my experience seems to follow a very systematic and strong practice, and outputs amazing teachers.
I have read a few articles over the years where the Indian teachers give western teachers a hard time because they are not following the practice as it has been passed down, and from what i have read (mainly from Iyengar), what i have seen is that the western teachers are more in line with origins of yoga then that of the whishy washy east where anyone can be a teacher.
My experience is limited so i can only speak from that, but if you want to come to Asia and do yoga, make sure it is a reputable organization. If you want to come here to practice yoga, just ask around, but sadly you won't like what you hear. I am missing doing a good practice with my community, but in less than a week i start my 6 week intensive training. I am very excited for this new chapter in my learning, and meeting everyone.

last sunset in Pokhara