spontaneous planning: June 2014

Monday, June 30, 2014

Please, come have some tea - Travels in Morocco

“Whereas the tourist generally hurries back home at the end of a few weeks or months, the traveler belonging no more to one place than to the next, moves slowly over periods of years, from one part of the earth to another. Indeed, he would have found it difficult to tell, among the many places he had lived, precisely where it was he had felt most at home.”
― Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky

Unlike Paul Bowles, I have a regular job that roots me in one place. Granted I do get generous vacation time, but I have to reluctantly confess to being a tourist and not a traveler as described by Bowles in his novel The Sheltering Sky. Morocco is one of many countries I have been to where I could easily see transforming from a tourist to a traveler. Many places in the world seem the same now with restaurant, retail and hotel chains; for some people this is reassuring and makes travel more comfortable for them. However, for me that is disappointing. Morocco felt genuine and authentic, even in the short 12 days I was able to be there and the few restaurant chains I spotted.

I went to Morocco for a Morocco Explorer Multi-sport trip through Mountain Gurus that included 3-days mountain biking through Berber Villages, climbing Mt Toukal the highest Peak in North Africa at 13, 671 feet, followed by a camel ride in the the Sahara for an overnight stay. The majority of the time was spent in the High Atlas mountains - not nearly enough time to explore the country, but enough time to know I want to go back.

The group was small with a variety of experience, just five which included the owner of the outfitting company plus a Moroccan guide. The first day was an adjustment to the time zone and to get a feeling for the country. We had a tour of Marrakesh that included the many vibrant souks that specialized in carpets, metal work, shoes, olives and clothing. Followed by three days of biking up the Toubkal Valley on dirt roads through Berber Villages. We were invited in for Moroccan tea many times by families - Moroccan tea is a mint, green tea with a lot of sugar and is consumed all day.

The group transitioned in Imlil, 5,200 ft, from biking to hiking. After a night at an auberge we headed up the Toubkal Valley to the refuge at 10,350 ft. The refuge is open year around and is popular with Europeans for back country skiing in the winter. Early the following morning we had our tea and breakfast and headed up Jebel Toubkal. The climb is not a technical climb, there are a lot of scree fields and loose rock. Everyone in the group summited - at a variety of different paces. The next morning we packed up early and walked back to Imlil, on the way down we stopped at a carpet shop and ended up each buying a Moroccan carpet.

Back to Marrakesh for dinner, for our group that was pizza and coke at a cafe on the second floor that allowed for a dynamic view of the Jemaa el Fna where there are snake charmers and story tellers during the day and performers at night and fresh orange or grapefruit juice anytime of day.

Again an early morning, we piled into a van for the 9.5 hour drive to Zagora - the town we would travel from to ride camels in the Sahara. The drive, while very long and curvy road, took us through beautiful country side. We drove over the Tizi n'Tichka pass through the high Atlas mountains and into the Draa Valley. The Draa valley has not changed much in the past centuries - it is notorious for the figs, apricots, almonds and pomegranates that are grown in the valley in the same way they have been grown for generations by the tribes. We reached Zagora in the late afternoon, found a herd of camels and rode them through the dunes to the Berber Tent camp for sunset and sunrise viewing. A quick note on camel riding - it looks a lot more interesting in the photos then in reality. Camels stink, they spit, they carry diseases, and their gait is awkward to ride plus they amble along at a slow pace.

Marrakesh market - spices

Marrakesh market - metal working

Marrakesh market - olives!

Marrakesh market - dates and nuts

Marrakesh - Jemaa el Fna, snake charmers

Atlas Mountains - views from the bike ride

home stay - dinner

Bike break - our bike guide serves us tea at a Berber home.

View of the Atlas Mountains and Berber Villages from the bike.

High Atlas Mountains - trail up the Toubkal valley to the refuge.

Toubkal Valley refuge - 10, 350 feet

Post hike tea at Toubkal refuge

Jebel Toubkal - 13,671 feet

Camel riding in the Sahara - just outside of Zagora

Ait Benhaddou UNESCO Kasbah

Marrakesh - Majorelle Garden

Morocco is a moderate country in both their political views and religion, they have managed to steer clear of the Arab Spring uprisings. Morocco is primarily Islamic, a majority of the women wear had scarves and long dresses, not a lot of full burkas. I felt safe traveling in Morocco, I did not don a headscarf but I did dress modestly - at least from a western perspective it was modest. I look forward to traveling back to Morocco and getting to know the culture better. أنتل و ميت عجين.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Haiti 2014 - Medical Student Mission: Learning Through Experience

Medical Student Missions - volunteering experience as a non-medical person

pharmacy line at the hospital

You are going where??? Why? You are not a doctor, or a medical student, what are you going to do there? These are the questions I got from people about the trip to Haiti that I just got back from. I am not a doctor or in school to become one, I am not even in the medical profession. I do have interest in public health in developing countries as it relates to infrastructure, sanitation and planning. I learned about this organization from a friend who has been on six trips with Medical Student Missions as a team leader. I expressed interest in going on a trip similar to this one; I was drawn by the hands on volunteer experience. I travel a lot and am interested in travel that is more than just tourism. When I was informed that being a medical student was not a prerequisite I signed up. This was just the opportunity I was looking and it turned out to be very rewarding experience.

Before the trip started there were many organizational changes. The pre-trip emails said to be prepared for camping and setting up a compound when we arrived, the usual lodging for this trip was not available because of a contentious divorce. There was discussion of canceling the trip. A few days before the trips departure lodging was secured at a local hotel in Verrettes, the town we were staying in, along with three meals a day. Whew! No camping! As it turned out this seemed to be a very Haitian experience - chaos that works itself out.

The group met up in Fort Lauderdale and flew to Port au Prince. As we exited the airport we were met with a wall of humidity and heat then lead to a school bus that would take us to Verrettes; a town just under 50,000 people that is somewhat politically stable and was not directly effected by the earthquake. We arrived at the hotel after dark not knowing what to expect, I think the hotel far exceeded all of our expectations. It even had air conditioners, which worked periodically.

Neighborhood water well - provided by Rotary International

Monday morning we started the day with a briefing by Dr. William Forgey, known as Doc by everyone, one of the founders and primary organizer of the organization. Doc covered the basics of how we would set up the clinics each day, common Haitian medical issues, chikungunya fever that was rising at epidemic rates through Haiti and Haitian culture as it relates to medical issues and medicine. After the briefing we launched right in to seeing people. At 1:00 pm we set up a clinic at the hotel and started seeing patients, many of whom were employees at the hotel. I was set up with two other people at the pharmacy and eyeglasses area. After the patients saw a medical student and were diagnosed they would then come to the pharmacy for something; usually Tylenol and glasses. We brought 7,000 Tylenol pills down with us. By Thursday we were out of Tylenol, after donating 3 bottles of 1,000 pills each to the hospital and approximately 900 to a local partner clinic in the area. The Doc went to the market and bought three more bottles (150 pills) at $50 a bottle to cover the last two days of the clinics.

ready and waiting for us to set up the clinic

Each morning we would set up clinic in a school or church from 9ish to 3ish; a few medical students worked at the local hospital and a couple students went to the local partner clinic and worked. Each station had a Haitian interpreter to translate to French or Haitian creole. It was pretty amazing and inspiring experience for me to be part of this team, to see the confidence grow in the medical students through out the week and Doc’s unlimited energy and compassion for the Haitian people. The medical, educational and infrastructure need is unlimited in Haiti – I have no illusions that I “helped” but I think this type of experience is not intended to alleviate the need but more to raise awareness of it and have compassion in overwhelming poverty.