On travelling in foreign places

What to expect in foreign places is very much up to what one is hoping to find. I guess i was hoping to find a seek into a culture living more close go harmony with nature and in a way i did, but not to the measure i thought to do. I have seen desserted places where few people choose to settle and build their shelters - you can only describe them as such since it are merely bricks piled up with a wooden roof full of holes, letting the smoke and scent of burning wood come to me - in conditions one could never imagine.
Am i envious, no i do not feel that way, i'm more aware of our fortune of having the live with the kids, Agnes, family and friends around me , enjoying the evenings out or just relaxed at home overlooking the market on saturday.
Sitting here in the lobby of a small hotel with the open fire bringing back memories of what was my youth i can only sweetly smile and thank my parents and brother and sisters for the cumbersome time i had growing up in such richness of experiences. Yes i know it's a bit mellow but that's how it feels after seeing kids play in the garden of fallen apart houses, having to walk 5 to 10 km to a school or having to guard a herd of sheep in the upper plains of the middle atlas at -5 degrees, hardly finding the energy to wave at the passing nutcake on the bike. When i stopped they ran either run away afraid of the unknown or as one did today firmly came my way to ask for money.

It's a totally different world i keep repeating go my head and go the blog . . . But it is : people have a different way of looking at things here: everything is a trade. Getting of the bike is waiting for the first one coming up to you to trade something, even if it was only for using the right to admire the panoramic scenery on the plains near Ifrane . . . .
On the downside of it all the impact of western aspirations have brought polluting cars ( must have inhaled more exhaust fumes in one day than i do otherwise in one year ) , garbage on every corner and in every gutter . Between Azrou and Ifrane there was even a garbage belt which hosted the biggest population of storks ever seen together with berbers going through everything what still could be used. Not to mention the antennas on the most shabby places and the mobile phones in the hand of every merchant and customer.

So in my philosophical mood i would say we still have a long way to go in our aim to make this a better place . . .

Happy travels

Toon