I must be blessed. I must be doing something right.
This morning I woke up a bit anxious as to how I would cross the 1500km from Dakhla to Marrakech given the bus situation that got confirmed to me last night. So I was not really able to swallow anything for breakfast despite Fatima's father's constant "Comer, pan, queso! Comer!"
While the women were still sleeping and after the men finished taking their early breakfast, we took off. For some reasons Abdullah was confident I would get a bus ticket. And so he drove us to the main bus agency where I went last night and asked the woman at the counter about available seats for the same day. The one detail I didn't know was that this woman was a friend of his wife. Little yet crucial detail in such culture. And miraculously after a while, she managed to find me a ticket for 50euros officially departing 2 hours later. Miracle. I wanted to jump above the counter and hug the woman!
After this, Abdullah and his father went to check out a travel agency in order to inquire about ticket for Fatima to return to Spain. They found a decent ticket for the same day as well.
The day couldn't start Any better.
Abdullah doesn't have a steady job. The job market in town is quite bad and thus he pretty much takes whatever temp job he can find. Mostly in the fishing industry though...which on average pays about 6 euros a day!
As I was waiting in the car while he purchased the ticket for his sister, when he walks back I see him gently hitting his forehead with his hand, sort of as a sign of disappointment. I don't understand. And he stays there, staring at his back wheel. I get out and finally understand. Totally flay tire, 20 minutes before my bus official departure time from the other side of town. I felt terrible as his car being an old big 4x4 it uses relatively expensive tires. I barely had any cash on me, and I definitely didn't have any time to wait for the car to be fixed. He seemed just as worried about me catching my bus as by his tire. I told him not to worry about me and to go fix his tire. I would manage to get to the station fine by cab. No worries. He stops a cab in the street, tells me to jump in and jumps in as well, leaving his 73year old dad alone on the curb. Once at the station he makes sure I get all the info and know where to wait for the bus departure which would obviously be quite delayed, hugs me good bye with a big smile, and takes off.
I was so amazed and stunned that despite all the goodness in his heart and what he did this morning for me and his sister, he got a flat tire which would mean financial costs, and yet, not a sparkle of anger in him. Voila a pure example of what Vipassana teaches you. The road of life is bumpy, but keep smiling and loving others as if there was no bump. Anger and stress doesn't bring any benefit.
The bus delay, checking in, loading, and boarding was quite a chaotic mess, Morocco at its "best". Lol though yet again, the man who was in charge of the logistics for the check in and luggage's loading was amazingly kind and helpful with me despite that I was the only foreigner around. Given how people around him treated him he could have been mean and sour. But no. Total opposite...at least with me. Genuine kindness.
In the bus I got a good seat, and my neighbor, a veiled 40 something year old local so didn't speak a word of French seemed very nice and friendly. She right away offered me half of all the foods she had in her bag. Gosh! It is weren't for the sharing cultural side of the Muslim world, I would think that I must look very skinny for people always wanting me to eat. Lol
We try to communicate. She is actually super funny and loves to laugh.
She won't stop offering me food for the next 21 hours of our trip. And so I try to offer her food as well every time I can.
Once we had left the Dakhla region, the landscapes were not all that interesting at all. But thinking back about the whole ride from Nouadhibou until here made me have such a feeling of admiration for my Argentine friend Pablo who did it all by bicycle. I kept on trying to figure out how in the world he did it. The distances between each tow and source of water and food are just so huge, and there is no shade whatsoever.
So as the night approached, and as my neighbor started falling asleep, I pulled out my iPod. During my whole trip I have rarely used my iPod as I usually try to interact or observe with all my senses what is happening around me. But my trip is getting to an end and I missed listening to some good music. It also helped me overcome my slightly impatience to arrive in Marrakech.
It felt like the ride was never going to end. My whole body was sore and impatient to arrive. As the sun rose, my neighbor elbowed me a couple of times so that I would look at the guy across the aisle leaning forward asleep in a funny way. When I saw it, we both started laughing.
And finally we arrived in Marrakech...at last, I reached back home...I haven't given much time to myself thus far yo really think about and digest all that has happened for the past almost two years. The thing is though, that deep inside, I strongly believe that the adventure is not over, but rather that it is ongoing and will never stop until I take the mental decision to end it. Why would I do so?! Every day is an adventure...or better said everyday is part of an adventure...that gets more and more exciting as experiences accumulate.
The coming two months in Morocco will be fantastic.
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