Day 14- Tangiers

Today, we actually got up relatively early and got ready to go to a street market where we saw farmer women from the mountains selling their vegetable, fruits, seeds and dairy products. It was fascinating seeing all those women wearing straw hats and traditional, it kind of reminded me of the native Indians from Peru. I tried to communicate with them, asking them in French or Spanish what some of their unknown exotic vegetables were but, of course, they only spoke Arabic. We signaled with our hands a lot and we manage to buy grapes, a kilo for one euro, and mint to make sweet mint tea at home. The women were sitting outside an episcopalian church called St. Andrew, I saw that they had mass at 10:30am but we hadn't eaten breakfast so we went back to Rue de l'Italie, where our apartment and "our" cafe is. Rachid, our host, was already there waiting for us. He said that breakfast was on him! We ordered egg omelet, crepes au chocolat, cafe au lait and of course, my orange juice. After a big breakfast, I was determined to go to mass. I had read yesterday on the internet about a Catholic church that said they had service at 11:00am. I asked my guide, that is Gregory, to take me back to the market street where we had seen a building with a sign that said: Catholic mission. We got there and it was closed. I rang the doorbell and a lady opened the door. I asked her about the mass and she told me to wait. A nun, from mother Theresa order, came out and gave me information about where the mass was. She said, after passing the mosque, continue straight ahead and you will see a cross.

We walked straight ahead, went back to where St. Andrews was and couldn't see any cross. When we were about to give up, I looked to the side and there it was, the cathedral of our lady of the Assumption. Gregory and the kids were ready to go back to the apartment but I stayed for mass. The cathedral was inaugurated in 1961. It was designed and built with modern architectural techniques, following classic proportions by the architect Luis Martínez-Feduchi Ruiz.

In the cathedral's apse, stained glass windows designed by the artist Arcadio Blasco stand out. They constitute one of the main attractions of the cathedral. I was surprised to see the diversity of races listening to the mass in Spanish. The music was sung in French by Africans playing the drums. It was fascinating, something I had never seen before. It was a special mass, to think that I was in a Muslim city with so much racial diversity and all worshiping the same God! I couldn't tell if the Asian people were Chinese or Philippino, however. At the end of mass, two different African men approached me and made conversation in French. One of them asked me if I was married. I showed him my ring and he walked away. I wondered if they were looking for a Spanish wife to marry so they could move to Spain. After that, I walked by myself back to the Medina area. I found our apartment where I met with my family and got ready to go visit the Kasbah, the wall town. Some of the narrow streets reminded me of Guanajuato, my homeland. We walked for a while, we saw a neat mosque and we found the museum of the Kasbah. We paid around 6 euros for the whole family to go in. It was really worth it!

The architecture and the exhibits on the history of Tangiers are amazing. Housed in Dar el-Makhzen, a former sultan's palace on the edge of the medina. It has a pretty courtyard garden and contains exhibits on the history of Tangier, from prehistory to the great Islamic dynasties that forged Morocco. In the center of the palace in one of the rooms, there is a spectacular floor mosaic from the Roman city of Volubilis.

After a few hours in the museum, we sat outside and two little girls approached us trying to sell us little-stuffed camels and bracelets. At first, we said no but then we started chatting and we just gave them some cash. The girls were so happy and thankful that they took us to their humble home. At first, I was embarrassed to go in, but Gregory who had been here before said that it was normal and common here. We went up the narrow stairs to the small room and we walked in. I noticed that they took off their shoes and when I tried to do the same, their mother stopped me and kept saying, no, no. We sat in what it was probably their main room. The little girls introduced us to their parents and kept offering us what little things they had. They were offering the little food they had. On the table, there was a dish of tajin fish which we declined. We told them that we had eaten but then they brought a dish with beets with salt and some forks. They also brought a milk drink that reminded me of the "jocoque" drink that we have in Mexico.

The family was delighted to see pictures from our mobile phones. We showed them pictures of our house, our dog and more. It was a great experience and eye-opening for the kids. One of the little girls who brought us to her house, the middle child, was our translator because neither of her parents spoke French or Spanish. I told her to keep up the good work with her languages because she could become a tour guide. We found out that the dad was a white washer and the mom was a janitor at the girl's school. We spent around an hour at their home. When it was time to go, the three girls showed us our way back home. We gave them some money and we told them that we would write them.

On our way back, we noticed a lot of cafes filled only with men, who were watching the soccer game, France vs Croatia. Gregory and Daniel stayed at the cafe only for men to watch the game. Sunshine and I walked to our regular cafe called Bab Al Medina. At the patisserie, we met a Morrocan woman who spoke perfect Spanish, she explained that she had lived in Barcelona for 36 years. She advised us to go somewhere else to visit prettier sights of Tangier because that neighborhood wasn't the best. She said that at night there were a lot of drunk people. We haven't seen any yet! It seems to be a poor neighborhood that is changing and it is becoming a little more touristic, but it will take some time. At the cafe, Sunshine told me: "spending time with that family at their home has been the highlight of the whole trip." I melted. I'm so proud of her, she gave the girls her favorite bracelets that she had been wearing 24/7 as a little gift. It was definitely a very good experience for us all. I feel like we have grown so much since we left home and it has only been 3 weeks. I'm so thankful to God and to life for giving me this amazing opportunity to see the world through a different looking glass.

At the Market