As the lockdown continues this blog continues without the “on Tour” part of its name. Therefore we decided to keep the bi-weekly rhythm for now. Little has significantly changed since the conclusion from our last post. That’s both great as well as disappointing. This post might be a little more philosophical than the past, but hey, we have time…

ANOTHER MONTH OF LOCKDOWN

In week 9 we got the confirmation of what we suspected already for a few days. The lockdown will be extended and as Ramadan starts it will be a prolongation of a full month, at least. We think that there are around 80 people here, building a small community. A perfect scenario for any behavioural researcher, but to our knowledge, there is none around (and the virus is real). 

There are rumours about the Italian company GNV operating a couple of boats from Tanger to Genua. Last week an Italian couple managed to leave the camping and caught that ferry. They had to wait most of the day for the official to come and give them the document allowing them to drive to Tanger and we’re not sure yet whether their Italian nationality played any role in making this journey possible. We’ll see in the coming weeks as several people have bought tickets. As the lockdown also continues in Europe there is no point in playing guinea pigs ourselves, so we stay put for the moment.

RAMADAN

In the Islamic world Ramadan started during the last couple of days (somehow Moroccan Ramadan started on Saturday while in France it already started on Friday). There only seem to be a few implications for us:

• The clocks have been set back for 1 month (we now have 2 hours difference to Switzerland, compared to no difference when we first set foot onto Morocco)
• General curfew from 9pm to 5am (no exceptions)
• The muezzin seems to chant longer and louder (or do we just imagine this?)
• The alcohol shops are all closed
• The restaurant closes for an hour between 7pm and 8pm

Everything else continues as usual.

DAILY LIVE PREVAILS

Who would have thought, that right after our wedding we would suddenly shift into a French retirees life?  Over the last two weeks, we kept our daily routines and took part in the various activities. 

In between taking online courses, reading, playing, chores, chatting with neighbours and using the various online offerings (live streams of safaris, museum visits, etc.) we find ourselves in the familiar situation of running out of time at the end of the day. 

We’re thankful that the campground is a place where we continue to be able to move freely while trying to keep the required distance. Given the reduced interaction with the outside (people still go shopping etc. but it’s not comparable to the usual coming and going of a normal campsite) the campground and it’s people seem to have become an own (protected) ecosystem.

There are different ways of how other people seem to handle the situation. You have people anxiously checking their news feeds every 5 seconds, people just living life and everything in between. Some people seem to have developed a view of going back to Europe as going back to paradise while others think that being here is much better than what would await them back home currently. 

I’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR FREEDOM

One thing in common is the importance of the abstract concept of freedom starts to play. A topic that I hear being discussed quite often in the past days. For the last 30+ years, it seemed granted. Reducing one part of freedom is a new (or at least forgotten) personal experience for a lot of people here and it’s leaving an impression. We believe it’s a good reminder to be grateful for the luxury we experienced and a call to keep defending and building a world where outside of exceptional circumstances freedom is a cornerstone. After all, there were always a lot of people who couldn’t just take the ferry to visit Europe, but it just never was “us”. 

HAVE YOU SEEN OUR PURPOSE?

We set off 10 weeks ago with a mostly clear purpose. We wanted to go on an adventure where we could explore new terrain and as a result broaden our horizon, all while hopefully having a good time. 

Now we know this sounds like a cliché, often heard from people who seem to not have their life together trying to escape their old misery, not seldomly looking for a different kind of trip. Not in our case. We’re happy and I’m convinced it would have been awesome just continuing our life as we used to. But we decided to go on this trip in a sense of taking an opportunity and just going with it. A risky bet, that this will be worth it.

10 weeks in, we now pass the moment where we spent half of our trip so far on one campground in Marrakech. Surrounded by people with a mostly similar background, in a surrounding which is hardly different from our own. This confronts us with a new dilemma: How can we fulfill the purpose of this trip at this time that we’re not allowed to explore by travelling?

Luckily, the answer lies right in front of us. The situation we’re in is completely new for us. We have never experienced such a restriction of freedom, never had this level of uncertainty in our life. This is equally new terrain – so let’s explore. 

Therefore we also haven’t indulged in the thought of aborting this journey, despite the challenging scenarios of closed borders for more than just months. No point in looking at a glass half full and contemplating what could have been. We just have to find a way…