Time Zones: Andalucia, Spain, & Morocco

Last Day: Sunrise at Costa del Sol, Marbella, SPAIN.

Travel journal   
This feature is a significant geographical departure from my home here in Ellicott City's Historic District. When AHI Tour & Travel offered a week-long tour to Southern Spain (Andalulcia) with a short side trip to Africa (Morocco), I signed up for it. That was in April, 2011. In September, I set out alone from BWI Airport to meet the group at Málaga Airport in Spain. Many times, the best travel plans go awry through no fault of the traveler. I concluded when things go wrong is exactly the time I  learn, survive, grow, change, get tough (maybe)...not when things work out, especially when someone else does it for me.  SO, this is a day-by-day journal of the tour week--obviously interpretive--written in a traditional Japanese form, Senryu. (5/7/5).  Reading the entries as a whole following the trip, I noticed the recurring themes of angels, prayer, death, and gratitude. That was a surprise, at least to me. Although the surface of travel was often frenetic and a bit stressful, it was always humorous--and joyful.

This documentary features the amazing art work of MARGARET SCOTT. Although she was not with us on the trip, many of these episodes resonated with her, as they did with me when I wrote about them.  Please join us now as we re-board the first plane and set out on a wonderful adventure, or, in some cases, a misadventure!

Where are we going?  Ellicott City, Baltimore, Halifax, Frankfurt, Brussels, Málaga,  Marbella, Málaga, Morocco, Mijas, Granada, Ronda, Málaga, Newark,  Baltimore, Ellicott City. What time is it in Spain now? I don't think I care.

Angels...Protect me on this journey.

Departure from BWI Airport     9.26.11

I’m bored already!

Visit duty-free two times—

Fossil watch, Angel.

Angels I don’t see:

Protect me on this journey.

Can you make me see?

Toronto, Canada, Airport

No customs, walked through

to a salad bar, drank wine—

Sleeping to Frankfurt.

Diverted to Halifax...

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Airport         9.27

Passenger gets sick;

Diverted to Halifax;

Missed my connection.

Going to Brussels,

then flying to Málaga.

The group has gone on.

Málaga

Arrive Málaga,

but luggage is in Frankfurt.

What more can happen?

But luggage is in Frankfurt...

 

Should not have asked that!

Deficit of Euros now

And I need a cab.

 

Credit card saves me.

Taxi ride to Marbella!

Fuerte Miramar!

 

Marbella, Costa del Sol,  Fuerte Miramar Hotel – 

To My Room,  Meet Guide, Emiliano Rio    Evening,   9.27

 

Emiliano –

Our soccer-playing leader,

There to answer ALL!

 

Hotel Reception,

Many alums, mostly old.

We grow young with wine.

 

 Sea View/Sound from the 7^th Floor, Hotel Fuerte Miramar       9.28

 

Same View by Margaret Scott.

I spent as much time as possible, given our jam-packed itinerary, looking out at the view and listening!

 

Costa del Sol sound –

Waves rolling into the shore:

Such gentle music.

 

 

     
 

No Luggage or Money

 

Recalling Wendy,

“You have everything you need.”

Ocean, flowers, friends.

 

Go get some money,

US coins in Fossil Box

Will get me enough.        (They didn't. Still no Euros)

 

 

Balcony of the Virgin

Breakfast Buffet,

Hotel Fuerte Miramar

 

One of the dishes,

Potato and onion pie –

Spanish tradition.

 

 

Marbella -  Old Town

Chapel to Restaurant

Flowers; stone streets. What?

“Balcony of the Virgin,”

Now a pizza place?

 

 

 

 

Above: Mopping; Below: Walking

Tile and Stone Mopping

 

Spotless entryways

to small shops with trendy clothes!

Women mop and mop. 

 

Dog Walkers

 

In the city streets,

Spanish women walk their dogs - 

Much artful design.

 

Walk to Glitzy Puerto Banús Marina,  Marbella New Town

 

 Built in May 1970 by José Banús, a local property developer, as a luxury marina and shopping complex for the rich and famous.

 

  Huge yachts in a row,

  not what I came to see!     

  Eating an apple.

 

Euro NO!    Third Try...

 

Cash, another try.

Machine rejects me again.

Listen to the waves.

 

How to solve this now?

I e-mail my bank, asking,

Did THEY block my card?   

Not my Style!

“Wary of fraud Yes,

THEY tried to protect you there.”

Angels!  Not my style!     (Bank card unblocked; get the Euros.)

 

 

Missing Cats & Friends

 

The days come at me

like a series of rolling waves.

No time to miss you.

 

Alone in my room,

thinking about that smile:                                                                      

Your face in a wave.                             

                                      

 

Hotel Soap   Green/White

 

About one-inch square

Oh, that transporting fragrance!

The glycerin soap.

 

 

 

Breakfast    9.29

 

Sunny-side up eggs,

Bacon--and potato pie!

See me smiling now?

 

Sitting at a “deuce”

Hoping no one will join me—

Time to think and write.

 

Going to Málaga, Old Town - Picasso Museum

 

Picasso Museum 

I can’t recall now –

Someone was to pray for me.

Now, I feel grateful.

 

Lost my dark glasses

so have to borrow a pair –

I will buy my own!

 

Expensive, but cool!

Just maybe I won’t lose them.

Satin drawstring “case.”

 

 

Evening Talk by Retired Bullfighter

 

Topic: EL TORO!

Killing him explicitly.

Laughter in the room.

 

Far too many words

and all with macho gestures!

See plastic swords - leave.

 

 

Wine, Stress and Resolution

 

Did not sleep at all –

Woke up with swollen eyes, too!

Now, all seems better.

 

 

 

 

 

Afternoon Thrill!

 

Luggage came today!

Clothes choices so much harder –

Better without them?

 

 

 

 

Anticipating Morocco on 9.30

 

Trip to Morocco

With a long bus and boat ride –

Em says, “the real thing.”

 

 

Ferry Crossing to Morocco, AFRICA   9.30.11

 

We see Gibraltar

shrouded in mist and dark clouds.

Suddenly, the sun!

 

  

Morocco  Tetouan    Medina   

Maze of winding streets,

Everywhere with food vendors –

Women with hats or scarves.

 

My camera is out!

Their beautiful fruit

Beside that dark poverty –

Sorrowful contrast.

 

My camera is out!

After taking many shots,

I feel deeply sad.

 

Pray five times a day,

Hearing that call to prayer now –

I want to go in.

 

 

What Was Joyful in Morocco? 

 

These two men, I think:

Water man; fire dancer.

My jaw dropped open.

 

 

Water Man in Street

Fire Dancer in Restaurant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

    

                     

 

Cats

 

The Medina cats

Are plentiful, accepted:

They sleep in doorways.

 

 

Hard Sell!

 

Moroccan Rug Seller

 

A strange end, indeed!

We sat on wooden benches –

Heard that shrill “hard sell.”   

 

 

Marbella Again:  Hotel Solitude   Free Day!     10.1.11

 

Up and to myself.

Coffee, writing, nothing else.

“Old Town” attracts me.   

 

Picasso post cards –

I will write a few, then stop.

Alone, seek, go home.

 

 

Lecture/Books by David Searle from Mijas

 

His book on Mijas

makes me want to go there now!

See art galleries.

 

Solo Taxi Ride to Mijas

 

...Doubt your driver?

Why would you go there,

Then start to doubt your driver?

It makes no sense.

 

 

No galleries, but

Some colorful pottery

wrapped in bright paper.

 

 

Wine, wind – and that view!

Suddenly, it’s time to leave.

Just enough for now.

 

From Mijas, Fast Taxi Ride Back to Costa del Sol, Marbella

 

When it’s time to die,

The universe will tell me –

Not today, it seems.

 

              The universe will tell me -

Evening, Marbella Ocean Front

 

Bar with “Glendale Girl,”  

then Tapas and wine galore! 

Marbella DT’s?                                                 

 

 

GRANADA       10.2

 

No time for e-mail –

“But this is a vacation,”

as Barbara says.

 

Bus

 

Sitting together –

Whose need is that, I wonder?

Is it yours, or mine?               

 

Granada calls us!

ALHAMBRA paradise soon,

I can hardly wait!

 

 

Jasmine!

 

Gardens and Alhambra

 

Our guide said, “Jasmine,”

How we remember those scents

from our childhood on.

 

I look out, then in 

to find some meaning of place –

Elusive water.

Intricate designs.

 

Overpowering.

Gardens, Muslims, Christians – wars!

Intricate designs. 

 

More than I came for,

but how to receive it now?

Do you hear that voice?

 

 

 

Lunch in Granada

 

How could we ignore the pork,

melon soup, fig mousse?

It was wonderful!

 

 

 

 

Ronda     Mountain/Valley      October 3

 

 

 

History/Vistas:

 

Safety of setting:

High up, with those sheer rock cliffs.

For us, it rings true.

 

 

 

Walking Tour with Ignacio

 

Followed the guide,

But then three of us turned left,

went out on our own.

 

 

Getting Lost & Found

Bridge into Old Town.

I’m not sure how we missed it –

We trusted Keisha!

 

Plaza de Toros de Ronda

 

Historic bull ring –

peaceful now with no fighting.

The air is cool, sweet.

 

Incredible day

Framed by shopping and red wine

How shallow am I?

 

You get out of it

just what you put into it –

breath by breath by breath.

 

 

Leaving Hotel Fuerte, Miramar, Marbella, Costa del Sol

Málaga Airport    10.4

 

Going home today,

Málaga, Frankfurt, Newark –    

How unpoetic.

 

'Bye Facebook Friends!

Checking Out of  Fuerte Miramar Hotel

 

Where to leave a tip?

I connect Euros with a name.

Thank you, “Ana. P.”

 

Getting Off the Hotel Computer

 

Facebook mostly. ‘Bye!

Faces I know by heart now.

They never left me.

 

 

Our bus to Málaga Airport leaves at 10:30 a.m.

Hurrying, I get off on the wrong floor!

 

 

Does each of us hold

the seeds of our destruction?

I just watered mine.

   

Yes! Made the Connection to Newark!

 

Catch plane in Frankfurt

by running, and loaded down –

leg muscles still hurt.

 

How I miss my cat.

Flying, an unknown:

Space and time combined with fear.

How I miss my cat.                                         

 

Can’t think in the air!

This trip included so much!

Time will sort it out.

 

Ellicott City, Jet Lag, Clean House     October 5

 

Crazy intense self, 

“zombified”, but must work, clean.

See? I broke a glass.

 

What brings us back to earth

when we swirl out of our heads?

Sweeping broken glass.

 

 

Home with Cats     October 6

 

The cats are good art –

Spain and Africa a week,

wonder who I am.                                                                                      

 

Asleep, yet furtive.

Will she go somewhere today?

Gray intelligence.

 

Reaction 

 

Oh!  What have we here?

An intestinal surprise

of some magnitude.

 

Explosion of sorts!

Would have preferred some romance;

Glad to be alive!

Paying Bills.

 

Paying bills, still sick -

It will end soon I believe,

but my journal’s done.

 

 

Not Quite Done    October 17, 18.

My stomach gave in

to all those Time Zones traveled.

It is in ONE now. 

Ellicott City Historic District, Maryland.

Kay Weeks & Margaret Scott: A Collaboration

October 18, 2011