"The Dog Market"
An open air market in Sále which sells everything-from fish to high fashion. Most of it was counterfeit. There is also a "Wolf Market" but we didn't get there.
Sale, Morocco

The main gate entering the Medina of Tangiers. Probably there was a gate located on this cite since Tangiers was a Roman trading post. The photography is taken from the Grand Socco, also called the Place du 9 Avril 1947. Here, in the square, Mohammed V allied himself with the Moroccan independence movement for the first time.

Bab Chellah
A gate in the Andalucian wall
Rabat, Morocco

Gran Cafe De Paris
Tangier's has always been a place of espionage and intrigue. The Gran Cafe De Paris was the center for spying and espionage during World War II. The headquarters for the American and English spy effort was down the street at the Hotel Minzah (a favorite of Jean Genet and Winston Churchill) while the Germans lived down at the bottom of the hill at the Hotel Rif. Tangiers has always had a significant role in illegal trade up to today. The main exports illegally are immigrants-primary poor Moroccans and West Africans who ride Zodiacs into mainly southern Spain and marjuanana / hash that is grown in the rig and sent to Europe. Morocco remains the largest producer of hash in the world and is becoming a transit point for cocaine sent from South America and smuggled into Western Europe.

The Cafe also had a role in the Moroccan Independence movement. The first Moroccan pro-independence paper La Voix du Maroc first surfaced at the cafe. Alla el Fassi, who was exiled from the French Protectorate, set up his Istiqlal headquarters nearby.

Bab Bou Haja One of the main gates into Sále Sále, Morocco

The Légion de France about 1920.

The Slave Market
North of the Bab el Mellah.
This is where christian captives were auctioned off during the height of the piracy of Sále. Today, it is largely a carpet and textile suq. Covered suqs are called kissaria.
Rabat, Morocco

The French Consulate in Tangiers today.

Mustafpha and a clothing dealer in Rabat.
I purchased a Djellaba, a fez and a woman's Djellaba from him-about 630Dh or about $78.00.

The Moroccans were the first government to recognize the American Government-In 1777 one year after our Declaration of Independence. The street that leads to the American Legation is named Rue d'America.

Ablutions Fountain, The Grand Mosque
The Grand Mosque of Rabat was built by the Merenids in the fourteenth century.
Again, no non-musliums may enter.
Rabat, Morocco

The former American Legation in Tangiers. The building was given to America by the Sultan Moulay Slimane in 1821 and is today an American Historic Landmark. It is the first piece of property the young American government acquired overseas. It served as the diplomatic base for America in Morocco up till 1961. It was bombarded by the French Prince de Joinville in 1844. Today, the embassy is in Rabat and the Consulate is in Casablanca.

Rim with Racing Pigeons
Sále, Morocco

The Entrance to the Dar el Makhzen, now a museum - Musee de la Kasbah. It was built by Moulay Ismail and needed its days in royal service as the residence of Sultan Moulay Hafid, who was deposed by the French and lived here till 1912. After his forced abdication, he moved himself and his 168 retainers (including four wives and 40 concubines) to its decaying walls where he lived out his days. The space above the entrance- now being used as a photo gallery - was where he spent his time playing bridge with American and European expatriates.

Marjane
A supermarket-kind of like a Wal-Mart in the Islamic world-they even sold liquor which I was amazed by. They were celebrating their 10th year in business.
Rabat, Morocco

The Raid of the Dar el Makhzen.

A Roman Tomb in the Museum of the Kasbah. It is a clay jar which a baby was buried in. The circular object peeking through the hole in the jar is the child's skull.

"Cowardice"
by Abdeslam Boulaich
told to Paul Bowles
from Three Hekayas.
1961

Dar Zero
This was the first house purchased by a European as a vacation home. The author Richard Hughes, who wrote a book of Moroccan tales, purchased the house in the 1920's. It still has the most fashionable address in all of Morocco: "Numéro Zero, La Kasbah, Tangier." Today, the house is owned by one of the icons of French interior decoration, Charles Sevigney and Yves Vidal.

Abdoulkader and I dressed in djellaba's-the traditional hooded gown worn by both men and women. Check out my yellow babouches-hand made leather slippers.

A Saints Tomb of Sidi Hosni

The Gnaoua Express
in the Detroit Cafe. Detroit simply mean "straight" in French. Tangiers played a significant role in the Beat Movement in American Literature. William S. Bouroghts wrote The Naked Lunch in a hotel in Tangiers-its now a gaping hole-and Allen Ginsbergh, Jack Kerouac and Paul Bowles.

His first major novel was The Sheltering Sky which takes place in Algeria. His best book on Morocco was Their Heads are Green and Their Hands are Blue-Their Heads are Green comes from the effects of smoking too much kiff. Almost all the traces of the Beats in Morocco are gone.

Gnaoua is trance music used by the Gnauoa brotherhoods. They are Sufi's who are all the descendants of slaves, servants and prisoners brought from West Africa - black africans. They claim their ancestry through Sidi Bilal, an Ethiopian who was the Prophet's muezzin - individual who calls to prayer. The music is part of all night rituals to gain deeper spiritual understanding and to grow closer to God.

(L to R.) Fatiha Elghazi Jarniti (French Teacher), Khadijia Benaabid (English Teacher), Driss Semlani (English Teacher), Abdelrrachmane Chikri (Math Teacher), Abdel Ali Ehkasri (French Teacher), Mustapha Lionboui (English Teacher and my host), me, Abdelmajid Saligane (geography and History teacher) Mustapha Marouch(principal) Mohammed Chadli (French Teacher).

Dean's Bar-1937
One of the most famous bars in all of Tangiers Famous former patrons include Tennessee Williams, Francis Bacon and Ian Flemming. Now a hard-core Moroccan drinking establishment-too scary for me.

Khadijia Benaabid (English Teacher) , Driss Semlani (English Teacher) , me, Mustapha Marouch (Principal of Abdelmalek Assaadi Lycee), and Mohammed Chadli (French Teacher). Alazami Hassani, the Director of Studies, gave a very nice speech about how this echange is about building bridges between both the United States and Morocco and a bridge between Webster Groves High School and Abdelmalek Assaadi Lycee. Khadija Benaabid presented me with a hand made Bab (gate or doorway in Arabic) and spoke about how we could be a gateway between cultures. The Bab is brass, wood and bone with a mirror set in the doorway.

"Dean
Missed by all and sundry
February 1963"

Real name was Don Kimfull, who was a cocaine dealer in London until one of his clients, a young actress, overdosed and died in 1919. He wandered around Europe and eventually tended bar at the Hotel El Minzah and opened his own bar in 1937. He died in February of 1963.

The principals office had some very neat photos of the high school back to its early history. This is a picture of the faculty and staff of Abdelmalek Assaadi Lycee faculty, 1958. This is the first year after independence. Driss and I figured one teacher and the "Gate Guy" were Moroccan nationals, everyone else was French.

Church of Saint Andrew
Rue d'Angleterre 50
Socco
Tangier, Morocc

A French class at Abdelmalek Assaadi Lycee, circa 1958.

"Walter Burton Harris Born August 29th, 1866 He came to Tangier in 1886 and was associated with the Times As Correspondent in Morocco and Elsewhere From 1887 till his Death April 4th, 1923 He Loved the Moorish People and was their Friend"

The room in which I found myself was very dark, light being admitted only by one small window near the roof, and it was some time before my eyes became accustomed to the gloom. When I was able to see more clearly, the first object that attracted my eyes was a body lying in the middle of the room. It was the corpse of a man who had been killed there in the morning by the troops, and formed a ghastly spectacle. Stripped of all clothing and shockingly mutilated, the body lay with extended arms. The head had been roughly hacked off, and the floor all round was swimming in blood. The soldiers had carried off the head in triumph as a trophy of war, and they had wiped their gory fingers on the white-washed walls, leaving bloodstains everywhere. However, I was not to suffer the company of the corpse for long, for half a dozen men came in, washed the body, sewed it up in its winding-sheet, and carried it away for burial; and a little later the floor was washed down, though no attempt was made to move the bloody finger-marks from the wall.

A women's Physical education class at Abdelmalek Assaadi Lycee: March 22, 1958. You can tell all the students are French because of the short shorts all the girls are wearing.

The woman in the pew is Mustafa Cherqui's wife. Mustafa has been the caretaker of St. Andrews since the early 1960's and was the most welcoming, open Moroccan I have met - and that is saying a lot. There is a story that a wealthy middle eastern sheik who saw that the tower on St. Andrew's was taller and more prominent from the sea than the minaret of the Grand Mosque paid to have it rebuilt to outshine the church.

The tombs of three Royal Air Force and two South African airmen who were killed when they flew into a mountain between Tangiers and Tetouan on January 31, 1945. Over the course of the war, eight other English soldiers were buried in the graveyard. Every Memorial day, the British military holds special services in the graveyard.

The woman in the black, Aicha Benzekri, is a Philosophy teacher. She ran in the most recent election as a leftist (USFP) but lost. She asked me at the party "Why haven't the American people forced a government change towards the Arab people?" I didn't hear it-I really didn't want to have another debate over US policy in the Islamic world.

David Herbert
Second son of the Earl Pembroke, a notable eccentric, gardner and very involved in the church. His tombstone reads "He Loved Morocco." and had himself buried in this spot so that he could check on the latecomers to service.

Mr. Aassou trained to be an Imam, meaning he has memorized all 6600 verses of the Koran. He lives on campus, in part of the old boarding school, with his family. He is the night watchman, gofer, and "tea guy." There is an afternoon tea break for teachers and he makes coffee and tea. He had just returned from a funeral, and is dressed in a djellaba.

Passage Vu d'une Fenétre
Window at Tangier
Heneri Matisse
You can clearly make out St. Andrews Church-the green tiled building with the tower-and the walls of the Medina
1912
The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

Rachid is the "gate lady." She opens the gate in the morning and closes it after classes start. If you are late to school, you can't get onto campus without her consent.

The Gran Teatro Cervantes-1913
The theater enjoyed its high point between the two world wars. Since independence, many of the Spanish residents returned to Spain. The facade was stabilized by the EU a couple of years ago but the building itself is falling apart. Other holdovers from the international zone era are being torn down. The Gran Hotel Villa de France, where both Eugéne Delacroix and Henri Matisse stayed, is apparently going to be torn down and turned into high rise apartments.

All the students have asked me what I was going to miss, and I replied "The cows in the morning." You can see the mist has come in from the Atlantic ocean. Mustapha calls this "growing cows on the cheap" in other words, just allowing them to wander, feed off trash, and then sold when their big and fat.

The Spanish Cathedral
Rue Side Boua
The original Cathedral is just down the hill, built in the 1880's and now largely in ruin. Mother Theresa's order runs a mission from that property.

Rim and I playing in the Atlanic Ocean.

The Sidi Hosni Palace. Once owned by Barbara Hutton- heir to the Woolworth fortune. Hutton's life was filled with tragedy - she was married seven times - and fabulous parties. For one party, she imported thirty Reguibat racking camels 1000 miles from the Sahara to form an honor guard. She legendarily outbid Spain's General Fransico Franco - one of the last fascists, for the Sidi Palace.

A message to my students back at Webster.....

Dar el Bab
The House of the Gate
Tangiers, Morocco

"its topography rich in prototypical dream scenes: covered streets like corridors with doors opening into rooms on either side, hidden terraces high above the sea, streets consisting only of steps, dark impasses, small squares built on sloping terrain so that they look like ballet sets designed in false perspective, with alleys leading off in sever directions: as well as the classical dream equipment of tunnels, ramparts, ruins, dungeon and cliffs."

Paul Bowles

describing the medina of Tangiers

The sky hides the night behind it, and shelters the people beneath from the horror that lies above."

The Sheltering Sky

Paul Bowles

More mulberries and human flesh. More tricks and money. I began to write on Fatin's slip of blue paper: I must not try to understand you.

Five Eyes

Paul Bowles

1973

"If people and their manner of living were alike everywhere, there would not be much point in moving from one place to another." The Sheltering Sky 

Paul Bowles

... we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that's so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more. perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless."

The Sheltering Sky

Paul Bowles

Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing.
William S. Burroughs

The King of Morocco, S.A.R. Mohammed VI holding the Crown Prince Moulay Al Hassan and his wife Princess Lalla Salma holding their daughter Princess Lalla Khadija (center), the king's brother Prince Moulay Al Rachid, and the King's three sisters.