Moroccan amigos

Somewhat related to my last post about all the people I met in Morocco, I wanted to write about Said and Haashida, a Moroccan-Spanish couple from Ceuta.

It all started when my mom and I stopped at a juice bar/cafe in Meknes... I was getting my daily fix of avocado smoothie and she her daily fix of raib (Moroccan homemade yogurt). Immediately we bonded with Said and Haashida through our common language - Spanish! (What a relief it was to be able to actually communicate well... my attempts at understanding French were enough to get by but really not doing anything at all.)

Said's family history really epitomizes the close relationship that Morocco and Spain have shared over the centuries. First he explained that he and his wife were Spanish and they live in Ceuta, which is the tiny area on the tip of Morocco that is part of Spain. Yet it was obvious that they were much more Moroccan than Spanish... after living in Spain for 3 months, I really couldn't associate any part of their culture from their accents to eating habits with Spain at all. Later Said explained that one of his ancestors (something like his abuelo's abuelo) was part of the Spanish army that went to northern Morocco. Yet given the fact that Muslim Arabs had lived in Spain for hundreds of years until the Reconquista, this means that Said is likely descended Muslim Arabs who settled in Spain as well as Spainards who settled in Morocco. Kinda complicated, huh? Anyways, it was really interesting yet hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that Said and Haashida were so Arab-Moroccan yet also so proud to be Spanish citizens and call themselves Spanish.

Hearing Said's complaints about Morocco were quite entertaining and a constant reminder of this cultural paradox... whether it was "They don't know how to work here!" or "I could cook better than this" or "Men here go to bars and spend their money there, and leave their wives at home with empty bellies", he always had something to say about the Moroccan way.

Anyhow, this was only one example of the influences of Spain in Morocco. I could go on and on about this, just as I could on the Arab-Moroccan influences in Spain which are everywhere as well. I just find it a shame that my lack of French prevented me from digging out stories and learning more about the Moroccan way.