Democracy’s birth, Temple’s legacy

The following takes place on Days 188-189, June 3-4, 2011


One of the more interesting side notes that Israa had mentioned was that the revolutionary protests still happen on Friday’s.While not as large as the ones that initially sparked the full out revolution, the protests still draw large crowds of people who are keeping the pressure on the military leadership and to help promote the dozens of newly cropped up political parties. Coming from Canada, where political apathy has reached an unbearable high and the idea of actually being thrilled to have a say in your government is about as exciting a prospect as watching paint dry, I was excited to see the revolution taking place. To finally see a group of people excited to have a democracy and demanding a say.
Canada can certainly learn a few lessons.

Beyond the Medina

The following takes place between Days 174-175, May 20-21, 2011

After the tour in the Medina the day before, I felt fairly confident that I could find my way around on my own. I woke up a bit later than Kelly and Jaime so I missed them. And knowing how maze-like and large the Medina is, I had no delusions of finding them that day. So I left the hostel, following the random signs set up for tourists leading from one gate to the next. There are numerous “tourist routes” set up with these signs to help tourists navigate. You just have to follow them.

Seeing as it was a Friday, most shops were closed for the Sabbath(Friday is the Sabbath in the Muslim faith, Saturday the Jewish Sabbath) which made the Medina a lot easier to navigate. And with less shops, I had less problems with hustlers attempting to get me into their shops. It was a fairly relaxing walk through the Medina save for the one time I was walking by a large mosque just as that particular prayer time finished up. Only then did it really get busy with people leaving the mosque and putting their shoes back on.

An interesting side note: in Morocco, all but two mosques are closed to non-Muslims. There even used to be a few towns that were only open to non-Muslims during the day, but it was forbidden for non-Muslims to stay the night. The town restrictions have all but been erradicated.