Getting on like a Wajang in Ourika Valley …

 2010, Morocco, Ourika Valley  2 Responses »
Mar 062010
 

<Me … in full Wajang mode> What the hell is dis shit? Wha’ yuh mean that it cold, and the other people don’t wanna climb to the waterfall? Which part of my problem is dat? I paid for ah tour, and the highlight of today’s tour was climbing the waterfall, otherwise you all taking to me some shithole Berber village (something out of Laventille, really …), then attempting to take me to your brother restaurant for ah shitty tagine is not really fair and respectful to me. It ent my problem, your manager didn’t explain to the white people that the waterfall requires some flicking hiking … they think everything is convenient.

<interjects British guy> Hi there, I understand that you’re upset, but you can’t make 13 other people wait here, while you head up the waterfalls, it’s not fair to us either.

<me … changing back to Canadian accent> Hi there, I don’t really understand why you’re inserting yourself in this conversation. Are you the driver or the manager of the tour company? I didn’t think so … you have your viewpoint and I have mine. While you and your wife were making everyone else wait this morning, I didn’t complain. I didn’t complain when your wife bought extra herbs there from the vendor, I didn’t complain when your wife had a bad reaction to the vegetarian tagine … do you think no one else here understands English? This is for the driver and the tour manager to figure out, which they will.

I think it’s best you head back to the back of the bus, please and thanks.

<British guy> That’s a very inconsiderate and selfish view you have there.

<me … reverting back to wajang mode> That’s a very high maintenance wife you have … do you see me saying anything to you about it?

Part of traveling in Morocco is to get used to the time here and understand that the people here operate on “island time” just like Trinidad, except with one bad quality … their concept of “island time” also involves another Trinidadian concept called the “set up”. A “set up” is when someone fails to show up, is so late that you had to leave or promises something and fails to deliver as expected.

For the past three days, I have been the victim of “Island time” and a couple “Set ups”, and right now my patience is wearing very, very thin. Mix ups are part of traveling and dealing with your issues with grace and civility will work 98.9% of the time, however since this was the third set of mix-ups with this tour company, someone had to collect the “iron”.

However in Trinidad, lowering yourself to acting like this, is considered very bad form, but it is also considered necessary to get what you want/need/require when the powers that be, are ambivalent to your plight and issues. For a true expression of “Wajang” in Trinidad … one only needs to look at this video from Rachel Price. For a Trinidadian definition .. see here

Anyway, enough ranting, time for Casablanca.

 Posted by rishiray at 11:42 am  Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Catalan Terrorist Pigeons in Placa Catalunya

 2010, Barcelona, Spain  1 Response »
Feb 202010
 

For some reason, every iconic picture of Europe I saw in travel brochures involved some low angle shot of a pigeon in a square or plaza with the background of some European travel sight. Why re-invent, when you can copy the same shots? One really good reason … these pictures don’t tell you about the inherent dangers of Plaza/Square/Placa/Zocalo pigeon photography.

In Placa Catalunya, the Pigeons are rather peculiar, in that they have been trained by tourists and have morphed into mutant Pigeon food collection terrorists. One minute the Pigeons are calmly walking on the ground in a huge swarm. No problem? Just situate yourself on the ground or low to the ground and just wait for your shot.

Not really. The pigeons have been trained to move en masse to the sight of any object being thrown, hence the pigeons move in a swarm from one side of the Placa to the other and if you’re in the middle of the Placa, it can be actually terrifying … not that I was terrified, but I was a little concerned that one of the Pigeons would fly right into my head. I even flipped open my umbrella, when I was caught in the swarm and a Pigeon flew into my umbrella. Thankfully to report …  my umbrella was unharmed.

Notice the other tourists ducking for cover and I only realized that the Pigeons swarm was an efficient, aerial Pigeon fecal delivery system, as one of the tourists in the Placa was hit. She wasn’t mortally wounded, but she didn’t had traces of a spread shotgun attack. However as quickly as the Pigeons moved, they went to other side of the Placa because of this guy by the food stand tossing bread.

Thankfully, the Pigeons don’t control the entire Placa, at the fountains, the Pigeons have ceded control to the humans.

And at night, it is a completely Pigeon free zone!

 Posted by rishiray at 7:54 pm  Tagged with: , , ,

Walking Segovia through pictures

 2010, Segovia & El Escorial, Spain  No Responses »
Feb 132010
 

 Posted by rishiray at 11:00 pm  Tagged with: , , ,

Crazy basilica police and cold fingers

 2010, Segovia & El Escorial, Spain  No Responses »
Feb 132010
 

Standing outside the side facade at El Escorial, looking at another work of the church, one cannot help but wonder what the world of architecture would have been without the church and its money.

El Escorial was, at once, a monastery and a Spanish royal palace. Originally a property of the Hieronymite monks, it is now an monastery of the Order of Saint Augustine. Today, it is a huge tourist attraction as day trippers from Madrid journey down here, but after visiting El Escorial, I was left a bit annoyed by the overzealous security guards, who stopped me from taking pictures inside, but would turn a blind eye to others taking pictures inside the basilica.

I was only able to photograph a couple times inside the basilica before the security guards were becoming a bit too beligerent.

Eventually walking around, the guards started to follow and informed me again that no pictures were to be taken on the inside of the Monastery. My knowing Spanish contigent was also surprised by this development. The only good thing is that because we had not come through the front of El Escorial but rather the side entrance, we didn’t end up paying anything to get in.

The views on the outside on such a cold brisk day were phenomenal though.

 The little town itself is quaint and the small cobblestone streets are so typically European.

Other resources:

El Escorial

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 Posted by rishiray at 10:00 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Las Cuevas Bay

 1 - All Trinidad Posts  No Responses »
Feb 102010
 

If Maracas Bay is the poster child for Trinidad’s beaches with its imported sand, “Bake and Shark” stalls and decent bathroom facilities, then Las Cuevas Bay must be her ugly sister. One has to drive about 10-15 minutes further down the North Coast road. It is easy driving with no forks in the road till the beach. This is another one of those beaches in Trinidad that doesn’t get the publicity of Maracas (in fact, no beach in Trinidad gets the publicity of Maracas) but is just as good or even better in terms of water quality.

On the eastern end, on a low cliff above the beach, there are beach facilities consisting of a snack bar, showers, toilets, changing rooms and car parking. The eastern end of the bay is more sheltered and lifeguards patrol this section with posted flag warnings. The beach facility itself, has better bathroom and changing facilities than Maracas but there is only one main food stall, so the variety here is lacking, but most Trinis will pack a cooler or basket with food and head out for the “beach lime”.

“Las Cuevas” is derived from the Spanish word for caves and there are many caves on this beach. This bay is more sheltered than Maracas and is therefore calmer – there are lifeguards on the beach from 10am – 6pm, but of course this is Trinidad – so who knows if and when they will actually get there.

The water is clear and provides excellent swimming with waves reaching to 0.82m / 3ft . Also there are many fishermen who “park” their boats on the eastern side of the bay and there is usually fresh fish on sale at the eastern end of the beach.

On the western end of the beach, there is much less development and a lot more vegatation, so inherently there would be more of a security concern going down towards the western end.

Getting there:
From Port of Spain – head on the Lady Young Road, then through St Ann’s and up Saddle Road. It should be about a 20 min drive until Saddle Road meets the North Coast Road then it is straight driving past Maracas and Tyrico Bays to Las Cuevas.

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