FERRY TAKES US ACROSS STRAIT OF GIBRALTAR

By Bob Van Leer

  (FEZ, MOROCCO, Sunday, June 28, 1992) - We arrived in Fez, a city of 700,000, at 8:30 p.m. after a long day starting at our hotel in Malaga, Spain.

  A Tourafrica bus picked us up at our hotel for an hour and a half drive to the ferry terminal at Algeciras. This was the start of what is to be a 1400 kilometer tour of Morocco.  
  We passed Gibraltar on the way. The ferry takes an hour and a half to travel from Algeciras across the Strait of Gibraltar to Ceuta, from Europe to Africa.

  But Ceuta, by virtue of historical accident, is still part of Spain. This small enclave generates considerable tension between Morocco and Spain.

  After clearing Morocco customs at the border of Ceuta we drove along the Mediterranean coast to Tetouan, the capital of Spanish Morocco when the north part of the country was ruled by Spain. 

Independence in 1956

  Morocco only gained its independence in 1956. Hassan II is its king and the country is a constitutional monarchy.

  It is a fairly large country, about the size of Washington and Oregon, with a population of the last census (1987) of 23.4 million.

  And 60% of these were under 20. It is also a poor country. Per capita gross domestic product is only $770. It is a Sunni Muslim country (99.7%). But our guide, Assam, assures us it is a "liberal" Muslim country, not fundamentalist such as the Persian Gulf countries.

  At Tetouan the last two of our party of 20 joined us. This is a small group. Assam said there are usually 40-50 on this week-long tour. Our party of six makes up almost a third of the tour group. The double-decker bus that hauled us was mostly empty. This made for a much better tour for us.

  There was one other couple along from the west coast, former Oregon residents, now living in California. We haven't traded information with all the others yet but many speak Spanish.

  South of Tetouan we left the main road and climbed through the Rif Mountains. The road was paved and about a lane and a half wide. Somehow buses and trucks passed one another but you didn't want to watch too close.

Harvest With Sickles

  Agriculture in the mountains was primitive. Women harvested grain with hand sickles and it was thrashed by a pair of donkeys running around in a circle on a pile of grain. But when we got over the mountains into a rolling plain, agriculture changed. This area looks vaguely similar to the Willamette valley.

  Fields are flat enough and large enough for mechanized agriculture. We were all surprised to find so much green and growing in Morocco. Assam said Morocco is 70% self-sufficient in food.

  Sunflowers are a big crop and there are a lot of olive tree orchards. Livestock consists mostly of sheep and goats with some cattle. They are pastured by herders, young boys and old men mostly. There seem to be no fences. It was night by the time we arrived at Fez and there was time only for dinner and to bed. Tomorrow we will tour the old city or "medina".