“Because we don’t know when we will die, 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, an afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you can’t even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four, five times more, perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps 20. And yet it all seems limitless.” – Paul Bowles
Epiphany. Every woman I’ve loved, meal I’ve savored, city I’ve wandered and bed I’ve rested in led me to this cafe in the Petit Soco section of Tangier’s medina. It’s the same cafe legendary author Paul Bowles frequented in his days of penning literary masterpieces. A man could sit outside Café Tingis for hours and watch the universe and all its delightful wonders pass by. I certainly did, as did Bowles.
But the shots of espresso eventually jolted me from my bewildered state, interrupting the soothing sounds of Miles and thoughtful words of Coehlo. By the time I reached the chapter in The Alchemist where Santiago arrives on the strange continent of Africa in search of his Personal Legend, I knew I was exactly where the universe wanted me. I had been carrying that book around in my backpack for months, but never opened it or imagined I would read this passage:
“How strange Africa is, thought the boy. He was sitting in a bar very much like the others he had seen along the narrow streets of Tangier. Some men were smoking from a gigantic pipe that they passed from one to the other. In just a few hours he had seen men walking hand in hand, women with their faces covered, and priests that climbed to the tops of towers and chanted.” – The Alchemist
Everything about the moment felt divine.
Which was odd since this city is loathed by most visitors. Maybe I was a pirate in a past life, I don’t know. It would certainly explain my insatiable thirst for exploration, affinity for women of the night, love of booze and cosmic attraction to port towns. Santo Tomás de Castilla, New Orleans, Venice … they all drum up feelings of nostalgia.
That being said, despite its international reputation of being an aging mascot, I found Tangier quite charming. It felt a little more transparent than Fes or Chefchaouen. Detecting light from dark seemed easier, as if the residents didn’t bother disguising their auras for the foolhardy and naive tourists.
After Miles finished “Blue in Green” for what had to be the 36th time, I left the cafe and soon found myself browsing the goods of an antique shop. Of course, I only intended to look, but somehow left the store carrying a blanket imbued with virility enhancing powers. In fact, Muhammad assured me I would last for hours if I slept with women on top of the blanket. Unfortunately, there’s nothing I detest more than sex on top of a perfectly fine blanket, so I wasn’t sure how much use the ware would find in my den of sin. Still, after an hour of penis jokes, and declining to marry one of his workers in exchange for two camels, I haggled the owner down from about 3,000 dirhams to roughly 1,000.
Despite whatever whispers the disgruntled have relayed about me, I didn’t make the purchase because I needed it, but because I appreciated the craftsmanship of the handwoven patterns. It was a beautiful piece of material, and I knew it was something I would keep for years. As for my virility, at my age I hope attractive women still manage to do the trick, not blankets … but it’s early in life thus said the sage.
And while Tangier is also known for its hashish (as documented by Anthony Bourdain), I didn’t do any drugs during my 12-hours in the city … although I wanted to. But I did read, enjoy an espresso and watch the world do what it always has … go on. If Marrakech is a playground for tourists, Tangier is an amusement park for seasoned travelers. There’s an obvious reason Bowles decided to settle here, and Coehlo used it as the launching pad for the boy from Spain’s quest to fulfill his Personal Legend. But I guess only those that are meant to know the reason will.
