Stratosphere
We just left the Troposphere, that thin layer of dense air at the earth’s surface where sufficient oxygen exists to sustain life. We have entered the stratosphere. Our KLM aircraft will level out at 37,000 feet, in the mid-stratospheric zone.
Air molecules up here are much less dense than surface air. They are too thin to breathe but the thin air offers little aerodynamic resistance, which will enable this aircraft to reach a cruising speed of about 500 knots (925 km/h) en route to Africa, via Portugal and the Atlantic islands.
We are privileged to be among the 19% of the world’s population who will fly in a commercial aircraft in their lifetime. Most of the people on earth never leave its surface.
Only a few very fortunate Earthlings will travel beyond the stratosphere. The Mesosphere above 50,000’, is reserved for Astronauts, and Dreamers, and Poets, and Clowns.
Mad is the crew bound for Alpha Centauri
Dreamers and poets and clowns
Bold is the ship bound for Alpha Centauri
Nothing can turn it around
Oh, we must believe in magic
We must believe in the guiding hand
If you believe in magic
You’ll have the universe at your command
We Must Believe in Magic – Crystal Gayle
I recently read Orbital, a Booker Prize winning novel by Samantha Harvey. Orbital is a fictional, and somewhat philosophical chronicle of six astronauts aboard an orbiting space station.
I will probably never get beyond the stratosphere, physically, but Harvey’s book transported my thoughts to places reserved for…
…Dreamers and Poets and Clowns.
The trip we are on today is an exploratory journey. We won’t be conducting experiments on plants or mice in an orbiting space laboratory, but we hope to discover things in Africa and the Atlantic islands that elude us while we are at home.
There are concepts in Crystal Gayle’s song that fascinate me, but I have difficulty understanding them. “Belief in Magic”, and the idea of a “Guiding Hand” are theories I struggle with. Perhaps spending time in a mystical place will lead to greater insight.
Morocco has a deeply religious population, 99% are Sunni Muslim. Faith in Allah and following the teachings of the Quran are fundamental to daily Moroccan life.
Belief in the supernatural goes beyond religious faith here. Moroccans have a constant and very real, interactive relationship with Jinns, invisible beings they believe live among them. Islam places Jinns and humans on the same plane in relation to God, both being subject to God’s judgement and an afterlife. Jinns are mentioned 29 times in the Quran.
Another book I read before this trip is The Caliph’s House by Tahir Shah. Shah, a British expat tells the true story of buying a dilapidated mansion in Casablanca and renovating it. The “bricks and mortar” aspects of building in Morocco are challenging for a westerner, but dealing with local customs related to Jinns, who neighbours and labourers believe possess his house, is a far greater barrier to progress than the physical aspects. Shah resists his worker’s superstitious beliefs at first, but eventually comes to grips with the reality that his house will never be built if he doesn’t adapt to local customs.
I find relationships to the supernatural fascinating, whether it be Jinns, Gods, or Fairies in the Woods. I hope we will learn more about the benefits or otherwise of…
… Belief in Magic.
“There were gathered together unto Solomon his armies of the jinn and humankind, and of the birds, and they were set in battle order”. Solomon 27:17
Bear and I have been together for almost 40 years. We navigated through young love, growth, and maturity, and will soon enter the twilight of our lives together.
Every step of the journey has had its rewards. The warmth of young love, the frenzied feasting of career and parenthood, and the comfort of home and maturity. Each stage of our lives has had unique positive attributes.
It is the metamorphic stages that are the most difficult to manage.
Every life is different, change occurs at its own pace and on its own terms for each individual. The trick is to coordinate those personal transformations to make a union work.
Egg, Caterpillar, Chrysalis, and Adult Butterfly each has stable characteristics.
It is the hatching, the change from one form to the next, that is tricky.
On this trip Bear and I will explore the transformation we will soon embark upon. Achieving the rewards of mature “butterflyship” will depend upon how well we engineer our…
…metamorphosis.
When I met Bear, she was working at Wardair, a small Canadian airline with a big reputation. She had a serious travel bug, so working at a premiere airline gave Bear an opportunity to see the world in comfort, at very little expense.
Wardair flew routes to Europe and Hawaii at the time, so Bear experienced destinations from The Eiffel Tower to Waimanalo Beach, without paying a dime!
The girls at Wardair had a saying:
“Marry Me – Fly for Free!”
Free travel passes weren’t the only attraction when I met Bear. She was (and is) a lovely person, inside and out, free travel was just an added bonus.
I will interject a related item here. When I met Terri, her girlfriends were calling her Terr Bear, just a silly nickname. I picked up on it, shortened it to Bear, and I have called her that ever since.
When we first got married, Bear and I would hop into empty seats on one of Wardair’s planes, no matter where it was going. If one of their Boeing 747s was headed west, we would spend a few days in Oahu or Maui. If the flight was eastbound, we would go to Amsterdam, London, Frankfurt, or Paris.
Sometimes we would travel for an extended weekend, not bothering to change our internal clocks for such a short time. We saw snippets of places and things I never imagined I would experience.
Adam and Aaron were living in White Rock, BC. Bear’s Wardair passes extended to my sons, so I was able to keep a strong bond with the boys despite the distance between us. I am forever grateful for that perk of Bear’s employment; it has made a world of difference in their lives and ours.
Time marched on, Bear and I were making some of those metamorphoses I mentioned earlier. We started a family of our own and created a business. Wardair merged with Canadian Airlines while Bear was on maternity leave. All the changes we were facing resulted in us reassessing our priorities.
We decided that it would be best for Bear to end her airline career to concentrate on the business and raising a family. It was a difficult decision for her. As a consolation, we agreed that “if the business succeeded, and when the kids were older”, we would rekindle the travel dream and see the world together.
The business did well, the kids became independent, and Bear and I haven’t stopped moving since. The trip we are on today is one of hundreds of those…
… “If’s” and ‘When‘s”
Celebrating in 1986.
Note Bear’s Wardair sweatshirt.
While we are in Fez, Morocco, we have arranged to share a meal with a family who live close to the Fez Al Bali medina, the central walled courtyard. We know very little about the family other than they are life-long residents, who speak some English.
We decided to take gifts for the family. Our travel agent said that it would be appropriate to give a gift of Canadian cultural significance. We spent a day in the tourist town of Bragg Creek and were fortunate to find some items we think the family will enjoy.
We found small stuffed animals, a moose, a black bear, and a beaver for the kids. A locally made rock piece with mountains and northern lights painted on it seemed right, as did tea towels with moose and bear prints on them.
The gifts promote the physical beauty of Canada and our wildlife, but I was also looking for something of a “spiritual” nature. I have no intention of getting into a religious discussion with our hosts, but I wanted to convey something to them about North American cultural practices.
I found this.
It had a tag on it describing the meaning and intent of the item, which I translated to Arabic for their benefit.
I hope that our travels in Africa and the Atlantic islands will be entertaining and educational, for us and for you. If the concepts we encounter are too difficult for us to understand, we will bring them home for closer examination, trapped in our …
… Dream Catcher.
Fez Al Bali Medina
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