Sunday, November 13, 2016

BEYOND BUS STOPS AND THE BIG WHITE TENTS

It was in Day 6 that I finally noticed the flag stands where the symbols of the UN's member states sleepily flutter in a corner of the Bab Ighli tent city, that there were in fact two mounted officers patrolling the grounds between the bus depot and the Blue Zone, and that there are more to the daily 10-minute bus rides from and to the Amani Hotel than the roundabouts and the rows of pink buildings and avenue gardens that punctuate the hot-and-cold Moroccan days/nights.   



And yes, the hotel too has shedded the monotony of its pancake-and-bread breakfast as the jumpy elevator gave way to a cozy reception area, the books lined along the wall of Cafe Karma,  the stunning view offered by La Terraza, and the Moorish faucet that empties into a pool where dried flower petals float. 


It was a Saturday and time off for the mid-COP Oxfam dinner and we were eager to break the monotony of our daily bus trips despite the absence of taxis whose drivers were made scarce by a football game, the smell and sights of the old Medina a welcome sensation after an sterile week in the tent city, North African starters and savory tanjine dishes compensating for a non-alcoholic beer, all of which converging in the roof top of the Restaurant Kui-Zin whose ambiance was further reinforced by a medley of traditional Moroccan music from a pair of troubadours. 



"Kui-Zin offers Moroccan cuisine, finely spiced and generous, which puts the flavors in the spotlight..."

Well said and that goes to the pomegranates too, fat and juicy, sold on a truck at a street corner where we waited for our commissioned bus to take us back to the hotel, or to the CAN party...

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