Thursday, January 7, 2010

On Alcohol


In some countries imbibing excessive amounts of alcohol is a disease, in others it is shameful, and in others it is a way of life. Morocco falls in the second category and in Morocco an excessive amount of alcohol is considered any at all (which is why everyone in America is a drunk in Moroccan eyes.) Thus those who do drink alcohol in Morocco, even a little, have to be very careful not to let anyone else be the wiser, or else they will be forever shamed. This leads to a litter problem. Because if you don’t want anyone to know about your Hsuma (Moroccan for ‘shame’ when combined with the pointer finger below the eye suggesting ‘I see you’) you can’t throw your empty alcohol bottles and cans away, in the all too public trash. Which is why it is disappointingly normal, when hiking, to find the most wonderful secluded spots littered with broken cans and bottles, keeping the secret of who drank them to themselves.

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