Forever sunsets
We left Rome yesterday morning, driven to the airport by a large, gregarious taxi driver who had grown up for a while in the US. His English was excellent, and his accent, though still Puccini-like, carried a bit of New Jersey gruffness. As if he had a Teamsters card tucked in his wallet. Then he started talking politics.
Chuck and I had been warned before going on this trip to keep our nationalities to ourselves. This was emphasized when a tall, gangly Irishman, with eyebrows I could knit into a small sweater approached us while in line at the airport in Casablanca. “You might ought not have yr’ tag displayed.” He said, pointing to the tag on my carry on which which had my address and the letters USA. “Why?” I asked. He pointed to the letters and I smiled. “I’d been warned some might not like it.” He shook his head, giving me the kind of look a shepard might give an untrainable dog.
No where else in the trip did we encounter any kind of hostility or concern.
Like most situations, one on one, people tend to bend toward kindness.
This was true in the taxi yesterday as well. Our driver approached the question of US politics gingerly, commenting on a few of the differences he had noticed since his Kennedy years childhood in Florida. When he realized we shared many of the same concerns he had, censorship in the schools, megalomaniacs in office, hate crimes, etc…he let loose. “What is wrong with people supporting Trump? He is worse than Berusconi! He is delusional. A fraud. In sum, he is not fit to hold office let alone hold a congent conversation.”
“It comes down to the immigration issue,” he said. “And the same is true in Europe.” He’s right. While in Morocco, the Dutch elected a far right anti-immigration candidate for leader. Italy did the same thing a few years back. And France is still courting candidates who play footsie with the ideals of authoritarianism. People like Trump who specialize in flame throwing and fear mongering, painting themselves as some kind of buttress agaainst the “evil” other. It’s an old hat trick. Even Ancient Rome had leaders promising to stem immigration.
“I ask my friends,” the taxi driver said. “Why are you so prejudiced against immigrants? You, your family, you came from somewhere else too! You know what they tell me? They like to be prejudiced!”
At least his friends are honest.
After the ride to the airport we boarded our plane and headed north to Iceland then transferred to a direct flight to Portland. Easy. flawless travel the entire way. No delays. No lost luggage. No harrassment in customs. (I highly recommend applying for a Global Entry card).
But what made our northern routes coming and going most amazing were the skies. Leaving the US a few weeks ago we were treated to a display of the Northern Lights. I have never seen them so up close and personal. They looked like transulent green scarves, or bioluminescence shifting and twirling through the night sky. I was transfixed and wished I could have persuaded the pilots to let me sit up in the cockpit with them. All the other passengers in the plane seemed to be asleep, their plastic shades drawn down, cutting them off from the cosmic tango taking place just out their window.
Then yesterday, our flight from Iceland followed chased the copper ridge of a setting sun the entire nine hour flight home. For a while the sliver of light lit. a thick layer of clouds that dat on the North Atlantic and Greenland like sea foam, then as we flew over the arctic regions of Canada the sky opened displaying a frozen lavender and mauve tinted tundra. This lasted the entire trip. Each time I looked out the window it was one amazing vista after another.
It was the perfect end to a wonderful trip. Getting to see family in Morocco, attending an amazing wedding, spending time with Amir and Renee wandering the alleys of Marrakesh, and then a few days wandering Rome with Chuck. I am very blessed to have Chuck in my life. We travel together so well. Enjoy the same escapades, and love to make each other laugh.
