I’m not long back from leading a group of writers and artists on a two week creative journey in Morocco. It was my fifth Moroccan visit. When we left Australia the Covid19 pandemic was contained mainly in China and hadn’t yet spread to Europe in significant numbers. When we arrived in Morocco (March 1) there were no known cases. We were concerned of course, had come armed with hand sanitizer and face masks but we felt safe. We had an extraordinary six days visiting Tangier, Chefchaouen and Fes, before heading to the Sahara Desert at Tissardmine for another eight. By the time our retreat ended, there were 38 CV19 cases Morooco wide, still not a huge number, but the government took the pre-emptive decision to close schools, mosques, cafes, restaurants and all festivals. Then without any warning it announced it was closing its borders to all travellers.
Needless to say our exit from Morocco was dramatic as our group scrambled to find flights. Most were able to do so before the deadline on midnight, Monday 16th . The four of us still stranded were pleased to hear the British Embassy ( in conjunction with the Aust Embassy) had a plan to send in commercial rescue flights. With the deadline extended until the 19th, we had another three days to get on. Easier said than done. It was hard to get reliable info, and tickets were selling out as soon as they went online. Thousands of trapped tourists were flooding into airports, desperate to get home. When the group had headed for Marrakech I had remained in the desert so had to make a mad six hour dash with a driver to the closest airport, only to arrive too late! Then another mad six hour dash next day to Marrakech airport arriving late at night. My decision to stay there until something eventuated, paid off. With no officials present givng any kind of info, the source was the travellers network. Thanks to a tip off from a young Brit and with the help of my family via Facetime, I was finally able to secure a Ryan Air ticket (online) on a newly released flight and alert the others to do the same.
Now I am back in Sydney, a couple of days into my mandatory 14 day period of self isolation, and it strikes me how similar to the writer’s life self iso is. The conditions we writers and artists need to create our works are those of self-cloistering, shutting ourselves away, taking time out for self reflection, total focus and concentration. These are things we can’t achieve while living a busy social and work life. The added bonus of government imposed self iso is that we don’t even have to worry about going to the shops! Some dear friend, relative or delivery man has that covered, while we hunker down at our desks and finally finish (or start anew) that darned creative project we’ve been talking about for years!
Needless to say Writer’s Journey trips planned for the rest of 2020 have been postponed. That’s Italy and Japan.
In the meantime I am available for creative mentoring/coaching. If you need some help please get in touch here.
What participants said re Moroccan Caravan March 2020.
Inspiring, creative, nourishing, informative.
Truly fabulous!
Enriching, engaging, enlightening.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this experience!
Superb! I am a changed person.
I absolutely loved everything about this experience!
Excitement, interest and surprise around every corner.
A mind blowing experience!
