I was in Morocco in September of 2002. and I never ever ever ever felt unwelcome or remotely unsafe as an "Amurrican" ok, ok, so i was always mistaken for Japanese. but since I can't speak Japanese I eventually had to admit no, I'm from the States, from New York, their hands would fly to their hearts and they'd look me in the eye and say "welcome" with a sincerity that never ceased to amaze me. (why? we just annhilated afghanistand and were just setting our sights on Iraq when I was there)

Anyway, I met so many friends that were SOO excited about keeping in touch. Over the years and extreme difficulty emailing in broken, misspelled french (while I was there, the bulk of our conversations were in hand gestures and pointing to things) we've slowly lost touch. Sometimes I'd even get letters from people I never met but their uncle had driven me in his taxi to the Todra Gorge and would I be their penpal anyway. I want to see them again so badly. They're from all over the country, and I know in my heart that they don't judge me by the actions of our stupid evil un-elected president. but I wonder sometimes if I were to go back now, how different the experience would be with people that DON'T know me, and how hard/easy would it be to overcome an understandable wariness of westerners in general.

Thoughts on this? Anyone been there recently enough to comment on the general atmosphere? just curious.