​    
When we got into the terminal we went to baggage claim to get our backpack.  It was going to take a few minutes because they're pulling it apart again, looking for drugs and whatever. 
This was at a time before they had drug sniffing dogs in the airports, at least there were none at this airport;  or any of the airports we've been in.  We were feeling okay.
   
We got to the CP Air desk at 6:30 pm, it was closed and wouldn't be open again until 9 am tomorrow .  We were looking at the chart for our flight number and departure time; 11:30 tomorrow morning.
Fuck! we're going to be stuck here for sixteen hours and we couldn't leave the terminal.  

We were pretty sure that our being stuck in the terminal had everything to do with the fact that we had just arrived from Morocco;  and maybe they wanted to keep their eye on us.
And it's quite possible their thought may have been that we could be saboteurs, or maybe something else equally ridiculous. 
To let us leave the terminal to run wild and loose in the streets of Madrid might be perceived as some sort of a breach of airport security protocol.
Bottom line is, we're going nowhere until tomorrow morning.
 

We walked around a bit, ran into a girl who was waiting to make her flight connection to Brazil.  Nice girl, spoke pretty good English.  But I don't remember her name.
The three of us hung out together and chatted for several hours.  
Later we all tried to get some sleep on the benches, not at all comfortable, the floor was our only other option.
   


The terminal got busy very early in the morning, lots of people, lots of cops and soldiers as well. 
The Brazilian girl caught her flight home and now we're just hanging out waiting to catch ours.  
We still had a couple of hours before the CP desk would open.  

We met a French Canadian guy who was taking the same flight as us, but only to Montreal. 
Eve and I needed to walk around and stretch a bit, we asked him if he would keep an eye on our backpack, he said sure, no problem.
   
We walked around for a while, found a gift shop and bought a few small things.  We called home to let them know our flight number and ETA.  

As we were going back to our luggage Eve said she could smell the hash.  We went into a corner and I put my nose between her boobs and took a whiff.  All I could smell was her Chanel.
A little while later she mentioned it again, again I took a whiff, still couldn't smell it.  
I think she was just a little paranoid.  
I suggested she just calm down a bit.  It was warm in the terminal so body temperature was rising, maybe that's why she thought she could smell it. 
Maybe just a bit of anxiety about smuggling a couple of small chunks of hash;  just stay calm Eve, calm is the key. 

It was now go time.  Our plane is ready to be boarded, what a relief.  We get to walk out and board  the plane with no problem.  
But just as we walked out the back of the terminal to the tarmac, there were police, soldiers and airport security everywhere with guns at the ready............what the fuck.

All of us passengers were in total shock;  we didn't know what the hell was going on.  
The cops began lining everyone up in two lines, men in one, women in the other.  My first thought was, are they lining us up for a firing squad. 
As there was no wall behind us or posts to tie us to, a firing squad was unlikely;  but then again, you just never know when life is going to take a great big shit right on your head.

Fuck no!  this can't be happening, oh please not now, we're so close to being home.  


Now as everyone knows, there's always a chance that a plan could go awry, but nobody really thinks their plan is going to fail, or they just wouldn't follow through with it, right? 
You go into it believing the odds are in your favor;  but sometimes the odds can be stacked against you as well;  you just never know when that's going to be;  that's how people get caught committing crimes.  
If our plan is going to fail, it's going to fail within the next couple of minutes.  
I'm scared, really fucking scared, but not so much for myself. 

With all the cops and soldiers standing guard, there’s obviously something going on here that's much bigger then us smuggling a couple of little chunks of hash. 

No one believed this was any kind of a normal security measure, unless the authorities suspected something of a very serious nature..
We never did find out what the reason was for all the - guns at the ready - was about.



Before Eve and I committed to a hash plan we had a real serious talk about it.  We both considered some possible scenarios if something fucked up. 

I asked Eve a few times in all seriousness if she was good with the plan, or did she just want to forget  the whole idea, which I was perfectly okay with if that's what she wanted to do. 
We both needed to be on the same page or this whole deal was never going to fly.

Each time I asked, she said she was good with the plan and wanted to do this. 
I needed to be sure she was okay with it, so I put a little pressure on her.... She finally convinced me  she was perfectly okay with the plan;  and I kinda made her swear to it as well.

Now, I never believed this possibility would ever come to pass, but in the event that if Eve got caught and I didn't;  in that scenario the only way I could help was for me to get on the plane, come home and get my hands on as much money as I could and go back and buy her out of jail. 

The justice system in Spain at that time was so corrupt that getting someone out of jail in this way was quite common, but expensive.
Money must be paid to a judge, police chief and a lawyer.  

In the scenario where we both got caught, then we're completely fucked.  We'll spend years, if not the rest of our lives in a foreign prison eating bugs and shit to stay alive.

In spite of the possibility that something could go wrong I'm still feeling pretty confident that the plan will work, but also just a wee bit nervous as well,  which I think is a good thing, don't want to be too cocky.
I do have faith in the plan, I totally believed we could pull this off;  I have to believe. I do believe.




​Oh shit, now what the fuck is this coming........ from somewhere out of the blue, that part of the brain that evokes responsibility shows up;   "what the fuck were you two thinking?  This is without a doubt the most irresponsible act of your lives.  What in the hell ever possessed you to do something so foolish"?  

Ahh shit man... this was certainly bad timing.

Well, we're in the line up now, it's too late to change our mind about anything, we've passed the point of no return.
All we have to do now is be cool and calm and we can pull this off, no problem.
   
Eve was about two or three people ahead of me in her line up, I was watching real close, hoping she could keep it all together.  She seemed to be okay.  
Everyone is going to get frisked, or shot to death, not really sure yet....  



Okay... it appears they're not going to shoot us.  They're starting to frisk everyone.  
Eve's best saving grace was the fact she looked like your typical lady tourist, not a hippie type at all.  Her look was that of above suspicion.  

The woman cop who was frisking the women was short and a bit thick around the middle, and had a facial expression that said "I hate your guts";  a very hard and tough look about her, very intimidating, a look and nasty attitude well suited for the job. 

Eve extended her arms out to her sides, the nasty woman  patted her along her sides and under her arms, then across her shoulders and down from the top over her breasts, then up and down her back side and between her thighs.
Talk about your lucky break, this was one of the the biggest.  
Eve was cool and calm and pulled it off like a champ.  I was quite impressed, I considered the possibility she might crack under pressure, but she did great.
   
When my turn came;  the cop looked me straight in the eye for a few seconds, didn't say or do anything. 
Then with his disgusted scowl face, he looked me up and down like I was nothing but a piece of shit. 
In his mind, I was just another drug crazed hippie asshole. 

When he frisked me, he touched every single part of me, and there was  nothing gentle about this guy.  The only thing he didn't do was a cavity search. 
He spun me around to frisk my back side, I thought well, maybe this is where he checks my butt crack, but he didn't;  I caught a break there.  

We got through the frisking process okay and we're not being hauled off to jail, this is a good thing. However, it could have just as easily gone the other way,
but we managed to get through it okay,
lady luck was with us that day.

...and its all going to be okay now......       




We were ushered onto a mini bus that drove us over to the plane.  Once we were on the plane Eve mopped up the bullet sized balls of sweat that had formed on her face.  
We sat on the plane the better part of an hour before it took off.
We made a brief stop in Lisbon, then back in the air again.  It's going to be so good to get home. 
Next stop Canada.

....................................................................


At cruising altitude we were well above the clouds.  They looked like giant mountains of pure white snow, you would almost expect to see a snowmobile to come flying over the top.  It was pretty awesome looking. 

There where also huge openings in the clouds which enabled you to see the ocean.  I was staring down at it and I could see a ship;  but it looked as small, like the head of a match.  
The only way I knew it was there was from the little trail of churned up white water behind it.
   
The pilot announced our flight was going to take a couple of extra hours because of strong head winds. I hope whoever is picking us up isn't going to be too pissed off about the delay.

At some point Eve said she thought she could smell the hash again, I put my face between her boobs to have a sniff;  there was an ever so slight smell;  and just as this was happening a flight attendant walked by and noticed where my face was and cracked a little smile as she passed by.  

A little while later she mentioned the hash again, again I stuck my face between her boobs, and wouldn't you know it, the same flight attendant walks by and sees us again.  
She followed up this time with a big grin. 
I wondered what her thought might have been; "don't make a mess on the seat, go do the mile high thing in the washroom like everyone else does".

We just laid back and tried to pass the time until we got back to Canada.  
Eve never said anything again about smelling the Hash. 
I guess we're good to go......
​Canada, we're coming home baby!

We were getting close to the Canadian coast, but it's too cloudy to see very much. 

​We started to descend, we're now a little below the clouds and we can see Montreal.  It was going to be a quick stop.  We were only there for 30 minutes then back in the air.  
Next, and last stop, Toronto.
    





Touchdown in Toronto... we made it.  The flight took almost 12 hours and we're exhausted.  We just want to get home, see the kids, and go to bed, our own bed.  It's going to feel so good.  
But we're not there yet.

I went to baggage claim, no backpack.  Everyone's luggage was there but not mine.  When I inquired about it, I was told the customs people were "checking it out" and I should have it shortly as long as there were no problems. "What kind of problems are you talking about", there were no problems.....  
you assholes,  I said under my breath.

We had one more minor obstacle to get through.  That was the desk where you have to declare  everything, and if they have even a remote suspicion about anything, they'll hold you up for questioning.  
We've come way too far to have some bad shit like that happen to us now.

We got to a customs desk, there were several, like grocery store checkouts. 
There seemed to be some kind of a problem at one of the other desks.   A man and woman were having words with a custom agent, something about the lining of the woman's coat, which appeared to be an expensive looking fur coat. 

​A couple more agents have now sidled over to the desk where the coat issue was happening.  I think our agent wanted to get in on the action too, so he kinda hurried us through the process. 

We showed him the few things we had in Eve's carry on bag.  He asked if we had anything else to declare, I came back with, "I do declare, it's so wonderful to be back home in Canada". 
He smiled and let us go through.
   
As we went through the arrivals gate, Eve's mother and two of her sisters, Marge and Dorothy were there to greet us.  Everyone was so happy, hugs and kisses all around. 
Out the door we go, loaded our gear into the station wagon and climbed into the back seat.  
We didn't even mind the one hour drive home, we were all busy talking about the trip.
   
​


We're at home now, the kids look great, it's so nice to see them again, we missed them very much.
I had to check the mail; there were three or four sick benefit cheques waiting for me, awesome.  
​A couple days later I had to go back to the Doctor for a follow up.  
We chatted for a while about how I was feeling.  I told him I felt great. He said, good, I'm glad you're feeling better Joe.
​I'm giving you another week off to get rid of some of the tan......[wink wink]
​
​Thanks Doc., you'll never really know just how much this trip has meant to me, I could have never taken it without your help and support.  Thanks for everything Doc.
        

---

                                                                       the weather we left behind 24 hours ago

                                                                                          the weather we came home to

   
​
Well, that's the story of  Joe and Eve's great Moroccan adventure.  If I were still a young man and had the chance of doing it all over again, I'd do it a heartbeat, but no smuggling,  I'd never do that again, it's not worth the risk.
   
Yeah, we smoked a hell of a lot of hash during this adventure, but that's just what we were into at that time in our lives.  
​We certainly had the most incredibly exciting and fantastic adventure you could ever imagine.  
We experienced more thrills chills and excitement in those four weeks than some people experience in the better part of a lifetime.  
In the end it was worth everything we had to do in order to take this trip.

I personally came away from it with thoughts and feelings about many things that have stayed with me all of these years, and always will.
A spiritually moving experience that I can still see just by closing my eyes and thinking about it, it's right there in my minds eye;  and it can still make the hair on the back of my neck stand.

​I know that sounds kinda heavy and deep;  it's just that some of the things I saw and experienced  impacted me so deeply that they're permanently embedded in my mind.

I also now have a much greater appreciation for where I come from, and all that I have in life;   although I felt I deserved more at times. 
​To feel more deserving is hard too justify when you've see so many people trying to make it through life with very little, or nothing at all in some cases.

​I also have a renewed appreciation for the opportunities we have for a good life that enriches us in so many ways,  that far too often we take for granted.  
I didn't just get high in Morocco.  I learned some very important life lessons that have stayed with me ever since, and they'll be with me for the rest of my life.

In the month we were there, we experienced a culture so completely different from our own, as well as adventure excitement thrills chills and risks of impending doom, any of which could've had dire consequences .
But in the end, we made it home, safe and sound........



...and it's all going to be okay now.....now.....now.....now.....



​the end   

Thank you for taking the time to read our story.
I welcome any and all comments.
Don't forget to visit the Morocco video page. Its an opportunity to see in live action some of the places where we had been.


​Page #20

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