COVER N. 250 - MOROCCO  

Postmark: Marrrakesh CTD 19.04.2023

Posted on the 18th April; Received on the 4th May 2023
_________________________________________________________________________________

Self-sent covers are a pleasure to receive, because either they look like the prodigal son has come home, when, after a good while, you receive back on your letterbox a cover that you carefully prepared and sent away for postmarking and returning, or, better than that, they are evidence that you had been away somewhere.

One of my last travels abroad was to Morocco. But this time, contrary to what we usually do, my wife and I, we let ourselves be seduced by not having to book transportation, accommodation, organising the day, what to see, what to eat, in a word (or a bunch of them): think or care about anything other than paying the bill to the travel agent.

BIG MISTAKE!

Yes, we had been on organised tours before, but we had never spent so much time inside a bus travelling around a country and actually visiting almost nothing, except for a larger than normal choice of  arts and crafts shops where the main aim is selling the tourist something. Not that this is wrong in principle, it’s just a question of balance as it should not be the main aim of an organised trip that is supposed to introduce a country to you....

The real interesting places we did not visit, because they were either closed by the time we arrived or they had nothing to sell....

Anyway, this fact notwithstanding, Morocco was a discovery for me and I may go there in the future to see what I didn't this time, but when and if we go, we'll do it on our own... that’s for sure!

Before departing to Casablanca, I had of course prepared some letters to send to some friends.

Now, letters to be sent, and especially to be sent to cover collectors, should respect some minimal qualitative criteria.

One of them is they shall not be sent without at least one stamp and the other is that it should be manually cancelled.

And here my troubles began. The tour schedule contemplated no free days at all. I would only have a free partial afternoon in the last day in Marrakech. So how the heck would I be able to buy stamps and post the letters?

So I was always keeping an eye whenever the bus stopped to see if we were going past a post office so that at least I could buy some stamps, thinking that If I got the stamps I could, in the evening, prepare the letters and the very next day, at another post office, deposit them and ask for them to be manually cancelled.

Well the first 5 days or so of the tour went by without me seeing a post office of sorts...until, on the 6th day, (and I was already believing that on the 7th, I, like God, would be entitled to rest....) in Marrakech, while following the guide on route to the Musée National du Tissage et du Tapis Dar Si Said (one of the few interesting visits we did) we passed by a Post Office. I immediately told the guide, that I needed 5 minutes to go inside and buy some stamps, and with his permission, I did just that. Luckily there was only one person at the counter and he was already paying, so it really was a fast operation. The problem was that the only stamps available were the current domestic and international definitives with the photograph of King Mohammed VI...not the most interesting stamp for a cover, but I bought some, anyway, since I had some postcards to send and maybe I would still find something more interesting for the covers.

Unfortunately the rest of the tour days passed and I did not pass through any opened post office again. On the last day, the day I finally had some free time in the afternoon, I went past a large post office in Jemaa el-Fna square, probably the central station in Marrakech, but it was already closed for the day.

I finally gave in to the idea that I would not be sending any covers from Morocco this time. I had sent the postcards, so at least, I would get mine, but I was a bit sad about it.

The next day we went  to the airport. Upon arrival at the terminal for check in, I saw the Post Maroc logo right beside that of the Al Barid Bank, (which I understand is a bank ran  by Post Maroc) above a counter  in one end of the terminal. I asked the lady at the counter if I they sold stamps and she confirmed she did. Exultant, I bought what she had, in the form of self-adhesive stamps, opened my bag, took off the letters, affixed the stamps and asked the lady to manually cancel them....

She looked at me and shook her head…. “We just sell stamps, we do not process the mail. just go to the other end of the terminal and drop the letters in the letterbox....”

this I did...

The stamp is part of a set of eight self-adhesive stamps issued on 21FRB2020, dedicated to Moroccan traditional dances and music. 

Unfortunately, after using the stamps and since I was in a hurry to get to the check, in I threw away the backing paper, not realising that it contained probably an explanation of the images on each stamp.

The machine cancelation is not what I wanted, but at least it is very clean and clear  and confirms that from the airport, the cover was sent to the central processing facility  - Centre de Traitement et de Distribution - at Marrakesh, from where she eventually flew to my letterbox.