graciously gave us 3 seats together in the back. She promptly
put her head on my lap and slept the rest of the trip. The
attendants took our temperatures and, thankfully, neither of
us had a fever. I didn’t sleep at all during the flight; I was so
worried about her.
We arrived into JFK airport. Surprisingly, there were no
health screenings. We got through customs quite easily. We
tried not to cough as we walked through the airport. Me,
Andrea, Marie, Amanda and Kitty went to a TWA retro
hotel next to the airport for a short, one night’s stay. A
hamburger was $25 at the hotel restaurant! Andrea didn’t
eat. She went straight to bed.
HOME!
I left the airport on a 6:30 am flight and was home by noon.
On the same day, Andrea’s flight home was cancelled and
rescheduled and so she stayed in the NY hotel and rested one
day more. She got home the next day around noon. I was so
relieved and now I could finally sleep even though I still was
distraught that one of my ‘ducklings’ was still in Morocco.
EPILOGUE
One day after we got home, Morocco put its country into
lockdown and all incoming and outgoing flights were
cancelled. We had gotten out just in the nick of time. Almost
everyone in our tour group eventually got home within twothree
days of travel…except Maudria. Our fearless leader,
Addi, who also has a home in Boston, was not able to fly
home either. Maudria was lucky to be able stay with Addi
at his family home. She was stranded in Morocco for SIX
WEEKS before she found a State Department flight that
brought her back to the U.S.
Andrea, Katia, Eileen and Zoe all got meds and recovered
from their ailments. We all slept many hours and days once
we got back home and thus the two-week self-quarantine
flew by. Not one of us caught the dreaded virus.
Today, Addi is still taking care of his village, his family, and
his family in his homeland. Morocco adopted very strict
quarantine rules and getting food to outlying areas became a
problem. Nancy, a mutual dance friend in Albuquerque, New
Mexico, started a fundraiser and was able to raise $7000+
for Addi’s village food fund to help during this lockdown.
The attentiveness and heart shown to us by Addi Quadderrou,
Maudria Waiting to Come Home
our guide, was what kept our trip from being a nightmare
and instead became a grand adventure! We felt guided and
reassured that all would be fine, no matter how tired, grumpy
or sick we became. He was/is a true gem in this world of
Moroccan travel. The magic of Morocco was only marred by
the pinging of our cell phones as breaking news kept coming
in about the outside world going into a lockdown. The
richness, beauty and kindness of the people was such a joy to
experience. I know I will be back to complete my aborted tour
of this magnificent country. Maybe you’ll join me?
To learn more about future tours to Morocco, I highly
recommend the Tours of All Tours, with the utmost professional
tour guide, Addi Quadderrou, www.moroccancaravan.com.
AMAYA
Amaya resides in the Land of Enchantment,
also known as New Mexico. She enjoys an
eclectic life of green roasted chilis, sunflower
harvesting, writing, sunset gazing, fire fly
dancing and scratching the heads of her boys,
Mr. Smith, Buddy (rogue Scottie Terriers)
and Partner Pete. For more info on Amaya’s
dance see www.AmayaDances.com
26 The Belly Dance Chronicles � July 2020