Larache has a long history. People have lived here since ancient times, and I won't pretend to know all the stories of those days. My impressions are those of a wanderer who has been to other parts of the world but is new here. I've been told more than once that Larache is a magical city, especially at night, and I can see why this is so. Larache conceals a mystery that is associated with the moon and the tides, and this is most obvious at night. Imagine a woman whose veils are her sins, her worldliness, her desires. Caught in a whirling dance, she casts away her veils one by one until she stands naked in the moonlight. This for me is Larache—or perhaps Larache is some other thing. Larache shares the Moroccan genius for making beauty out of simple things. With one or two exceptions, everywhere I've been in Morocco feels like home. Moroccan friendship is spontaneous, and as far as I can tell, Moroccans are quick to befriend anyone who shares that spirit. Yet there are levels of friendship. I've been lucky in Larache to fall in with a group of friends who are freethinkers, who make their way independently in the world, who are critics of everything including each other, yet who inspire each other to make art as a collective document of their lives together. It is well worth a pilgrimage to Larache to participate in this work in progress. Larache is a star in the making. If Larache could remain unchanged, it would soon be discovered by someone from Hollywood seeking authenticity. Every inch of Larache bleeds beauty. Citizens of Larache, you don't realize what richness you are sitting on. Yet Larache is already starting to change, to mutate in anticipation of its future fame. If celebrity ever arrives, the old Larache will no longer exist. This is the danger of joining the modern world. Perhaps it would be better if this never happened, and Larache remained the neglected backwater it is today. Larache is the dream of a possible life. We are players in an intricate drama and must give our best performance. None of our scenes is scripted, but we have an idea of the other players and their motivations. The audience is friendly, so we want to make a good impression. People do things for each other like paying for a coffee or offering a cushion. Once you are taken in hand in Larache, you will never be lonely. Yet there are small cliques that gather in cafes or at private parties. To understand your relationship to the whole, it is necessary to circulate through all the corners of Larache. Sooner or later you will have relations with everyone, so you should act in a way that gives you a reputation as a serious person. Larache is beautiful, Larache is poor, and in many ways this is the same thing. When one doesn't have the means to seek beauty in material things, one looks inside oneself. Larache is steeped in centuries of tradition, but somehow exists outside of time. Perhaps this is due to the Roman ruins of Lixus, still visible like a ghost on the horizon, reminding us of a long-ago era with its own traditions and forms of liberty. Or perhaps it is the intimate presence of the ocean, formless mother of all forms. In any case, Larache feels to me like a free zone, a place where ideas are in play and beauty expresses itself in unexpected ways. In the words of a friend, Larache is "la petite folie," a minor madness that brings happiness.