W
e thank Mo for all his
help and ask him for directions to a hotel. He
shakes his head and says: “Tonight you are my
guests! Follow me.” We have no choice but to
accept his kind offer and follow him to
Zuwara, a town about 60 km from the border.
As the evening sets we stop at a café
overlooking the ocean to have dinner. There
is nice music playing in the café. In the back
room a group of boys are playing pool and at
the bar a few men are drinking coffee. The
café only sells coffee and sodas, as alcohol is
prohibited in Libya. Mo pulls some tables
together and takes our order.
While we enjoy a big plate of spaghetti, Mo
tells us about the revolution, his business and
the current state of Libya. It is clear that the
revolution has done the country good, since
the people are no longer at the mercy of the
whims of Gaddafi. It could apparently happen
that if Gaddafi were to quarrel with the U.S.,
he would ban all studies of English and order
all English books to be burned. He also talked
about placing a wall in front of the ocean if he
felt that the people did not need the sea. Mo
says the freedom is best seen in the fact that
everyone now has access to every
conceivable news’ source and thus to the rest
of the world. It is extraordinary to be
reminded how valuable that is.
After dinner we ride to Mo’s family home. It’s
a large house with a huge wooden staircase in
the hall, several bedrooms, bathrooms, a big
kitchen and special rooms for male guests on
the one side and female guests at the
opposite side. The house is empty. His parents
and brothers live elsewhere and only come
here for family gatherings. Mo laughs at our
stunned reaction when we admire the house:
“Libya is a big country, so we build big houses,
preferably more than one”. He opens a large
metal gate that opens to a courtyard where
we park the bikes. How nice of him to open
his house to us. This is way more than just
helping with the visa and the border crossing!
Above: Roman ruins galore
with the rich history of Libya
That night Mo tells us about the wonderful
things that Libya has to offer. Not only the
ancient Roman city of Leptis Magna, but also
inspiring historic sites in the desert that are
worth visiting. Libya even has a great number
of well-preserved pyramids. It is clear that he
cannot wait until the country is safe enough to
show all of this to the rest of the world. At the
same time, we can feel the frustration related
to the time it takes to reorganise the country.
There is no police service, which means that
rules are violated without any consequences.
And things that seem ordinary to us, like having
a bank account and transferring money, are
hardly possible in Libya.