May 1//American Legation

The first known Moroccan document to mention Americans. This Document of December 20, 1777, supports the claim that Morocco was the first country to recognize the United States as a nation. In the museum there is a Paul Bowles (shrine) room with the original tattered suitcases with which he came to stay. The librarian Abdelhaq, hawk-shaped face and gelled black hair, does his best with the library's meager funds. And he remembers everything I look at, and recommend they acquire. The library itself is two small rooms, a two shelf poetry section (that includes Bukowski and Padgett surprisingly, but also some terrible thangs) and a great courtyard. It is only open for three hours three days a week. Then it is my home away from home.