Good morning everyone.
It’s a beautiful new day, very sunny and warm, a great day to not be in a prison somewhere.
But sadly we have to take the car back to the agency today. Us guys took it back while the girls did their thing.
The agency was closed when we got there. Many shops close down for an hour or two every afternoon, siesta time.
Oh well, we’ll take a drive up to the Kasbah to see the city from atop the mount for about the tenth time, it’s a pretty awesome site.
From up here you can see for miles in every direction;
we just never seemed to get tired of the view.
plus that fact there’s nothing else to do;
so it’s back to the campground for a… I’ll leave the rest of the line up to you
.
About hour later we went back to the agency to settle up. They charged us an extra 50 Dhm for an ever so tiny dent caused when one of us bumped into a truck; but for them its all about making a buck.
We had a group discussion about transportation and decided to buy a used car to get around. The agency guy took us to someone we could buy a car from.
We made the deal but couldn’t get the car until the next day, so we headed back to camp to wait it out.
We walked into the shopping area just to have another look around and to kill some time. The shops are really tiny and all packed together in a small area to create the Medina feel; but it just ain’t the same as a real Medina.
We were checking the prices on a few souvenir items, way too expensive.
At this time almost all the small shop business was conducted through the tourist trade. Prices here were too rich for our blood.
We left the shops and went back to the bar for beers and fried potatoes, at least they’re cheap.
It’s late and there’s nothing to do but sit around and smoke Hash. Got no wheels, can’t go anywhere unless we walk, so we’ll just sit around getting high and talk.
Since we’ve been in the country we’ve done our share of walking…ain’t walking no more than necessary, just too and from the car.
We also have a great deal of travelling still ahead of us and didn’t want to have to always be depending on a piece of shit bus to get anywhere. We want to be in charge of when we stop and go, so having a car is essential, without one we’re practically dead in the water.
I don’t know why, but for some reason I’m in a real shitty mood, when I should be upbeat because we’re buying a car.
Don’t know where this bad mood is coming from but it’s pissing me off.
Fuck it, I’m going to bed and sleep it away.
The next morning was quite chilly, jacket weather. We went to the bar for breakfast, then showers.
Us guys were going to see about getting our car.
I don’t recall the price for the car, but it was cheap.
When we arrived at the dealership there seemed to be some kind of paperwork problem, I don’t remember what they said it was about.
We’re going to have to come back at 2:30; by then they’ll have the paperwork glitch straightened out.
Meanwhile back at the ranch the girls had been mingling with other folks at the campground for awhile, then they went to the beach to hang out.
Eve told me later that while they were at the beach a young Moroccan guy came by and starting chatting them up.
The guy took a real shine to Aileen; and why not, she’s a very pretty 19 or 20 year hippie chick with a great figure, long brown hair and a nice smile; he was trying really hard to get her to go home with him, of course she declined.
Point of interest:
In Islamic society It’s very important for young women to remain chaste until marriage.
If they don’t, they’re considered nothing more than common whores, which brings shame onto the whole family.
In Islamic culture the act of out of wedlock sex can carry extremely harsh punishments; but only for women, of course.
For this reason single young Moroccan men don’t get laid very often, so they always hitting on western women because they generally have a more relaxed attitude toward casual sex.
In the month we spent in Morocco I found Islamic culture to be quite restrictive, dictatorial and very backward.
Certainly not a culture I would ever live in, given the choice.
…now back to the car deal.
At 2 o’clock we went back for the car, only to find out we weren’t able to legally own a car until we had been in the country for at least three months;
and that’s what the glitch was all about.
Two days of pissing around on this deal, and now we can’t get the car.
We’re not happy campers.
Maybe my bad mood had been an omen.
So it’s back to camp, all bummed out.
We went to the bar for beers and a couscous dinner, then back to the tent to get high.
We’ll sleep then come up with a new plan tomorrow.
Okay, it’s morning and we have a new transportation plan…
We went back to the agency to see what kind of a deal we could get on a monthly rental. The price was right so we decided to take it.
Although Eve and I were only going to be here for another nine days, and the others were staying for an additional two weeks, we did the math and split the cost accordingly. Alright!, we got wheels again.
on the road again [could there be a country song in there, eh cowboy]
Our game plan was to start heading north to Fez either tomorrow or the following day.
We had a discussion about the plan for the trip north. It was 600 kms as the crow flies.
Adding in all the curves, twists, bends and mountain driving, you could easily add another 100 kms and an extra half day to the drive.
So at 700 kms, and through the mountains for a large part of the time, that drive sure as hell wasn’t going to happen in one day.
So the plan is to head east to Taroudant, north through the High Atlas Mountains to Marrakesh, staying for one night, breaking the drive into two days.
We could have taken the same road the bus took coming to Agadir through the High Atlas foothills; which was a shorter drive on a much better road, but we wanted to see new territory; that’s our whole reason for being here, yeah for sure; and of course, riding the Marrakesh Express, and the hash, and the excitement, and the thrills… you get it, right.
Going through the mountains was going to be a much slower drive as you’re always stopping to have a look around, how could you not; the beauty of it is just so breath taking.
So this drive is going to take quite a while; at least two really long days, but we’ll get to see lots of new territory.
Living at the same spot in Agadir for about ten days now, we got to know a few people; not everyone by name, but some folks we saw most days; the guys that work at the bar, and a few other campers.
We took the time to say goodbye to them.
We packed all the gear into the car, two of us in the front and three in the back, didn’t want to deal with any more cops, broke camp and said goodbye to Agadir…
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