Morocco - days 13 to 15
Trip Start
May 23, 2008
1
28
54
Trip End
Ongoing
Tangier,
Morocco
Sunday, August 17, 2008
We had to be up really early to leave Essouira by 7am as we had an exhaustingly long drive up the coast, luckily the wind had died down and it was almost non-existant as we pulled down our tents. Luckily most of the drive that day was on motorways, so at least the ride was pretty smooth, but due to the fast speed that we were going we were getting totally blown away with the windows of the truck open. But it was either that or swelter with the windows closed. We stopped off for lunch at a roadside servo stop, and had some ordinary chicken rolls and chips for lunch, and rolled into camp quite latish, this was one of the more boring days on the trip as when we reached the campsite in Moulay Busselton there was little to do but set up camp, eat dinner, sit around for a while and then head to bed. And we had satay for dinner... yuk.
Friday 15th - Cap Spartel
We were up again reasonably early, and had the best breakfast of the trip - i discovered toasted croissants with nutella
grotto at Cap Spartel
. My mouth just waters at the thought. Oh my gosh everyone reading this has to do it. Go out right now and get some. Dont buy the ones already filled cause they are not the same. You have to put the nutella in yourself. The outside is so crispy and the nutella inside so gooey... oh its the best. Especially when you are camping through Morocco and this is the closest that you come to a little luxury! Enough ranting about that though (but seriously, just do it).We packed up the camp at Moulay Busselton, this was pretty much just an overnight stop to get us to our final destination of Cap Spartel, a point about 20mins from Tangier and the location of our last night. Before we left we did a photo shoot in front of the truck, we got some good photos but unfortunately they were taken on other peoples cameras so i dont have copies of them at the moment. We all just acted like idiots.
We stopped at a supermarket to get supplies for the night ahead, then headed out to the campsite. Rather than put up the tents we decided to all sleep in a huge rotunda, so we set up our camp beds, got some tuna and salad rolls for lunch, and then headed down to the grottos which are famous in the area. Though they were no match to Capri or even Lagos, it was still quite beautiful. We ate our rolls in the cave then wandered back out and down to the beach for a lazy afternoon, before having to head back to camp and do a full truck clean - ready for the next group of travellers. We also re-packed our bags (as our stuff seemed to get spread around a bit over the 2 weeks) and started to prepare for our last supper. The guys at the campsite cooked our dinner of chicken and foil wrapped potatoes over the hot coals, while we did the salad, garlic bread and punch
Camels on the beach
! We sat out on a grassy area and ate our yummy dinner, drank our punch, reminised on the good times and then decided to make a delicious desert out of the bananas/chocolate/marshmellows that we found on the truck. This envolved pulling down one side of the banana skin, cutting a wedge out of the banana, filling the hole with chopped up chocolate and marshmellow pieces, putting the wedge back on, pulling the skin back over, wrapping it in foil and putting it in the hot coals of the fire for a while. When we pulled them out the chocolate and marshmellow was all melted, and the banana was all mushy and it was absolutely delicious. Mmm....After such an intense 2 weeks by the last night we were all pretty wrecked, and by midnight everyone was sort of heading for bed. We all got a bit freaked out at one stage as out of knowhere a huge rottweiler walked straight through the rotunda, though we found out that they were just guard dogs and they kept the cats away. A little bit random but hey, thats Morocco!
Saturday 16th - Tangier
Packing up was pretty easy as we didnt have to worry about tents, and we were firstly driven back to the hotel that we started at as some people were staying there or had left luggage behind, then they dropped the rest of us off at the port where we said our goodbyes
beach at Cap Spartel
! Most people were taking feries back to Spain, and there were 5 of us going to Tarifa so we caught the ferry together, sitting right up the front in what we assume was first class. We even got to see some dolphins jumping out of the water in front of us with was very cool. I was so glad that my hostel was only a short walk from the port as i was very tired and in need of a good sleep in a real bed. I managed to get on skype for a while to call home and wish my sister a happy birthday, before tragedy struck and Larry mysteriously cracked it at me and refused to start up (i think he was mad because i kept him locked away while i was in morocco... and he didnt like that). I wandered around the old town and went to the supermarket to get some supplies for dinner, and chatted to some of the people in the hostel for a while before giving in to my sleepiness and heading for a much needed sleep on a proper mattress. Random things
After my experiences through morocco, i now eat the following: bananas, raw capsicum/cabbage/onion, camel, chicken and cinnamon pie... just to name a few off the top of my head.
I bought the following: goatskin bag, beautiful wool and silk blanket, numerous scarves, jewellry, timber boxes and carvings
girls swimming in the Atlantic
.One thing made famous here is what they call a secret box. It is made out of timber, and can only be oponed a special way by sliding panels and opening areas with hiden keys. Its frustrating trying to figure it out but very cool when you are shown how! I was going to buy one but they are so heavy and annoying to lug around so i decided against it.
The thing i found most unusual through morocco is the ammount of people who just sit by the side of the road all day, usually in the remotest of places. Its quite random and strange.
Some towns that we drove through tended to have more donkeys pulling carts than actual cars. Just shows you how differently there world is. And some of the donkeys look absolutely appauling, clearly not being fed and discustingly dirty and scraggly looking. It was sometimes quite difficult to look at.
I am so sick of their stupid dish called Tagine, which is like a meat sort of stew with spices and vegies. I think we had it at least once every day and now when i walk past anything that smells remotely like it i want to vomit
on the truck
. It was yum at the start but we had it too many times for it to be tasty anymore!I think i liked the south better then the north, especially out near th coast as the vibe was so much more relaxed and cruisy!
Everywhere that we went, it was clear that the women do most of the work. Even the old women would be walking along the roadsides with huge piles of grass strapped to their backs. All the men ever seemed to do is sit by the side of the road, sit on a donkey, or sit in a cafe and watch us. Never working. Lazy buggers.
The roads in Morocco are terrible. They are barely wide enough to have 2 cars go past each other, the edges are so broken im suprised that no-one ran into us or that we didnt pass any accidents. The drivers are all crazy and probably have death wishes as some of the times that people would pass us into oncoming traffic, only to get around at the last minute and dodge the oncoming car with a couple of seconds to spare made me severely uncomfortable!
Whenever we would drive through the small towns we would get a huge number of not only locals but also tourists on coaches coming over to gawk at the truck
girls on the truck
. I recon the tourists were just jealous of our clearly more superior vehicle. who needs air con when you can roll up the windows and feel the wind in your face???We also loved to wave at the kids as we drove past. though they probably loved it more.
When walking through the Souks all the men would try to get you to go into their shops and talk to you, mainly asking where abouts you were from. The strangest one asked me firstly if i was Italian, followed by hmm... Japanese??? yeah.
My favourite place would have to have been sleeping out in the Sahara. That was incredible. My least favourite? The port of Tangier. Ewwww.
Despite its poverty, dirtyness and lack of respect towards women, i loved Morocco. Probably because i had never seen anything like it. I loved their artwork, pottery, blankets and rugs, some (not all) of their food, the craziness of the cities like Marrakech, the beauty of their ever varied landscapes, and the culture shock. I had a really great time. I feel like i can cross that one off the list now, that i got to see it and experience it the way that i had hoped to, and and although i will never probably come back here im really glad that i made the effort to do it properly. And i recommend it to anyone.
Comments
Bananas???
What's this eating bananas Kate? You never ate bananas. What are these foreigners doing to you? Next you will be eating brussel sprouts in Germany. Your culinary tastes have certainly been widened. I wonder if the coming trip to Africa will be as eye opening as the Morocco one seems to have been. It's all part of the journey and what a journey so far. I am so proud of you for going out of your comfort zone and doing all this by yourself. Keep on enjoying!!! Luv you heaps, Mumxox
Ditto with your mum on the Bananas
Kate, that's it when you come home you are having a banana split. Good on you for eating it, that sounds delicious with the choccy and marshmallows. Great to hear you had so much fun.
Luv Donna xx