A Mutiny in Marrakech
Trip Start
Feb 16, 2006
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9
17
Trip End
Feb 28, 2006
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Marrakech,
Morocco
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Marrakech - Midnight
Dear Readers:
Things are just about as far off track as they can possibly be at this point. Our plan today was to drive over the Middle Atlas Mountains and the High Atlas Mountains to the desert town of Erfoud in the south of the country, near the border with Algeria. We only make it about an hour out of Fez before the rain turns to snow, and by the time we make our first comfort stop at Ifrane, the conditions can best be described as a blizzard.
The police inform us that the road over the mountains will be closed until at least 6pm, which means we must make a quick decision as the snow is coming down fast and furiously
01 Snowy Road
. We can either stay the night right where we are, and attempt to make it over the mountains (with no guarantees that the weather will be any better the next day), or we can beat a hasty retreat back to Fez and along the coast to Marrakech, arriving there two days early.It is quickly clear that whatever decision we make, we have effectively lost our desert experience because the distances are too great to enable us to do the activities we had planned. With heavy hearts, the group decides to go early to Marrakech and not risk the chance that we would be snowed in another day in the mountains. Even getting back down the mountain is a bit treacherous, and I am certain we have made the right decision.
The ride to Marrakech is excruciatingly long, broken up with occasional comfort stops, stories from me about other tour diversions of an unexpected or unpleasant nature (so that nobody would feel that this is the only group this ever happened to), and a fun little game which turns out to be quite entertaining.
Everybody writes down on a piece of paper something that nobody else on the tour knows about him, and then gives the paper to a facilitator
02 Ifrane
. The facilitator reads out what is written, and everybody writes down on a piece of paper the name of the person in the group who they think wrote the story or fact. Many were embarrassing moments or tawdry sexual conquests. I prove once again my astute judgment of character by getting absolutely none of them correct. (Examples: "I once lived with the Royal Family of Bahrain" or "I was staying at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas the day it burned down." or "I was once stopped by the police leaving a Hilton hotel with a lamp." Many, many other interesting tidbits are shared, too scandalous to print in this forum.The drive is proceeding happily, and between sleep and hilarity we while away the many hours to Marrakech. As we are approaching the city, I remember the business about there being no bar at our hotel, and mention to my supplier that we need to share the news with the rest of the group sometime soon. One person, who had already expressed some dissatisfaction with certain elements of the tour, overhears my comment and is dumbfounded that a gay tour would actually book into a hotel where there is no alcohol served, and where we might not be particularly welcomed by the devout Moslem owners.
Word spread through the bus pretty quickly, and leading questions are asked of the guide, like "What time does the bar close at our hotel?" Some people say that the presence or absence of a bar is not a big factor in their enjoyment of a hotel, but others feel the cocktail hour is a significant bonding ritual during a tour, and I tend to agree
03 Bathroom
.We don't really know enough about how close other bars will be to the hotel to decide whether or not to make an immediate change, so we decide to stay one night, and John and I are going out first thing in the morning to inspect another property that does have 13 rooms available for the duration of our stay in Marrakech.
We arrive at the hotel quite late, and the general impression of this new property is that it is still somewhat unfinished, and sterile. A few people are happy, but the majority would like to go somewhere else if possible. I promise to do what I can to improve our situation tomorrow.
Dinner is at a French restaurant, and is tasty but not great. We return to the hotel after midnight, and since I must arise early tomorrow, I bid you goodnight! We shall see what tomorrow brings!
Big hugs,
Dan
