Whiskey Jack Adventures: Rabat, Morocco

Darn it Doug. Why did you play that song? You know which song I mean – “Train to Marrakesh”! I can’t get it out of my head even though we have left Marrakesh behind.

We left Marrakesh in the usual chaotic Moroccan traffic at about 8 am knowing that we had one of our longer days today. The first hour or so was very foggy. It was almost surreal seeing Jedi robed individuals appearing in the mist at the side of the road. We have left the poorer desert areas of the south and into farm lands, orange and olive orchards and open spaces. The pavement was been pretty good except for the roundabouts in the town where they are rutted.

Once the fog burned off the ride today was very nice – mostly good pavement and some sweeping corners mixed with curves. We have been trying to give away the ball point pens and other items we brought for the children and have resorted to slowing down when we see a group and tossing them from the bike. In retrospect we probably should have made a more concerted effort to give them away in the south of the country which is much poorer than the north. Our coffee stop was pretty typical of this. Again only holes in the ground for toilets so the ladies opted to wait to stop at a more modern gas station.

We also have been taking pictures of some of the strange (to us) vehicles we have encountered along the way. See 3 examples attached. There are so many different modes of transportation here but whatever works is what they do. From camel to donkey to scooter to 8 men piled into the box of a truck standing up and going 90 km an hour!

Lunch was at a roadside café where we enjoyed sitting out in the sun. We both had kebabs and the total bill was only 69 dirham or about $6.90US. Gas prices have ranged from 9.11 to 9.41 dirhams per litre which is on par to what we pay at home.

We arrived at our hotel at about 5:30 and had an unfortunate incident heading into the downstairs parking area. Just ahead of us Tom dropped his bike hard going down the ramp. We were right behind him but managed to avoid hitting him, continued down, parked and went back to assist. We suspect that will be all the riding he will be doing this trip (there is room for his bike in the van). He is very sore. We had the helmet cam on at the time and may show the record of his fall but not tonight. Luckily Debbie had gotten off at the top of the ramp or it could have been even worse.

Since we had a few minutes before dinner we decided to walk down to the market. It was very busy. People were everywhere. The lineup for the bus was four thick and the entire block long. Then a bus came and Doug thought it would be neat to get shots of the bus boarding chaos. Unfortunately a number of Moroccan males took exception to this and started screaming at us. We had been warned not to take “portrait shots” but this was far from that. One of them grabbed at Doug. Mistake. He was still yelling but in a scared voice as we walked briskly away. Welcome to the capital of Morocco: Rabat.

Tomorrow we ride to Ceuta, which is actually part of Spain in Africa. Which means tomorrow will be our last day in Morocco.