As with a lot of great traveling, it’s hard to believe that just about 12 hours ago we were still eating breakfast in Marrakech. In between, we have now ridden a bicycle about 24 miles and about 3000 feet change of elevation, ridden a bus, then hiked another 2 miles straight up another 1000 feet change to what feels like the middle of nowhere.
I admit to being not entirely sure what I was going to experience in Morocco but from a pure nature and physicality perspective it’s not at all what I was imagining - which is not a bad thing at all, to be clear. I was imagining some kind of desert landscape and hot or even very hot temperature and a lot of sun. And I think that is coming, but what today actually felt like was the Pacific Northwest if you can believe that. It started out sunny enough if a bit cold, then it rained and got much colder, then it stopped raining but stayed cold, then we went up into the mountain and it got very, very foggy. We had dinner in a delightful little ramshackle spot with a open room and chairs made out of half oil cans painted garish colors; it was a Tagine meal which will be a common occurence, of meats and vegetables and bread, simple but delicious. I’ll never forget looking over and realizing the “fridge” wasn’t actually plugged into anything; I don’t know how much electricity they had. And cats; cats everywhere. After lunch/dinner we walked around and around this dirt path and over a river until suddenly it opened up and we found ourselves, Brigadoon style, in a little village with tiny little narrow alleyways where kids were playing soccer with a misshapen ball. We carried some of our stuff but the other half just magically appeared next to the homestay, I still don’t know how.
Morocco is an interesting place. Parts of it feel very modern and there is obviously some wealth around, but also we passed literal shepherds herding their sheep across roads through tiny villages and a surprising number of working donkeys carrying people and packs to and fro. I had the distinct impression that if I stopped one of the guys on the donkey though he would have an Android smartphone and a Tik Tok account. It’s a place that defies an easy description; certainly there is a lot of tradition around but also it feels like things are moving and shaking. Partly that’s because there’s obvious tourism, mostly from France, but also I hear from the locals that things are going well in Morocco; there is peace and relative prosperity. We were stopped no less than 3 times by Gendarmes who wanted to check papers and make sure we were all wearing our seatbelts, but it felt less like a request for a bribe and more just bored traffic cops looking to pad their stats with minor traffic tickets. Now we are in homestay/hotel/hostel which seems quite nice actually but it’s unheated and I am freezing! We don’t have reliable hot water either, so I’m told. But we have clean towels!
I am having fun but I am beyond exhausted. Cold or not, I think I will sleep like a log.
