Farewell Morocco

From Marrakech we headed to Rabat and then to Asilah the next night. Both are pretty chilled places which made them fairly relaxing places to stay but it did mean we had a low key farewell to a generally buzzing country. Last night we stayed at a friend of Becka's near Malaga and I type now from Laura's porch, looking out over the Andalucian hills. The sun is shining and we only just finished breakfast at about midday. Laura is sending us away with arm fulls of lemons and oranges fresh from the trees, yum. We will be three more days in Spain before catching the ferry and this relaxing time with Laura should be setting us up for a easy, freewheeling ride up to the north. Looking back at Morocco, it was everything I hoped for in this trip, we saw so many spectacular sights, got in some rewarding offroading and experienced the intimidating emptiness of the desert. The best part was staying with a Moroccan family though, it offsets all the hassle on the streets to give a true flavour of Moroccan life.

High times in the High Atlas

We had discussed that it would be great to spend a bit of time with some Moroccan people and perhaps accept an offer of eating together, should it come up. Yesterday, towards the end of a road based day trying to get north, we picked up a hitcher. He was a quiet enough chap but he surprised us be asking us in for food when we dropped him off. He spoke no english or french but had a calm yet insistent manner, and we accepted with some tripidation. What would we talk about for a start?

We ended up spending the whole evening wth Hussain and his family, learning and forgetting arabic words for everything and clowning around with the children, of which there were four. We left this morning and felt that our gifts were small compared to the amazing time we had spent with them all.

Our trail over the High Atlas today also turned into a great adventure, there was some gnarly, washed out stream beds to cross and then a snowy piste that led to an awe inspiring view of the High Atlas, the peaks towering thousands of feet above the valley floor. A view all the sweeter for us being the first vehicle to pass that way since the snow arrived.

Tonight we are in Marrakesh and we now wend our way back to our hotel room and then, home.

All time top ten

Best thing since my last post: Driving across the desert to reach Smara in Western Sahara

Worst thing since last post: About 16 mosquito bites to my ankles in one night at Fort Beau Jerif

Becka: Still talking to me

Highest external temperature: 33 degrees

Car: Just had the spare wheel carrier welded up for 4 pounds.

Best food: 2 quid tajine yesterday in a cafe at Sidi Ifni

Worst food: Becka had a very disappointing and expensive camel tajine in Fort Beau Jerif

Biggest surprise: Amount of traffic on the desert pistes, local dudes in Landrovers everywhere

Alex notices: All the old cars and trucks

Becka notices: Plants and flowers