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02.04.04

Overland Trip To Senagal 2004, Day 3: Morocco

Thomas Morgan
2006-04-26 11:28:34

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Bus to Dakhla, basically. I woke at 7.20 and took a cold shower, able to take it for about a minute. The breakfast at the hostel was part of the price; a roll of bread each, butter, jam, and our choice of tea or coffee. I got the former, Frenchy the latter even though he pointed out that he doesn’t even like it. The tea’s alright, the bread and butter and jam is nice. We pack, pay, and leave. On the way out we buy a big bottle of water and two pains aux chocolat. Walk to the bus stop no problem and arrive at 9. We think the man checking our bags said cent, but it was actually sept, which is a relief. We buy a magazine each on the newsstand, Time and Nouvel Observateur and the bloke, going by the prices on the magazines, undercharges. We chat in the waiting area, board and leave no problem.

We set off from Casa with about a day and a half’s coach ride in front of us, with a connection in Agadir due to leave at 8pm, although with no idea how long it will take us to reach there. The music blares out, firstly raï, and, slightly bizarrely as we roll through palm trees with Arabic voices all around, some techno follows. The landscape changes slowly, from farmland which wouldn’t look out of place in Europe, getting towards a drier climate. We stop for half an hour in a small village mostly comprised of snack bars and entirely sponsored by Coca Cola, and have a basket with two big circles of bread which we rip apart and stuff with tomatoes, chips, and in my case some meat. The next half hour stop is in Marrakech which, in contrast to dusty, dirty Tangiers and Casa, looks like a rather laid back place and is much more “Moroccan” in the way that us stupid Europeans would expect, with a lot of mud-coloured buildings and arches. Ross’s attempt to very slowly teach me to read Arabic is futile, although with a few more months I may well get somewhere. The kid over the aisle has become bored of offering us his toy cars and has taken to offering ...