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Good morning everyone. It's a beautiful new day, very sunny and warm, a great day to not be in a prison somewhere. But sadly we have to take the car back to the agency today. Us guys took it back while the girls did their thing. The agency was closed when we got there. Many shops close down for an hour or two every day, siesta time. Oh well, back to the camp we go, then for a drive up to the Kasbah to see the city from atop the mount for about the tenth time, it's a pretty awesome site. From up here you can see for miles in every direction; we just never seemed to get tired of the view. About hour later we went back to the agency to settle up. They charged us an extra 50 Dhm for an ever so tiny dent from where one of us bumped into a truck; but for them its all about making a buck. As a group we had a discussion about transportation and decided to buy a used car to get around with. The agency guy took us to someone we could buy a car from. We made the deal but couldn't get the car until the next day, so we headed back to camp to wait it out. We walked into the shopping area just to have another look around and to kill some time. The shops are really tiny and all packed together in a small area to create the Medina feel. We were checking the prices on a few souvenir items, way too expensive for us. At this time almost all small shop business conducted was through the tourist trade. This was just too rich for our blood. We left the shops and went back to the bar for beers and fried potatoes, at least they're cheap. It's late and there's nothing to do but sit around and smoke Hash. Got no wheels, can't go anywhere unless we walk. Since we've been in the country we've done our share of walking...don't want to walk any more than necessary, except to and from the car. Plus the fact we have a great deal of travelling still ahead of us, so having a car is essential, without one we're practically dead in the water. I don't know why, but for some reason I'm in a real shitty mood, when I should be upbeat because we're buying a car. Don't know where this bad mood is coming from but its really pissing me off. Fuck'it, I'm going to bed and sleep it away. The next morning was quite chilly, jacket weather. We went to the bar for breakfast, then showers. Us guys were going to see about getting our car. When we arrived at the dealership there seemed to be some kind of paperwork problem, I don't remember what they said it was about. We're going to have to come back at 2:30, by then they'll have the paperwork glitch straightened out. Meanwhile back at the ranch, the girls had been mixing it up with other folks at the camp, then they went to the beach to hang out. Eve told me later on that while they were at the beach a young Moroccan guy came by and starting chatting them up. The guy took a real shine to Aileen, and why not, she was a sweet looking 19 or 20 year hippie chick with a great figure, long brown hair and a nice smile. He was trying really hard to get her to go home with him, of course she declined. Point of interest: In Islamic society It's very important for young women to remain chaste until marriage. If they don't, they're considered nothing more than common whores, which brings shame onto the whole family. In their culture, the crime of out of wedlock sex can carry extremely harsh punishment. For this reason single young Moroccan men don't get laid very often, so they're always hitting on western women, as they have a more relaxed attitude toward casual sex. In the month we spent in Morocco I found Islamic culture to be quite restrictive, dictatorial and backward. Certainly not a culture I would ever choose to live in, given the choice. ...now back to the car deal. At 2:30 we went back for the car, but only to find out we weren't able to legally own a car until we had been in the country for at least three months. Two days of pissing around on this deal and now we can't get the car. We're not happy campers. Maybe my bad mood last night had been an omen. So it's back to camp all bummed out. We went to the bar for beers and a couscous dinner, then back to the tent to get high. We'll sleep then come up with a new plan tomorrow. ...okay, we have a new transportation plan... In the morning we went back to the car agency to see what kind of a deal we could get on a monthly rental. The price was right so we decided to take it. Although Eve and I were only going to be here for another nine days, and the others were staying for an additional two weeks after we leave, we did the math and split the cost accordingly. Alright!, we got wheels again. 'on the road again' {could be a song in there maybe} Our game plan was to start heading north to Fez either tomorrow or the next day. We had a discussion about the game plan for the trip north. It was 600 km as the crow flies. Adding in all the curves, twists, bends and slower uphill mountain driving, you could then easily add another 200 km and an extra half day to the drive. So at 800 km, and through the mountains for part of the time, that drive sure as hell wasn't going to happen in one day. So the plan is to head east to Taroudant, then north through the High Atlas Mountains to Marrakesh and stay there for the night, breaking the drive into two days. We could have taken the same road the bus took coming to Agadir through the High Atlas foothills, which was a considerably shorter drive and on a much better road, but we wanted to see new territory and more mountain scenery. Going through the mountains was going to be a much slower drive as you're always stopping to have a look around; how could you not, the beauty of it is just so breathtaking. So this drive is going to take quite a while, at least two really long days, but we'll get to see lots of new territory. As we have been living at the same spot in Agadir for about ten days now, we got to know a few people, not everyone by name, but folks we saw most days, the guys that work at the bar, and and a few other campers. We took the time to say goodbye to them. We packed all our gear into the car, two of us in the front and three in the back, didn't want to deal with any more cops, broke camp and said goodbye to Agadir... Page #12 Page links 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 |
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Agadir from the Mount,
our camp is in there somewhere, a couple of blocks from the beach 
Agadir market stall
fish market end of town,
base of the Mount in the background 
Agadir earthquake ruins
1960 
some people still live in the ruins that remain
Villa Blanche Hotel
Agadir shop and cafe concourse [early 2005]
the Promenade, Agadir
[ early 2005] |