Casablanca

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Saturday
Day 7

It's Paddy's day! With two Irish lasses on board, the flag is flying and Irish music accompanied a breakfast of sausages and scrambled eggs. We were a bit late for our 9am departure today but soon enough we were on the road, en route to Casablanca which should take around 6 hours. A few of us amused ourselves with a game of Scrabble, after which I listened to my iPod and dozed, snuggling into my new pillow with the pillowcase I received as a gift (thanks Emma!). Pretty sure I woke up yet again with my mouth gaping open but hey, at least I don't snore...

When we arrived in Casablanca, we found that the campsite had given away our reservation to the plastic fantastics so Suse found a taxi that she could follow to our other option, 20km out of town. It was a decent campsite with electrical outlets and warm showers (for 15Dh) and three kinda scary German Shepherds, chained up at the front gate but let off at night when they would roam the grounds, barking and scaring anyone who needed the bathroom after we'd all gone to bed.

The drinking began before dinner but I packed it in after a heavenly shower and a couple drinks and a toast to surviving our first week together and went to bed. Earplugs drowned out all the drama that I heard about the following day but it's not my story to tell...

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Sunday
Day 8

People slowly emerged from their tents this morning but after a fairly quiet breakfast, most people rallied and were happy to head into Casablanca by bus to see if it was at all like the movie (which I haven't seen. I think of all the movies discussed on the trip so far, I've seen two: Sound of Music and Ghostbusters). Buses here tend to stop whenever they are flagged down so we waited on the opposite side of the road. And waited. And waited. We told jokes and amused ourselves but we were starting to get a little impatient so we did what any normal group of 15 people would do: we began trying to flag down any vehicle large enough (and clean enough!) to accommodate us that was willing to take us in. That's how we came to find a family of five with their ute (pick up truck, for you non-Aussies!) with bars up the sides and a clean floor. After some negotiating, the mother and kids got out and were going to walk the rest of the way home (we did check that it wasn't far and we were assured it wasn't!) and the man took us into town. It was a blustery trip and I now know how cattle feel standing there and also bugs - I had to keep my mouth shut or better yet, my back turned so that when the bugs flew into me, I didn't choke on them. On the outskirts of town we came across another vehicle the same as ours with what seemed to be a boys' sports team and coach and after much waving on our part and singing on theirs, we cleared the traffic and continued on our way to Hassan II mosque. Costing $USD800 million to complete, the minaret is an impressive 200m high and the building is a beautiful cream and green (green being the colour of Islam). We were an hour early for the tour so we went for lunch (schwarma and Moroccan tea) then walked back and joined the tour which lead us through the beautiful main hall (which holds 25,000; outside can accommodate 80,000), ablution area and hammam (which has never been used). We then walked as a group to the medina for dinner supplies where I bought excellent nougat and peanut slabs, fresh mint for tea and two pineapples. We asked for directions to a bus that would take us to the actual bus we needed to get to the campsite, the elusive #600. There were lovely people on the bus who berated the man who asked me for money and told me not to worry and thankfully most of the crowd had left the bus by the time we recognised where we were and we managed to get the bus to stop right in front of the camping ground. The wind was blustery and cold so I was in my Moroccan snuggie and beanie with my head torch around my neck ready to go soon after. I went for another shower after yesterday's excellent experience only to have just enough water to wet my hair and lather up the shampoo. The water literally became a drip that I had to shake out of the showerhead! Needless to say, it wasn't the shower I was looking forward to but I was eventually clean and dry and ready for the trip to Rabat early in the morning.

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Monday
Day 9

It was still dark when I packed away my tent and we were on the road for 7am. Obviously our counting skills aren't exactly top notch at that time of day as we nearly forgot Rhys! Most of us slept until the toilet break and again afterwards. Our reason for being in Rabat so early was so we could be at the Mauritanian embassy first thing in the morning. We parked in the carpark of a marjane, took petit taxis to the embassy and with everything in order, Suse will pick them up tomorrow at 3pm and take them to the Malian embassy down the street. Back at the marjane I picked up long underwear as we're heading to higher altitudes in the Atlas mountains where we're expecting colder weather.

Two campsites in Rabat have closed to make way for a new marina so we're 13km out of centre ville with squat toilets, ant hills galore, no showers and no electricity but we do have wi-fi and ocean views so all is forgiven!

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Photos

Windy!
And a bug flew into my mouth seconds later