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I explored the interior of Morocco first, now my aim was to find the coast. I couldn’t really tell you why, but I decided it was time to try some real hitch hiking. I would of never thought I would hitch hike in Morocco, but after talking to a few people who had done it I figured it was worth a try. The buses here in Morocco are quite cheap to begin with so I wasn’t doing this because it saved money, just more for the adventure. Once I heard a few crazy stories I couldn’t settle for a simple bus ride.
I woke up really early, bought a map of morocco and started walking to city limits. I got past the hustle and bustle of the city and found a spot I thought to be good. Out of curiosity, right before I put up my thumb for the first time I checked the time, just to see how long it would take to hitch my first ride. About five cars past and then an old rally jeep pulled over, I didn’t even bother looking to see how long it took. I had expected to wait a lot longer
but maybe I got lucky. There we two men from Western Sahara in the jeep, they didn’t speak a word of English or French, only Spanish and Arabic. I pointed to Taghazout on the map and I got a few hand gestures and then a nod. I wasn’t quite sure if they were heading there but I think just because it was the first ride I took it.
When I first got in the car I had this feeling of pure adventure, I couldn’t communicate with them and didn’t know exactly where I was going, how long it was going to take, and where I would end up sleeping tonight, but I didn’t really care, I just let things happen. They weren’t taking the roads I thought to be right on my map but when I kept pointing to where I needed to go they just nodded and said something in Arabic. The jeep was a piece of junk, it took forever to get up to speed and the whole thing rattled when it did, the doors didn’t shut and we pulled over every few hours to check the engine. To add to it, neither of them knew
how to drive, he would always stall in second gear and swerve around on corners (most of the drive was through the mountains with no guard rails). It was a quite ride because of the language barrier but they put on some music from their phones and chain smoked for first 6 hours.
We came around a corner and got stopped at a police checkpoint. I had no idea what was going on but after about five minutes of Arabic, the driver slipped the cop 200 dirhams and the we drove off. I still never figured out what happened but I figured it was bribe of some sort. When they kept stalling the car I offered to drive and they were amazed that I knew how to drive stick shift. I ended up driving for the next few hours until the jeep started to smoke and we pulled over. None of us knew much about engines and we looked like three idiots trying to figure out what was wrong. After a few minutes a caravan full of Moroccans pulled up and helped us. They gave us their oil and coolant. We actually ended up following them to the
next town and eating lunch with them while they fixed the car. After seven hours on the road with the guys and eating some lunch with them I had feeling they were pretty good people. I couldn’t really figure out where we were anymore ( all the street signs are in Arabic) but I felt like everything was going to work out. The other guys in the caravan fixed our car for us, paid for our lunch and then decided to drive in a convey behind us to make sure we made it, That’s just an example of the kindness in some of people here.
Just as the sun was setting I saw a sign I recognized and signaled for them to stop, I had somehow made it all the way to the village I wanted to stay in. Both cars pulled over and said goodbye to me. They offered to give me money and food and after trying to hand it back to them I settled with just taking the food and giving them their money back. My first experience hitch hiking in Morocco could not of turned out better. I had expected to wait a lot
longer for ride, and expected it to take at least three separate rides to get here. I still am little blown away by the hospitality and in those guys. I am sad to say I didn’t get any pictures of this experience and not many of this week in general. The reason being; they’re a little funny about pictures here, it upsets a lot of people, so I didn’t want to be rude and snap a picture of them (even though I wish I got one just of the piece of junk jeep).
The town I’m in is Taghazuot, It’s a small fishing village in the south of morocco and has some world class waves for surfing. (this was my main reason for coming here) I opted out on staying in a hostel and tried the Website called Couchsurfing. I hooked up with a local Moroccan surfer and he said I could sleep on his couch for as long as I want. The next day I bought surf board and have been surfing everyday now, Its been quite the experience living with these Moroccan surfers. The living conditions are simple and the way of life is much different
- and we don’t do much else than surf, and sit on the beach.
Since my adventure into the Sahara I’ve really ventured off the tourist track with hitch hiking and Couchsurfing and it’s just what I needed. Sometimes doing the tourist thing too much doesn’t make the experience feel real. You feel too comfortable having everything planned out. I’ve had some incredibly diverse and crazy experiences here and it’s only added to my love for Morocco. And just as a bonus- The surfing is spectacular.
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Michelle Duer
Great blog -- looking forward to more!