Dedicated to a wonderful Mother Jean Noble 31/5/1929 - 20/8/2007 - may we never take our mothers for granted. - Goodbye Mum
MOROCCO PAGE 4 FEBRUARY 2008
Present day knowledge almost universally believes Africa is the birthplace of our species – Humankind. The picture above shows the ordinary people of Morocco. The currency of Morocco is the Dirham 1 MAD = $AUD 0.15... Of course no one EVER gets the “interbank rate”. For ordinary mortals like us, this is a myth!
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Monies in Aussie Dollars |
Thursday
21st
February 2008.
Kenitra
Approx.
k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr(s) Min Max speed kph Max temp
we recorded °C
Remain Kenitra to discuss and
explore our options. We have decided to go by train back to
Tangier... The biggest single difficulty is finding someone who
speaks sufficient English to communicate our needs. We were unable to
do this so paid for another night in the hotel.
We found
out the train has a luggage carriage.
We also found out that it would cost 150 MAD ($22.00) PER
BIKE for
the freight component of our ticket. We were quoted 78 MAD ($11.50)
each for our “passenger” ticket, but were unable to
determine the class of travel. We were unable to confirm we would
travel on the same train as our bikes. We were unable to confirm we
could load the bikes into the freight carriage. NOTE:
The bikes are susceptible to considerable damage if handled
incorrectly. As a general rule unless we can load or pack before hand
we do not freight.
It
was at this point we decided to return to our hotel and when we met
Yassine. Yassine is a young business man who owns a small “window
manufacturing” factory, in Kenitra. He speaks what may be
described as “intermediate” English. Yassine and his
lovely wife spent a good amount of time helping us, even driving us
back to our hotel. He offered to help communicate the next day when
we brought the bikes to commence our journey. We used the rest of the
day for repairs... Had a broken hook on our pannier replaced with a
metal one – arguably stronger than the original... It was the
poor roads which caused the problem and NOT the kids.
A
close up of the repair
After
this we managed a short internet opportunity... Catchya Later
Friday 22nd
February 2008. Kenitra
to Tangier
Approx. k's Average
Speed kph Cycling time Hr(s) Min Max speed kph Max temp we recorded
°C (Too
few k's to bother recording)
We
arrived at the railway station, still totally unable to communicate -
we telephoned Yassine. Within 20 minutes he arrived at the railway
station. Language is a huge problem here (For
us not YOU), when attempting to get
ones point across. After exhausting ourselves trying, we asked
Yassine if he knew anyone with a ute. I left Lee at the station and
hopped into his car, to search for a ute owner. We eventually found a
guy with a Toyota “well body” ute (For all you Aussies
out there), that was willing to drive us to Tangier.. Yassine went
into overdrive, negotiating the price down to 750 MAD ($110.00), we
had to refuse his lowest price, drive away, then return for the
lowest offer. WOW, Yassine is a very astute business man. After the
agreement everyone is smiling... We were then offered lunch at
Yassine's home for both Lee and myself and the driver. We picked up
the bikes at the train station..
and
returned to Yassine's (He is on the right) to eat a HUGE
Moroccan dish of Meat and veg on a bed of Couscous.
(The
driver declined, to eat with us, preferring watch his cargo –
our bikes!)
We
met a wonderful, happy, hospitable, Moroccan family and were truly
humbled by their hospitality. After our meal we left for Tangier,
however this was not to be without incident... Our driver reversed
his truck from Yassine's house into the side of another car...
“Ouch!!” The owners came out of their house and MUCH
discussion took place...
After it
was resolved, (we kept a discrete distance ☺) we left for our
journey and passed the villages (This
time from a “freeway” perspective - much of the way the
freeway runs parallel to the secondary road, we were forced to use)
without them even looking at the ute... We can imagine the Huge
convoys of - mainly French - motorhomes (if they ever read this)..
wondering what all the fuss is about, regarding the “kids”.
Catchya Later.
Saturday 23rd
February 2008.Tangier
Approx.
k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr(s) Min Max speed kph Max temp
we recorded °C
(Too few k's to bother recording)
Went to visit friends and contact our
family.
Sunday 24th
February 2008.Tangier
Approx.
k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr(s) Min Max speed kph Max temp
we recorded °C (Too
few k's to bother recording)
Went to
visit friends and contact our family again. We met Majouaba <sp>
in Kenitra, she asked that we visit her when next in Tangier, where
she lives alone...
We
were treated to some wonderful Moroccan hospitality... She took
kindly to Lee and we had an enjoyable evening.
The
food was delicious and typically Moroccan... We thank her very much
for her wonderful hospitality. Catchya Later
Monday
24th
February to Friday 29th
February 2008.Tangier.
Approx.
k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr(s) Min Max speed kph Max temp
we recorded °C (We
are “on foot” whilst in Tangier)
We
remain here to await the delivery of our mail to the post office in
Gibraltar. I (Mal) will go alone to Gibraltar to save money on
ferries etc.. and return same day.
Of
course I am very anxious about Lee remaining on her own, given the
often fickle nature of border crossings. We have contingency plans,
just in case I am delayed, refused re-entry, etc.... I
have added a couple of extra days to the last entry as we remain
Tangier. Catchya Later...
FEBRUARY 2008
We have not done a lot of cycling in Morocco our stat's are: we cycled a total of 321 kilometres. This will not increase in March as we are done cycling here. Feb has been a month of joy and sadness. Sad about the children taking ALL the enjoyment from cycling with their constant attempts to steal from us. On the positive side we have met some truly fabulous warm human beings. They have enriched our lives in a very deep and meaningful way.
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