[YEAR 7!] Quit our jobs, sold our home, gone riding...

[lightcycle]

We're discovering new places all the time. Just earlier, I had bookmarked Agadir as a place to spend a few days if we were ever back again, but now having ridden a few kms outside, we discovered the best place to stay in the area is actually in some of the smaller towns north of the city. The rocky coast is very picturesque and there's less of a western resort-feel, which is totally what we like.

Our bikes weaved across the road as the winds from the Atlantic Ocean grew very fierce.

We were driving north as the road cut inland and we saw an unusual sight...

One of our friends told us about these goats in Morocco that could climb trees, so we were constantly on the lookout for them. We spotted a whole bunch of them just south of Essaouira. We had quite a laugh watching them jump up on the branches to get a nibble of the Argan fruit, which is indigenous to this area.

These guys were extraordinarily nimble and some of them got quite high in the tree!

These goats are quite essential to the economy in this area. Everywhere, we'd see stands and stalls selling Argan oil. It's used for beauty products for the skin and for cooking. The oil is actually extracted from the hard nut inside the food, but only after it's eaten and excreted by these goats!

We didn't buy any Argan oil...

They must be pretty light too, some of these branches did not look like they could support the weight of several of these goats!

Even the camels got in on the action

I climbed up to see what all the fuss was about. The goats didn't seem to like that too much and fled to another tree (you can see one under my right arm)

After pooping out some Argan seeds, I hopped on my bike and we were off to further explore the western coast!

 

[lightcycle]

Some visit Sahara little differently.

Wow! Wonder what the service bill is going to look like after a drive like that!

 

[lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/219.html

We have a lot of footage that we've shot from our last four weeks in Morocco and it's been a while since I've done some video editing, so here's what I've been working on!

 

[TwinStick]

This is the most EPIC thread ever !!!

So, how many miles are on the bikes now ???

 

[lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/220.html

Our 1-month insurance policy is slowly ticking down and we are quietly exiting Morocco.

Under overcast skies, we arrived at the port town of Essaouira and against our inclinations, we book an accommodation inside the medina once again because the city hotels were too expensive. We did the familiar Moroccan dance - Neda staying with the bikes outside the old city's walls while I dodged hustlers looking for our riad. I've been taking point on all scouting and communications forays because of my (slightly better) knowledge of French, but after the last few weeks it has really started to wear on me.

While it has a typical Moroccan medina, Essaouira is also known for its picturesque port and docks

We're staying a couple of days here to catch our breath before continuing the trek out of Morocco. It seems like the salt water breeze carries seagulls from all over the coast to this one place, hoping to pick at food coming in from the fishing boats and falling off the tables at the tourist restaurants.

Boats under construction at the shipyard

These blue-coloured boats all parked outside the medina walls are perhaps the unofficial symbol of Essaouira

A hooded figure surveys the boats coming in

 

[lightcycle]

Lining up the boats so they all fit nice and tight

Sorry Mr. Seagull. No food for you!

Since we are still on the coast, we had another seafood meal. There's a spot right in the docks where you can order fresh shellfish that's just come in. Unfortunately, there are no prices, as the locals see this as another opportunity to gouge tourists. We were getting a bit hungry, but I hung around and watched as other people haggled to get an idea of the prices. When we approached the table, I asked the waiter how much, he replied, "1000 dirham" ($100). We started to walk away and he smiled broadly, "Just kidding, it is 200 dirham". I negotiated more shellfish, some expensive octopus and eel and that seemed fair for the both of us. So we sat down.

While waiting for the food, more people streamed in. I listened to the haggling and was dismayed when I heard some locals haggle down to almost half of what we paid! We're so bad at bargaining... When our food arrived, we enjoyed it much less than if we had paid half price for it...

Our riad was inside the medina, so we spent some time walking around

After visiting all the other Moroccan cities, the medina here was typical, not as big as Fes or Marrakesh

 

[lightcycle]

From Essaouira, it was basically a highway ride, back into the interior of the country, taking the central road to the north. Having read up beforehand, we skipped Casablanca and stayed in smaller towns.

Outside of Rabat, we saw some spring flowers blooming by the side of the road. What is Neda doing?!?!

Answer: Instagramming

Last stop before Tangier

In all our research, everyone recommends to skip Tangier. Nobody ever has a nice experience in that city. We skipped it when we arrived, but now we're headed there because our fellow traveller, Trevor is arriving to Morocco and that's where he's staying.

How bad can it be? We are about to find out..

Trying to find parking, we have to make room for a funeral marching through the narrow medina streets

When we got inside the Tangier city limits, some boys tried to steal Neda's dry bags from behind her bike while stopped at a traffic light. They ran away when I motioned to get off the bike. *SMH* We arrived at the riad that Trevor was staying at. He was in the middle of an argument with a parking lot attendant that fleeced him out of some money.

Although we had experienced lots of hustlers in Morocco, they had always stayed within the boundaries of the law. Tangier in comparison was lawless and disrespectful to tourists. The minute I arrived in the city, all I could hear in my head were the words of a famous old man, "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy".

I felt bad for Trevor. He was just starting his journey into Morocco and this was his first impression. At least we had done our research and had a much better experience in Chefchaouen.

Trevor welcomed us into the riad with some liquor. After a month of dry country, we guzzled the schnapps he had smuggled in with relish. That almost made it worthwhile coming into Tangier for. Bless his heart!

 

[lightcycle]

Catching up over dinner and drinks

We've run into Trevor over and over again, first at the HU meet in California then on the Stahlratte between Panama and Colombia. He stayed with us in Croatia and he returned the favour opening up his villa in France to us.

It's amazing how small the world is!

We spent the evening comparing routes, hints and tips, and also the all-important hard-drive exchange. Every long-term traveler keeps an external drive full of music, TV shows and movies which we all share when we meet up. It's a well-established ritual.

I know food trucks are popular in North America, but have Escargot Trucks caught on yet?

The snails on top of the truck have creepy glowing eyes and there are big, silver bowls in the middle for everyone to spit out the shells. I thought this was hilarious!

Next morning, Trevor heads out to explore Morocco

We were on our way further west back to the Tangier Med port

If we hadn't had to meet Trevor, we would have totally bypassed Tangier and went straight to the port for our departure date. Everything we had read about Tangier was true. The fact that it's a popular port for cruise ships to dock at means that it attracts every low-life looking to make an easy buck by stealing from the cash-laden tourists that never stay long enough to fill out a police report.

It was such a dirty place, totally unrepresentative of the country. It really reminded me of the first city we stayed at in Mexico: Ensenada, also a port town for cruise ships. We were wisely told to get the hell out of there and experience the real country. Tangier was exactly the same.

While we were packing to leave, one guy who was trying to sell me a bag of weed (which looked suspiciously like oregano) asked me indignantly when I turned him away, "Why do you tourists even come to Morocco?!"

The question really should have been, "Why do tourists even bother coming to Tangier?"

Despite this final city leaving us with such a bad taste in our mouths, and despite the hustlers in all the medinas constantly pestering us (they were only trying to make a living), we will remember Morocco fondly.

The last hustler in Morocco

Out of Africa

We are exhausted. We've been constantly on the move since the Pula girls picked us up in Spain for Christmas. We're long overdue for a long break from our travels, so we're just going to hunker down for awhile and continue our journey as the weather starts to warm up in Europe.

See you in awhile.

 

[lightcycle]

So, how many miles are on the bikes now ???

I've just rolled over 200,000 kms, but I've had this bike for a while now. We got Neda's bike brand new for this trip and she has over 86,000 kms, which is what we've done on this trip!

 

[joeyabisa]

Hi guys!! Haven't been here in months.. Glad you see you guys are still rollin. Now I'll have to figure out where I left off- you guys were somewhere in Northern Italy at the time.

 

[Coby65]

Enjoy the rest!

Gonna be in the upper 60's and lower 70's next week in Heidelberg.

 

[dhawkins556]

Your journey has truly made me envious and has inspired me. This is an amazing story. Prayers for y'all's continued safety. Look forward to following along.

 

[Arlo]

Time to head north now.
The rain showers are getting warmer, but still wet, indead.

 

[lightcycle]

Hi everyone, we're back in Toronto for a short visit and we've been invited to give a presentation of our journey so far! If you're free and in town, please join us:

Thursday June 18th, 2015 6:30PM
Endras BMW
100 Achilles Road, Ajax, Ontario

We'll be talking about our trip and showing some of our pictures and videos. We'd love to meet you!

 

[profdlp]

That is great! I just started a new job and am pretty far away, but I would dearly love to be there. How about a webcast or video of the presentation? :ylsmoke: