Morocco,
Yeah! Ready for our adventures and experiences from the first 7 weeks? You will read about our journey along the coast until Essaouria, our meeting with friends from home, being in the desert, climbing in the Gorge du Todra and making a trekking tour with our donkey Beddu and much more!
Another blog about Morocco will follow with our point of views about the culture, the country and its people and also the impact of the tourism.
6 OCTOBER 2015
When the ferryboat started moving we thought we were sitting in a speedboat. Big waves made the boat shaking like hell and Beate felt not very fine at all ;)… We left Tarifa with many impressions and everything went faster than we thought!!! So we arrived in Morocco… We went off of the boat and didn’t have a very fixed plan-but everything went so fast.
Driving down the coast we were looking for a camping; our first payed night after more than one year! It was not so exciting;)we did that because we were not sure how it will be doing wild camping in Morocco and that’s why we decided to go to a camping the first night.
After our first paid night we were driving along the coast versus Agadir were our friends would arrive at the 18th of October. So we had not so much time to hang around as usual. For the second night we stopped on a big parking at the beach where we wanted to spend the night. I was walking around and met a guy. This man was around 50 years old, very strong and calm. His French was little and do not understand a word Arab. We ate together and he explained us that he is a fisherman. He asked us if we want to sleep at the parking and we said yes. He didn’t say a word…but suddenly he said: “Maroc, pas de confience”. He wanted us to go to his house because it is much more safe there. We decided to do it because we had a very good feeling with this man and we trusted him. We drove some kilometres to Kenitra, a city situated 50 km before Rabat. They destroyed their backyard fence for us; we felt bad, but they wanted to this for our security. They always repeated: “Maroc pas de confience!” The fishermen didn’t have a wife, but lives together with his brothers, their children and wife, their mother and two others. The house looks unfinished, the floors are made out of sand and the rooms are almost empty. They have no fluent water but a source in their garden with fresh water. There is also no electricity but a little solar panel for light. They are poor and live a simple but peaceful life. When we arrived we got some tee and the whole family was very kind to us. We had dinner together and it was very delicious. They always eat on the floor, a little table with one big plate. They serve fresh and delicious homemade bread which you use as your fork. For us it can be strange or even a bit disgusting to eat out of one big plate with hands but here in Marocco it is very normal and after a short time I liked it more and more. From the moment on that Beate wanted to help in the kitchen she also got more and more involved into the traditional Moroccan women’s roll. At home the men usually sit around, smoke and wait until the food is ready and the women cook and clean. We spent two nights at the fishermen’s family and we appreciated a lot how friendly they were and enjoyed the Moroccan way of sharing. Very poor but so generous. Sometimes it was not always easy with the people because of the language barrier and every moment they wanted to know what we are going to do and they did not let us doing anything by our own- you feel a bit like a baby… So our private moments became less and less and this was a bit tiring. They wanted that we stay longer and insisted that we come back to their place before going to Spain. We left with a happy feeling having met them but we were also content being able again to do what we want to.
Our next stop was Rabat, the capital of Morocco. My father knows a German family there, who works for the embassy. Back to Europe! A house like we know it from Germany with fluent water etc... The hospitality was the same and we felt very fine there, we had some more freedom to do what we want to. Incredible how different people life their live on this planet! We visited Rabat and had good moments with the family and playing with their children.
Then we drove further down south and stopped again at a parking near to the beach called Lala Fatna. It was already dark and we drove in the night witch is tiring a lot. At the parking we directly fell asleep but suddenly a person knocked on the door. It was a young guy who again said: “Maroc, pas de confience!”. He wanted us to drive down to another parking with a guard. We did so and had a safe night. It was a little surf camp and we had a good time with the guys. The beach was fantastic and the place very calm.
We still had a lot of kilometres to drive to meet our friends and the time ran fast. So we left Lala Fatna and after one day driving we reached Sidi Kaouki close to Essauira! A wonderful beach and a good surf spot, too. I had my first good surf experience. We told our friends to meet there. Max and Andi from Germany and Niclas and Rahel with her two children from Switzerland. So we were a big group. It was great to see our friends. Unfortunately it began heavily raining for some days and we decided to drive to the mountains for some climbing. Our destination was Gorge du Todra, 600 km situated from the beach and some bad roads to drive. That meant 2 days driving. But it was it worth!! The Gorge is amazing and we had some good and crazy climbing there. Niclas and Rahel left earlier but we stayed with Andi and Max some more days. One day we split up for climbing. Andi and Max did a multipitch (climbing a long route -over 200m- and walking down on a path) and me and Beate did another one. We wanted to meet in a café after climbing but that never happened. The climbing was tiring because the routes were harder than we thought and we finished our last route in the dark with one headlight. Arriving at the top we were fucked up ;). Up there should be a track leading down to the Gorge but we did not find it and walked into the wrong direction leading another path. It became cold, we were thirsty, hungry and very tired… Luckily we found some water pools for drinking. It was getting late and we were lost. We were wondering what Andi and Max were doing because we didn´t have phone contact with them and we were afraid that they are very worried .So we wanted to go down as fast as possible but there was nearly no hope finding the right way. After more than 2 hours walking we heard some voices. I said to Beate this is our last chance not to sleep up in the mountains. So we walked closer to the voices and found a nomad family! They just watched us, no words – nothing! We tried to make contact but this was not so easy. They started laughing. We were still wearing all our climbing equipment. A man understood that we were lost and that we needed help to find the right track down. This man showed us the way. It took us almost two more hours to arrive at the Gorge. Down at the street the man wanted money but we didn’t have anything with us. We were disappointed because we thought that he helped us because we were in need. It was a very strange situation. We gave him my watch and 20dh, but he refused it and threw it on the ground. He was angry, very angry and we were standing in front of each other not knowing what to do. After a while we decided to go home. After going away we didn’t exchange a word for a while. We didn’t know what to think about the situation. We should have been enthusiastic being safely down but it was a bit covered by this strange meeting. But of course we were happy meeting our friends at the camp! It was a great moment to hug them! We were chatting about the adventure, laughing about ourselves and were happy that everything went fine. Not just we but also them had some crazy climbing! We all were very hungry and nearly killed 1 KG of pasta and went to sleep late at night.
The next day we drove to the desert, Merzouga.
The desert is used as a very touristic place to show around the tourists, making camel or jeep tours, sleeping in berber tents etc. As soon as you arrive there are several people who want you to come to their auberge. Luckily we found one a bit further and out of the city. We parked the bus in front of the dunes and put up the tent. We arrived during the sunset and the colours were amazing. We could use the shower of the hotel and the people from there were very friendly. We got tea, bread and made fire outside. We prepared the traditional dish tajine on the fire and enjoyed the huge sky with all the stars. Quite spontaneous we were convinced doing a camel tour and sleeping in the middle of the desert. It was a lot of fun to share this with Andi and Max! Riding on a camel is not that comfortable as you think but very funny. Arriving there in the camp we got food, and there was a snowboard with which we could have fun in the dunes. Somehow it was great to do this tour but also very touristic! We sat around the fire while the berbers were making music and tried us making dancing. It felt like the people have to animate us. The young boys of the camp were also flirting a lot with the girls. Afterwards we also had an open and interesting talk with one of the boys about their work. They are between two worlds. The European and their own culture and I got the feeling that this makes them ill and confused. You can also call it a bit sex tourism when lonesome European women come to Morocco searching for a young man. The people from here get the hope to go to Europe and this is a devil circle. Every day the same and they just can think about women and sex…
After some great days in the desert Andi and Max left, we felt back in time when we left Leeuwarden in 2014 and we were sad that they left.
From on there we were “alone” again and we had to get used to that. We stayed some more days in the desert, visited a nomad family in the black desert and stayed there for the night. We just could talk with our hands and feet, played with the little boy and prepared bread on fire. It is amazing to see how less fire wood the nomads use for cooking!! We caught water with the donkey at a source and enjoyed the calm and peace. Unfortunately also there “arrived” the tourism and another women begged for clothes, she grabbed me and I felt very uncomfortable. Also the education of her son was different- shouting, beating etc… I was happy when she left and when it was calm again.
After staying in the desert we decided to go back to Gorge Du Todra for some more climbing. We did another multi pitch, it also became dark but luckily we knew this time more or less the way down. In the Gorge we got to know a guide who invited us 20km upwards to his auberge. We were sceptic and said that we want to do some more climbing and wanted to be a bit alone. We met him several times and started to trust him, because it was quite chilled with him. Finally we made some shopping together to prepare couscous at his place. Arriving at the auberge his brothers were very friendly and they prepared the couscous and all was really relaxed. The guide knew that we wanted to do some trekking in the atlas and after a while we got very enthusiast by the idea of making a trek with a donkey. The guide said that he would help us buying a donkey and the bags etc… We were very thankful and couldn’t wait until we would leave. All in all it went very fast. He knew somebody of the village who wanted to sell his donkey and we immediately fell in love with Beddu. But buying the donkey was not that easy than we thought. The guide negotiated for us but we got the feeling that he was not open, so we wanted to see the owner of the donkey. We informed us shortly via internet about prices for a donkey- 1000DH- but we should pay 2700DH so we became sceptic. Beddu was already with us for two days but still not paid. The next day we wanted to leave. Everything was packed, but suddenly the owner did not want to sell the donkey anymore. We were desperate and felt betrayed. Then David talked to the owner of the donkey and we bought Beddu for 2500Dh. The people convinced us that this is the normal price for a good, tall and strong donkey. The next day we left very enthusiastic. Beddu was packed and we wanted to make a tour for 3-4 weeks. Everything was new and we enjoyed a lot walking through the mountains and felt huge freedom. During the days it was getting hot, but the sunset was early and it was getting cold during the night. So we woke up early and went early to bed. A great rhythm! In the evenings we lit a little fire and enjoyed the little things and a simple life. We could also laugh a lot about Beddu with his funny expressions when he smelled the shit of other donkeys and when he was singing. But handling a donkey is not always easy!! When he saw other female donkeys he got crazy!!! I could not hold him anymore, he was jumping around, falling down we had to unpack him again and we were all exhausted at the end. At night we had to fix him very good because otherwise he ran away. His legs were already injured of the owner before and we made bandages so that his legs do not become worse. One day we looked out of the tent and could not believe our eyes. Somehow our loved donkey managed to free himself. Early in the morning we had to search for him more than one hour and we were very worried that we have lost him. But luckily we always found him somewhere eating or with another donkey!
During our trek we sometimes walked through little villages and sometimes there was nothing for more than 30km. In the mountains we saw lots of nomads, caves and other animals. It was so peaceful. We had food for several days and were really independent. In the little villages we got invited by the people for some tea with bread and we also slept two times at people´s house. The people in the mountains are very helpful and friendly without wanting anything in return. That felt awesome and sometimes it was even hard just to receive without giving nothing in return. Far away from all the tourism and all the money we made the best contact with the people! But there was some heavy thing lying on our breast! We got to know that our guide betrayed us with the price for the bags and for the donkey. We tried not to think about it but that was not easy because we were very disappointed of him and also angry. Furthermore we had to recognise that Beddu was also not doing well- he is an old donkey, not that strong as the people said and not prepared for such a long travel. Sometimes he fell down or walked really slowly.
We also had a lot of contact with the official security mans and police because everybody was nervous of the attacks in Paris. We had police protection and this felt quite strange. Day and night the police knew if we were fine and where we were. Someday they lost our trace and became really nervous. They informed people in Rabat about that fact. For us this was funny but also annoying. Sometimes we heard from one person we never met before: “Monsieur David, everything fine?? Where do you go….? “
When we nearly walked 100km we arrived at a little village called Amellago and where searching for water because we knew that the next 40km there will be nearly nothing. We were walking down to the river and met a man. He said that we can take water of his refuge which is much closer and we agreed. The meeting with him was really impressive. He is like a rock. He set Pink Floyd very loud and the atmosphere was very special. In our mind we planned to go further but then everything came different. Our donkey lay down with all his package and decided to stay. Hamid the owner of the refuge Blue looked at the donkey and told us that he is not made for our trip and we had to agree unfortunately. That was the ending of our trekking but not of the story with the donkey. We still felt betrayed and sad for the donkey… Hamid advised us to bring back the donkey and to ask back the money. All went very fast!! The next day he managed a truck for us and Beddu and we drove back. I never imagined until that day about sitting in an old and noisy Bedfort!! Our feelings were mixed up with anger, sadness and disappointment. I did not know what to think about all this!! I just wanted to continue our trekking in calm and peace! But this was an illusion! We came closer and closer to the village and I got even more nervous not knowing what will happen the next hours. Arriving there just the brothers of the guide were present and we had to wait for him the whole day. Luckily the were some very cool Spanish people, so the explosive atmosphere got unsharpened!! We chatted with them and waited.
The brothers were nervous because suddenly the police came and they thought that we would have called them but that wasn’t the case. Here in Morocco the people are quite afraid of the police and their authority. They were afraid that they would close the auberge and that they have to pay a fine. Back to the story, the police left after a while and in the evening our guide finally arrived and the discussion began. We knew that the price for a donkey like Beddu is about 700DH but the owner got 1500Dh and bought a new young and strong one and our guide took 1000DH in his pockets. Also for the bags we paid much too much but this money was gone. We were making bla bla, the guide made senseless excuses and I could not hear anymore all the lies!! I got tired and sick of it! In the end our guide paid us 1200Dh we made a lot for 200Dh and his brothers helped out and bought the donkey for 700Dh. All in all we paid also 1000Dh for the donkey, the bags and the transport…. That was not the cheapest adventure, but every day we can laugh more and more about it. The saddest thing is that Beddu is not with us anymore! Further it is quite strange taking money from people knowing that they don’t have much. But this is not an affair about money but about principles and honesty. We could not have left the people peacefully knowing that they betrayed us. This was a big learning moment and I am proud of us that we managed that situation peacefully. But we also know that the guide will probably do it again and that all the tourism and concurrency is not good for him. It is all about money and that makes me sad! And that also fits not to the other Moroccans we got to know and who like to share without anything in return!!! We left the auberge and went back to Amellago to Hamid. We still had in our mind that the trek is not over and we had to adapt a bit again to the situation. We chilled and cooked at Hamid´s place. He is an awesome narrator and he has a very interesting lifeline and it is very curious to listen to him. He is a very honest person and we enjoyed a lot his company. Also the place Amellago is really magic, you have always blue sky, no tourists and a great view to the surrounding mountains.
A place we could imagine to stay longer… we enjoy it a lot. The next blog will continue here in Amellago!