Mar 10, 2013 - Colors, Scents & Sounds

Our first organized group tour! There are 9 of us travellers - all about the same age, all very active and even more compatible. Our young tour guide, Youssef, is having trouble getting the group to "yalla! yalla!" (let's go! let's go!) There are two couples from Australia, a couple from Windsor, Ontario, and a single woman from Montreal. Morocco is a land of colors, smells and the sounds of daily calling to prayer over loud speakers wherever you are. The landscape is very diverse from lush green valleys, to the high, brown Atlas...

Mar 4, 2013 - Dakhla, Morocco

I have tried to add the town I am in at the moment, Dakhla, to the map, but it's so isolated that it can't be found by this website. It was certainly a long way down through miles and miles of desert, and have to say that I am pretty knackered now. It's going to be another early start tomorrow as I make my way finally to Mauritania, whereby I intend to spend the day at the second city, Nouadhibou, which is just a couple of hours across the border. No public transport goes there so I have arranged for a taxi to take me ( 35 euros for the 8...

Mar 2, 2013 - morocco

Well I managed to arrive in Morocco safe and sound after a night sleeping in Milan airport, where I was pretty much the only person there. Given that I managed next to no sleep, I was pretty well knackered when I finally arrived in Casablanca at eleven in the morning, and decided that I would spend a day there before catching the train the following day to Rabat, from where I am writing this. Didn't actually take any photos of "Casa" as I barely left my room due to copious amounts of sleep. Arrived in the capital, Rabat, on Thursday and...

Jan 9, 2013 - A new world

Just a quick update before leaving into the wild mountain of Morocco. I met Sam(the swiss cyclist) at the port in Algeciras. Sam has been on the road since April like me,on a different route,but a route that met with mine. We took the ferry across the strait of Gilbraltar together. It is always good to be 2 when you are about to step in another world. To adjust yourself with the lifestyle,culture and the feeling towards the residents. Big bad luck at first,our boat was 2hrs late and took longer than we thought to do its job. So we arrive in...

Nov 2, 2012 - Entry 17

11/2/12 Marrakech We took an overnight to Marrakech, which was about a 3 hour buss ride. We were told we were going to be camping, and that is all the information we received, even the staff didn’t know what to expect. Upon arrival, we met a tour guide who gave us a tour through an old palace, belonging to a former king. We saw the bedrooms of his 4 wives and the room where his 27 personal concubines lived. We learned that the current king recently made polygamy illegal, making Morocco one of the few Arab countries to not allow it. ...

Nov 2, 2012 - Entry 16

11/2/12 Agadir, Morocco The day we arrived and docked in Agadir, we did a massive BA or Bot Appreciation, in which we cleaned and took care of Argo. I had the luxury of cleaning the propane locker. I found some unidentifiable objects in there; I’m not sure when it was last cleaned. All the while, Captain Sam was dealing with customs. We were lucky in that Captain didn’t have to bribe the officers with packs of cigarettes, which apparently are kept on the boat somewhere for that exact purpose. It seems to make things easier and faster in...

Nov 2, 2012 - Entry 15

11/2/12 Essouira, Morocco I haven’t had a chance to write in a while, so I’ll be doing three entries in a row. A few days ago we arrived in Essouira from Gibraltar. It was a rough passage, so finally being anchored was nice. The town here was pretty cool, but we had to be careful. There was a lot of poverty and we bartered prices in most shops. I was also offered a variety of drugs in a variety of locations around the town, not something I am really use to. It was my first time in Africa so I thought it fitting to ride a camel. I was...

Oct 26, 2012 - Entry 14

10/26/12 Roughly 15 Nautical Miles off the coast of Morocco First time in the Atlantic Since yesterday at about midnight, life has been nearly hell aboard Argo. We’re stuck in some kind of odd weather formation, and moving at a speed of about 3 knots. The swells are about 10-12 feet high with the bigger ones getting to be 15-20 feet in height. By far the largest waves I have ever seen in person. This voyage was scheduled to be 3-3 1/2 days, but at the rate we are traveling, our eta is 4 days from now at the earliest. People are seasick, we...

Sep 17, 2012 - Morocco

Well, we are now in Marrakech after 5 days traveling around Morocco. Morocco has lived up to it's name in every way and everywhere we go, there is always something different. The landscape always changes from rocky outcrops to desert, to lush green oasis and they even have snow fields in the winter time! The weather has been lovely and warm but we have had long trips in the bus which can be tiring. Our tour guide is English and she reminds us of a cross between Dawn French and Hyacinth Bucket! Her English humor has us laughing and she tells...

Sep 14, 2012 - Morocco

We are now in Casablanca ready to start our journey through Morocco. Casablanca is quite a dusty city full of crazy drivers and have discovered where old Mercedes end up after their used by date and that is as a taxi. We don't know any more at this stage and not sure whether we will have wi fi at other hotels on the wa. But if we do, we will do an update. So, wish us luck on this adventure.

Jun 13, 2012 - Farewell Morocco

The famous Place Jemaa El Fna square in Marrakech is a fascinating place.  Part of it is set up with food stalls, but with lots of space for snake charmers, acrobats, groups of musicians, women wanting to do henna designs, horses and carriages and the "dentists".  The dentists have a small table with a pile of extracted teeth and a variety of false teeth.  Teeth are removed without the assistance of anesthetic or antiseptic as far as we could see. Argan oil  trees grow in the Essaouira coastal region.  They will survive in 50 degree...

Jun 5, 2012 - More Morocco

Morocco has a varied landscape - snowy peaks of the Atlas mountains, high rugged rocky mountains, fertile, green oasis valleys where rivers flow, Atlantic coastline of fishing villages and ports and the shapely sand dunes to the east.  Fossils abound, showing that Morocco was once a seabed. Within the valleys, there is a system of water channels for irrigation, where a variety of fruit and vegetables flourish.  Date palms, pomegranates, almonds, figs, walnuts, plums, apples, apricots, peaches, cherries, oranges, nectarines.  Right now...