• Date: Nov 12, 2024
• Starting Location: Marrakesh, Morocco
• Ending Location: Marrakesh, Morocco
• Mileage: 0 Km distance
• Total Mileage So Far: 1909 Km (1186.2 Miles)

Breakfast

Breakfast was an orgy of food.  The room was about the size of a football field, filled with 6 large tables of food, with another 2 on the side for pastries.  There was also an Omelette station, and a pancake station.  This was the largest and most amazing breakfast of the trip.

Laundry days

After riding for several days without doing laundry, it was time to get this done.  So, the one hour process of soaking, washing, hanging, and ringing took about an hour.  We hung all of the clothes over hangers, and placed as many hangers as possible outside on the balcony.  By 6 PM, the laundry was dry, and we were good to go.

The market in Marrakesh

Our new friends from Ghana

As we were waiting for the shuttle bus to come and take us to the market, we waited patiently outside the hotel entrance. I noticed a black woman sitting nearby, and as I was sitting down, she asked me what we were doing. I mentioned we were going to take the shuttle downtown, and I asked her what she was doing. She said that she was “working on her tan”, to which I commented that it’s coming along very well indeed.

After talking with the woman, we learned that she and her husband were doctors, who lived in Ghana, and they were enjoying a vacation in Morocco. As it turns out, both of these two were gynecologists, and the man spoke 3 languages, while the woman spoke 6 languages.

Wow, here I am, an educated American, and I speak only one language, yet this nice couple, who come from a country that was described as an s-hole country, spoke 3 and 6 languages between the two of them. It seems to me that we need to be much more humble, less arrogant, and more global in our thinking if we are to truly be global citizens.

Here’s a picture of the two of these fine doctors, posing with Elizabeth.

Getting to the market

The hotel that we were staying at is on the outskirts of Marrakesh. Keeping the hotel out of the downtown area of the city makes it much easier for us to arrive, and depart in the morning. The hotel was also a golf resort, and so it was quiet, and very beautiful, and much cheaper than a downtown hotel.

The main problem with staying in a hotel like this is that if you’d like to go downtown, you need to either ride the bikes in heavy traffic, or use the hotel’s shuttle bus. We opted for the shuttle bus. The bus would depart the hotel at 11:00 AM, and arrive downtown by about 11:30 or so.

We arrived at downtown, near the market square at about 11:35. We then made the 6 minute walk to the market, and began our quest.

We needed to be aware that the return shuttle would depart from this same location at 12:30, or again at 3:30. So, we either got things done quickly, or stayed downtown for 3 hours or more.

The Market

We arrived at the market and we were immediately surprised the only about 50% of the vendors from the previous night were in the market selling their things. As it turns out, most of the area in the center of the square is open, and does not have permanent storefronts. Instead, this area is usually filled with vendors that sell foods of various types. So, at night, the entire marketplace is full of people and activity, with roughly half of the area taken up with food stations.

The shuttle arrived at the square at 11:55 AM, and we set my watch GPS with a dropped pin, and began walking to the square.  After only 6 minutes, we arrived at the entrance to the square, and started walking around,  It took only another minute to find a snake charmer, and so off to the races we went.

So, we arrived and began looking for a snake charmer. It didn’t take more than a minute to find our man.

The snake charmer

Since our trip to the square of Marrakesh yesterday, I’ve received reports that some of those within our group had seen a snake charmer in action.  I couldn’t take the fact that I missed this once-in-a-lifetime event, so as I stated, on this morning, at 11:30, we boarded the shuttle, and headed to the square.

All of the performers in the market square are very skilled in reading the customer, and they speak multiple languages.  So, depending on your body language, and how you either say yes or no, they adjust their sales pitch to what they think you might like.  It seems that our snake charmers were especially good in this area, and they pegged me within seconds.

Almost with saying a word, I had a snake around my neck, and was told to extend my left arm, and place 2 fingers under the snakes head.  The viper happily accepted my offer, and he stayed perched around my neck, with his body extending out from mine.

Generally, I don’t become uneasy in situations like this, but having a venomous viper around your neck, while you watch a cobra dance can shake a man’s confidence.  Nevertheless, I continued and squatted down.  After a few moments, the charmers grabbed our phones, and started taking pictures and videos.

The charmer grabbed the cobra’s body, and slid him to within 8” of me.  Then, he started to antagonize the snake by using his hands, or his hat.  After a few provoking movements, the cobra started to attack the hat.  We captured all of this on video, and also captured a picture of the cobra, with it’s mouth open, ready to strike.  What an ominous picture it was, and what an experience it was.

We stood up, and tried to offer 20 Dihram, but he just looked at me and laughed.  He said “Paper please sir”.  So, I tossed a 100 Dihram note into the hat, but this also was not going to get it done.  After much negotiation, we settled on 300 Dihram, or about $29 USD.  In my opinion, this price is a great deal, allowing me to capture an amazing moment.

Fruit Smoothies

After visiting with the snakes, we headed over to one of the fruit stands where we bought 2 delicious smoothies, for 40 Dihram, or about $4 USD.  Today’s smoothies were even better than yesterday, and they were really refreshing.

Once we got the smoothies, we looked at our watch, and noticed that it was now only 12:15 PM.  So, we had done all of this in only 20 minutes, and if we hurried, we could be back in the shuttle, headed for home at 12:30.  And so, off we went.

The trip home

If we had missed the 12:30 shuttle, we would have had to stay at the square for 3 more hours, or take a cab.  Since we had accomplished what we set out for, we seized the moment, and hightailed it for the hotel.

The weather

The Moroccan heat

We expected today to be a hot one, and we weren’t disappointed. I suspect that we reached temperatures of about 90F today, as we walked around the market. Luckily, we have a pool at the hotel…

Lunch

Lunch by the pool with friends, and then off to the pool and to play ping pong.  What a nice way to spend a day off of the bikes.

A report from the road

Dinner

Tonight’s dinner was simple but elegant.  We stayed at the hotel restaurant, so that we didn’t have to deal with a late night, or getting on the bikes. Dinner was a grand buffet, and we ate like kings once again.

What will tomorrow bring

Tomorrow, we’ve got to ride about 250 miles to Rabat, Morocco’s capital.  The ride could be done on major highways, but although the ride will be slower and longer, we’ve chosen to take back roads, so I expect to arrive in Rabat after 5:00 PM.