From Neverwhere to Nowhere

Arrival in Marrakesh was a breeze - the police waved them through with no security checks or anything (must know who they are, darling!), and they found their hotel without too much trouble. After just one night of camping, the standards by which luxury are judged had come down considerably, and even though the bedroom was tiled and the bathroom wasn't, even though every time two appliances were plugged in the lights flickered, even though there was a three inch gap between the bottom of the curtain and the bottom of the window, it was cause for celebration just to have a bed to sleep in.

Not long after the last time I posted, my little brother had an unexpected phone call from mum, who was having a problem explaining to the local 'fixer' in Marrakesh what was wrong with the car. What use is a son with a degree in French and German if he can't find some way of talking about gearboxes with anyone in the world? He did some sterling work under pressure, and Peg was duly taken away and brought back three hours later with a functioning starter motor and four whole gears - excellent! And all or the equivalent of about £50. They had a salad in a roof bar listening to the prayer call, considered buying a camel but decided they didn't have space to carry it, and then re-packed the car when she was brought back, struggling to maintain equally easy access to shorts and thermal underwear as both are equally necessary over the next leg of the journey, depending on what time of day it is.

As that was sorted out, a nice meal seemed in order, so rather than stay at the hotel, the team were brave enough to take along their usual companions to try the tajine at the soukh. Mum was blown away by the transformation of the square: by day there are stalls selling almost anything you can think of (no Burger King though, sorry Cheryl!), including various things that are difficult to even identify a possible use for, and snake charmers (which isn't their friend Ross's favourite part - he hates snakes so much that apparently he likes to get up at 3am just to hate them some more when they're least expecting it); by night it -is- the floating market from Neverwhere - incense smoke mingling with food smoke and a heady mix of scents, all backlit by the lights on the mosque. There was almost an altercation about the price of the meal - traders in Marrakesh are quite savvy about tourists and how much extra they might get away with charging - but there was a fast attitude adjustment when it became obvious that the twelve of them (including ex-army nutters) didn't want to pay vastly over the odds.

Yesterday was a day off in Marrakesh, the girls did plan to go handbag shopping but found the soukh too draining in the end to carry on. There are tiny children pestering and trying to sell rubbish, and women with babies pleading for money and food, and mum and Jane must have soft written all over them, because they were targeted instantly by any of these kind of beggars. They were finding it very difficult. The other teams caught up at the hotel by the end of the day as well, and after another evening surrounded by boisterous british banter, they decided to reconvene at the car park at 7am for a quick getaway.

Today's drive was nothing short of spectacular, despite the fact that Peg's second gear has gone again. The Tiz-n-Test pass runs 6800ft above sea level, through ice and snow and back down into 41 degree heat, cacti, lemon and orange groves, and slowly encroaching desert. Photographs are not allowed up there, some teams have been in trouble for taking them, but mum says it would be difficult to take any that really conveyed the place accurately anyway as everything is a sandy colour. There are houses just cut into the rock in the mountains, and no western people at all. Children ran from their homes to wave, and chased the car for a mile just for a lollipop. OK, that sounds wrong - I don't mean they were holding a lollipop out of the window and taunting exhausted infants running behind them, I mean when they stopped they found children ran to them! On the other side of the mountains, the land was very arid apart from the odd fruit grove, and donkeys laden 12ft wide with some kind of green herb. The teams drove until 7pm, when they reached the small coast town near Tiznit where they had planned to camp for the night. Bad things happened! They should have taken the donkey who joined in with the muezzin (and did a better job) as an omen rather than a comedy moment, perhaps... The camping site was closed and would have been too small for all the teams in any case, and then when they drove back into town they found there were only three hotels - the one they settled for first had communal bathrooms and so on but was acceptable, apart from one small hiccup: they hadn't factored in consideration of the fact their vehicles may need protection! As soon as they walked away from the cars, local people approached and began trying the doors of them, and there was generally a very threatening atmosphere. It didn't take long to reach the conclusion that whatever the cost, there wasn't really any other option than the very smart ex-french-fort hotel on top of the hill, with the secure parking compound. As it turns out, it wasn't all that expensive, and the price includes dinner and breakfast - hurrah, they have found themselves staying in the place with what may well be the last European style loo on this trip!

Here's a photo of mum and Jane, along with Birmingham Irish, Dynamo Dysart, Are We There Yet, Bob Mali and Teletubbies. Don't they all look happy?