Nov 24/09


I have really enjoyed our time in Essaouira. Riding north was quite nice. The road was under construction for the last day so we got to ride on the freshly paved side that was blocked to traffic. Heaven! Eventually we turned north onto a bumpier road but there was very little traffic and no kids jumping out at us. We did catch a few glimpses of the coast during our ride and one lookout point even had a few camels there for tourists to hop on and get a photo taken. Seems rather silly to just sit on one and not ride it, but people must because there were a few camels there.

The ride south to Sidi Kaourki was fabulous. There wasn't much traffic, especially once we got past the airport road 15km south. The beach was pretty quiet although we likely didn't hit the right tidal conditions for all of the surfer dudes. When we were leaving we saw about 20 cars come in all at once and they all had surfboards. Guess we missed that show but at least we had a bit of peace and quiet on the beach.

Today we hopped a bus back to Marrakech. There just wasn't time to cycle back, especially in light of how far one has to go before finding a place to sleep. So, in three hours we went from lovely laid back Essaouira to wildly chaotic Marrakech. It is quite the adrenaline rush riding through town but we managed to find our hotel with only a few wrong turns. My navigational skills have been much better than normal on this trip.

Unfortunately, we are getting a lot of hassles from one idiot at the hotel. I am trying hard to not let it leave me with a bad taste in my mouth but this guy has really pushed me over the edge. I think I will start a campaign called "I hate the Hotel Sherazade". Oh well, I am pretty sure there are more important campaigns to be started in life but it helps to at least put it in writing.

Well I really do not have a maternal bone in my body because I just sold my oldest kid today. I put an ad up on Lonely Planet and found a taker for Sheila. Sheila is my mountain bike and was so named because her first tour was in Australia. One thing I have learned on this trip is that I am not likely to ever take another tour that involves a lot of dirt roads. Even if I do, it would have to be on a different bike. Sheila has always given me nasty saddle sores no matter how much adjusting and changing of saddles I have done. This time was just the end of the road. I am not much of a mountain biker anyway so now the family has shrunk to just Rover, Ruby and Gumby. Sheila did great for her time but she is definitely with a local who will take great care of her. They simply don't have access to good bikes here so it was a great opportunity for Hachim and the cool part is that I don't have to lug her through the airports tomorrow.

Off for some R&R now and then tomorrow we will just wander around and soak up the sights and sounds of Marrakech before starting the long journey home.