Well it is certainly nice to be sleeping in my own bed again and not having to scout out a place to sleep every night. All in all it was a great trip. There were many obstacles, not the least of which was that at least one of us was sick at any given time. Then of course, the bikes decided to both give us some mechanical troubles. We did manage to get those under control eventually and it seems that Dal learned a lot more than he bargained for about bike mechanics along the way. He is a real natural at it though and kept a great attitude even when his bike acted up.

The country itself is really beautiful. I loved the High Atlas Mountains, although it perplexes me why someone who dubs herself the "world's slowest hill climber" would actually want to ride in them! The views were outstanding and you couldn't help but admire nature. I also have a lot of respect for the people who manage to find ways of living there and using the land's few resources so creatively. The coast was very charming too and it was great to see the big waves of the Atlantic again.

Outside of the city the traffic was light and for the most part, it was very courteous once we learned that the biggest vehicle always wins. I already knew that one, but Dal absorbed that lesson very quickly. There were very few vehicles that didn't have at least one glaring mechanical issue but that didn't stop people from driving them. The smog was brutal but also to be expected. The city traffic appeared chaotic, but was pretty easy to adapt to. Just wrap your nerves in steel and everyone seems to magically not run you down. The drivers have an amazing ability to fit into the tiniest of spaces and not hit anything.

The people left me with conflicting views. I met some incredible people that were genuinely nice, helpful, good people. Unfortunately, most people look at a foreigner the same way they would an ATM machine... by trying to extract money from us. It gets very old, very quickly. Sadly, the incessant demands made us actually avoid contact with people, which is one of the main reasons why I like bike touring in the first place. Riding a bike usually presents the rider with so many opportunities to speak with local people. After a few days, we found ourselves trying to find deserted places in which to stop and snack, drink or rest. On most tours, I like to stop somewhere to buy a drink/snack etc so I can speak with someone. It was rather sad to realize what we were doing and for that reason, I wouldn't go out of my way to return to Morocco. Luckily, there were many people that we met who made up for the thousands of annoying ones. Of course, nothing could make up for the rotten kids, but at least they didn't throw stones at us and I am grateful for that. There are several African countries where kids thow stones at cyclists which is obviously not a bright thing to do for all concerned.

The camel ride was a big highlight too. I know it is a dorky, touristy thing to do, but it was really quite fun. The camel didn't even spit at me once! The town of Essaouira was another highlight. It is possible to enjoy the charm, history and action of an old town without nearly the pressure to spend your money as you get in Marrakech. Besides, the cycling there was fabulously relaxing.

This was one of the shortest tours on my quest to cycle tour on all the non-frozen continents but it was still nice. It will be hard to top the South American tour, which was the one to inspire me to reach this crazy goal of cycling the continents. Now that I have done what I set out to do, I am looking forward to riding more in Canada and possibly returning to South America to check out some other areas.

Thanks for following me on my ride!