We say goodbye to the Sahara with Craig and Aimee ("wearekingingit") and Chloé and James ("takeadriveonthewildside") and arrange to meet them for Christmas. They want to celebrate on the coast and since we have absolutely nothing planned, we gladly accept. That's where our path should lead us anyway, because to be honest, it's cold enough for us. We're in the mood for warmth and sun.
But "slowtravel" is our thing, so we take our time. We spend the first night towards the coast in the Todra Gorge, which tears open in front of us and is supposed to be a climbing paradise (if tourists can come again). We drive through the Date Gorge (which has absolutely no date palms - false advertising much?) and see mountain ranges called "Monkey fingers". In between we camp on the banks of reservoirs. These are mostly dry because there was no rain for far too long. But the ground is stable and bushes and trees protect us from the nearby roads. But not from the wind. He rushes mercilessly through the country. Once we even walk through a completely dry reservoir... It all seems very deserted, and only the plastic waste, which we unfortunately see again and again all over the country, indicates that there are often celebrations here.
Bureaucratic stopover
The only city we take time for is Ourzazate. Not because it's particularly beautiful. Or interesting. Or had anything to offer that we've heard about. No. Much more exciting: On the crossing from France to Morocco we got a visa and also our van. But that from our van expires at the end of the year. So we have to extend it. It's a good thing that the day before there was a message from the government stating that this can easily be done for vehicles up to mid-July 2022. Thank you, dear old virus...
The expected chaos of bureaucracy prevails: masks are mandatory, but actually not. We wait, an old gentleman in front of us, a lot of discussion, we are sent to an office, it seems as if the bureaucrat in front of us is using a PC for the first time. The mouse doesn't work, he can't find paper, let alone a pen. We get everything we need, the visa, a letter for customs for the drone, a smile, three other people walking into the office, him leaving and coming again and again. We walk back with all our papers and treat ourselves with a visit to a public hammam (1 CHF, separate entrances for men and women) to celebrate the day. Then we visit Aït Ben Haddou - location for Game of Thrones, Gladiator and other films that I do not know. We are alone again. Alone in a village that otherwise has up to 1000 visitors a day. Almost everything is closed and after a walk we drive on again.
The sound of the sea, street dogs and a starry sky
After almost a week of leisurely road tripping, with many stops for souks, patisseries and vegetable stalls, we drive through Agadir, change the fuel filter and spend the first night right on the coast. Behind us a small fishing settlement of brightly painted houses. In front of us the Atlantic. Sunset included... plus the sound of the sea, street dogs and a starry sky. The next day there is an impromptu shave for Luca and on to Imsouane - a surf hot spot - for Christmas Eve.
Our van is having problems
To reach the small village we have to take a narrow, semi-asphalted road that leads downhill. In itself neither the steepest nor the most dangerous road that we have seen so far. But it goes on quite a long time. Just when we think we've made it and are glad that our brakes did everything without a problem, we arrive at the first houses. And with us a cruel knocking in the engine compartment. The knocking persists even when coasting in idle gear. It hurts us to hear, but that's how we move on to the parking lot. Christmas is supposed to be full of surprises, right?
In any case, Moroccans are there to help as well as a few people from the UK and a mechanic is organized. That's nice, but when he advises us to change the transmission oil and simply use olive oil, we begin to doubt his skills. We like to do handicrafts and improvise from time to time (like with the shower at the moment), but pouring food into the innards of the van is going too far for us. Luckily, just then, a tattooed, tanned french hippie Surfer walks by and joins the conversation. It turns out he also drives a van. Although Renault, but almost the same year and much more important: the same transmission. We get a few tips from him and on the next day the contact of a trustworthy mechanic.
Christmas, the sea and rain
The other vanlifers make themselves comfortable in Craig and Aimee's large converted bus and start a movie night. We're cooking dinner and finish editing our first episode. It's all taking so much longer than expected. Also simply because we want too much. At least that's how it feels. In addition to the subtitles for our dialect parts, there are subtitles in German and English for YouTube, the timing of these, uploading and checking whether it violates YouTube guidelines or contains protected music, which it does, so change it again and searching and re-uploading with new music, all over Christmas and during three different video calls with our families and friends. It's all different than expected, but still a nice christmas eve. our first little moive is suddenly online.
December 25th is the actual Christmas feast - at least for the British. And we join in. It's raining. Nobody expected it, but somehow that's exactly how we imagine Christmas in the UK to be. The menu is surprisingly very, very clear for everyone. As a surprise we bring a lentil salad and the others split the contributions. It seems normal that there is exactly one menu. Throughout the island. Potatoes, turkey (or seitan in our case), broccoli, stuffing, nutloaf, sooo much gravy and scalloped cauliflower. Our lentil salad is completely out of place. We eat, drink, laugh, make music and enjoy the evening. The people are fun, the weather sucks, but it doesn't matter. James and Chloé have an awning and we all fit under it. What more do you want?
Life in the parking lot
We stay 4 days in the parking lot with the others. The days are calm and the weather is getting better. We meet Cami again, the Belgian backpacker from our first workaway. On the third day we even try our hand at surfing. The conditions are not as perfect as they usually are supposed to be. Luca still manages to get up and ride a small wave. The water is still cold but the wetsuits make it very bearable. In the evening we try our hand at cooking a tagine for the first time. We bought the pot from one of the souks on the way here. Marco, a Moroccan who looks after the parking lot and the cars during the day, helps us with the preparation. Alex even bought one of the small clay ovens on which you can cook the tajine over charcoal. For our test, it turns out really well, only the bottom layer is burned.
However, we want to move on, especially into the air. We want to fix our car and finally fly, so we say goodbye and take the road south...
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