The Road to Marrakesh

Day 68
Thursday 3rd September 2009

We had decisions to make this morning - stay in this amazing place with this lovely family or hop in with Simo to Marrakesh. After going round in circles we opted for the Simo option. We said our goodbyes and gave a promise we'd return. 

Simo arrived at Balmagne with a Japanese girl in tow who I think was more than a travel partner. He wasn't as bubbly as yesterday but explained he'd only had 15 minutes sleep. This didn't hamper his ability to drive the difficult mountainous roads with the drive full of windy lanes wrapped around monster mountains with deep deep valleys a couple of thousand metres down below. 

We had one stop off which was a bit obscure. Simo pulled up outside a cafe showing a horse race from France. He appeared to have a wager on it and got back in the car after the race a lot more sober than when he had left. 

Layla had previously offered to drive if needed and with 60 km to go she took over the reigns taking our deadlocked friend by surprise with her driving on these difficult roads. He took the wheel back as we entered Marrakesh having banter with any motorist or pedestrian who caught his eye. He was what you would call 'a character'. 

He dropped us at the bus station and we head off to the Medina checking out a number of guesthouses before deciding on a bit of a bargain. Already we felt this city had the edge on Fes. The place had a buzz about it although we had probably seen more westerners in the taxi ride into the city than we had seen in our entire Morocco trip so far.