Heathrow, London... In Transit.

On my way to Nepal, the cheapest way was to fly through London, with a
24 hour layover. So to save money I decided to hang out in the airport
cafes and make a little bed in a small corner for the night at the new
terminal. It took a while before my brain kicked in and realized I had
friends living in London that I could have stayed with, or at the very
least, meet up for lunch. So to all my friends in London, I'm sorry
for not thinking ahead. I'm such a fool!

Camel Trek Slideshow!

Camel Trek....NOT!

When I returned to Marrakech I had planned to go on a three day camel
trek and booked it the night I got back, at the last minute.
Unfortunately, I had no itinerary or any information about the tour
except that there were camels and I had to wake up at 6am the first day.

So, the next morning started with about 15 of us tourists plopped in a
van and driven off. Most of it was driving for an hour or two with
stops here and there. The driver only spoke Arabic and French, so when
we stopped it was never clear how long we had. I mean I even asked in
French and the driver told me one time and then another person who
asked would get another time. We had no tour guide and it was only
after the 3rd or 4th stop when we all realized there were things to
see at the seemingly random stops we thought were bathroom breaks.
Some people started to complain, while I just sat back laughing to the
ridiculousness of the whole thing. I mean how great a business is
that, to take people on a tour and just hire a driver not speaking any
of the languages of the tourists and just drive and stop at places
giving no information.

On the second night and hundreds of kilometers away we finally reached
the camel trek part of the tour. From the other tourists I found out
that the camel rides were suppose to take about two hours each way, to
and from the Berber camp in the desert. Everyone was excited and
sunset was quickly approaching. Once we got on the camels everyone was
talking and joking around. After a half an hour the group were not so
talkative or joyous anymore due to the uncomfortable seating on the
camels. For some reason they only placed a single blanket for padding
on the hump of the camel and felt that was enough for tourists.

When we finally reached the Berber camp site it was pitch black and
everyone was aching, tired, and starving. As we all crawled into a
huge communal tent we were served some nice tea to fend of the dessert
cold. After a while we all started to wonder if we were going to have
dinner, but only could get a less than definitive answer from the
camel guides. Half of the group was fading fast, falling asleep. Only
after three hours did food finally appear and we all devoured our
meals. Then we all decided to sleep, while the Berber guides were all
perplexed on why we didn't want to hear live music or dance.

Everyone was dreading the camel ride back the next morning and by the
time we reached our destination all but one little boy was on the
camel. Everyone else slowly decided to get off and walk through the
desert. The tour turned out to be more of a driving tour than anything
else, where it felt like 10% of it was activity. It was an interesting
tour, one that I would never do again, but I did meet some nice people
and we all met up for drinks after the whole ordeal to have a laugh.

Moroccan Law

Apparently under Moroccan Law, if there's a dispute between a tourist
and a local, the tourist will always win. This decree by the King was
implemented to encourage tourism and discourage the touts and shady
practices played on tourists, which are numerous. You hear stories
such as locals promising the best Moroccan cuisine ever at their home,
charging an exorbitant amount of money for less than mediocre food. Or
someone offering to lead you through the Medina only to get you lost
and asks for money if you would like to find your way out. Or telling
you that your hotel has been burned down/full/being renovated, but
they have a nice cheap hotel available. This is not to discourage you
from coming, and it's only in the main tourist cities, Fez and
Marrakech, where you have many dishonest locals preying on tourist.
I've met some great locals, and believe that there are lots of honest
and good Moroccans outside of the tourist industry. Just be prepared
for the aggressive nature of the tourist industry.

Agadir Slideshow!

Essaouria Slideshow!

Essaouria and Agadir

Essaouria was one of the best places to relax and chill. One of the
main things you hear about Essaouria is that it's very laid back and
the people don't hassle you as much to buy things. It's also a great
place for surfers, kite surfing, and windsurfing. The Medina was very
small, so even if you get lost you can easily find your way out.

After a couple of days I decided to go further down to Agadir. I heard
from some other travelers that it was suppose to be even better down
there along the coast. Just before Agadir, about 15 km, there were a
few small surf towns beginning with Tagazout. Unfortunately, mass
construction of resorts have taken place that will change the
structure of the whole coast and ruin the coziness of the small surf
towns.

When I arrived in Agadir it was a nice change of pace where it was
more metropolitan with no touts or anyone trying to get your attention
to sell something. I soon made a new local friend, Hammid, who spoke
four languages and was living in Austria for a number of years. He
ended up showing me around the fishing wharf and we at at his
restaurant, where I had one of the best fish meals on the trip so far.
Later we met up at a Karaoke restaurant with his English girlfriend,
along with a bunch of other international and local friends for a fun
night out.