Day one - Day two - Day three - Day four - Day five - Day six - Day seven - Day eight - More on Morocco
Day eight, October 26
Merzouga to Nkob
Plan:
The tour group departs after breakfast for the airport and their return flight to Heathrow. I will spend the day in Marrakech and make my way to the airport for my evening flight.
I did not hear the call to prayer this morning but was assured it went on - must have been the Heineken and the Flag... The group left the hotel at 7:20 en route for the airport, save Pauly and Andrew. We had exchanged postal and email addresses a few days before, so it wasn't a lingering goodbye at the hotel for me. But it was definitely somewhat emotional as we knew we had made some pretty good friends in the space of a week in the desert.
Andy returned to the hotel to get a few things, then went off to do some errands after making plans to meet me on the terrasse at about noon. I made my way up there and spent a few hours soaking up the view and the sun. Pauly and Andrew were staying one more night as they weren't able to get a flight home for the Sunday. We all convened on the terrasse at about noon, and we said our goodbyes to Andy shortly after. He was on his way to Casablanca to meet his next tour group - a group of eighteen people, sixteen of which were to be women, one of which is married to one of the two men... I hope he didn't have too much trouble matching them up for roommates!!
Pauly, Andrew and I went to the Mag Fly for lunch. It's a restaurant that gives a view of the Jemaa el Fna, and serves fajitas and pizza in a Moroccan style. What was interesting was the live entertainment: a local Moroccan who played songs like Imagine and Karma Chameleon, mixed with some spanish music... We had a good little chuckle!
One last tour of the souks to pick up a few things for people back home, and my departing time was upon me. I finished packing everything and arranged a petit taxi to drive me to the airport. Pauly was so sweet to have waited for the taxi with me - I was a bit teary as we parted actually... The taxi ride was prearranged between this particular driver and Andy, so instead of costing me in excess of 60 Dh, the agreed price was 30 Dh, and the same driver would come the next day to take Pauly and Andrew to the airport.
The rest is rather uneventful - I arrived in Paris at 11pm local time that night, and was due to leave Paris at 1:45pm the next afternoon. That second flight was cancelled, so I spend the Monday at the Charles de Gaulle airport and was put up in the Hotel Mercure by Air France. I met a group of people from GM who were to have been on the same flight as me, and they were so nice to me too! They kept me company during dinner, and watched out for me at every turn. I did finally board the plane on the Tuesday, and I arrived home just after 6pm local time in Toronto.
Last modified on November 9, 2000