Early breakfast at 7:30am and we were on the road by 8:05am.
The bowl of butter at breakfast still raises questions about eggs.
Now we just check Teresa “Are these eggs or butter?”. 🙂

Countoffs are getting more playful.
We toyed with the idea of the Sesame Street pinball count to 12 (and then add thirteen) but we are still too slow for that.
Bruce takes the opportunity however to hold the last number.
This morning was an extra-long “Thirteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen.” till he was out of breath.
Followed by Else “Oh Dear.”

Over time we have also added 14 and 15 for Hamid and Kahlid but it would be difficult to leave one of them behind by accident.

We made a quick stop at 9am to explore a wall of the city (Taroudant) and were on the roll again at 9:15am toward Agadir.

This city was bustling and we were back to weaving between all sorts of transportation. Hamid is a pro.

The sky is overcast with what Los Angeles would call a “Marine Layer”.
Basically high fog that burns off throughout the day.

We are solidly back in the land were we are looked at less of a novelty and more of a commodity.

Perhaps it is the post Sahara blues, or simply this pace of learning, seeing, traveling, packing, eating, etc. but it was evident today that we are all a bit tired and moving slow.
Interest in everything is high, but energy is low and we mob through things as Kahlid pours more info into our already overflowing heads.

The highway we are on now is nicely paved and divided and continue to share our direction with people walking, biking, pushing carts, donkeys, trucks, and other cars.

As we entered Agadir we stopped by the airport and it was time to send Maati on his way.
We were now down to 12.

When getting back on the van we counted off and everyone called “TEN!” as our memory to Maati.

Just 24 hours left in our adventure and we can feel it coming to a close.
People are beginning to try to sort out how we are going to share all this media we have accumulated throughout the trip. I am hoping these words will help.

The van was comfy but it is really great it was not 100% full.
It technically seats 16 but 13 is really the max unless you have kids you can stick in the back row. (which is indeed more narrow seating than the other seats).

Agadir is back into a big city with real traffic and larger streets and stores. Of course there are still donkeys and carts and mopeds and bikes with the trucks buses and cars. Lots more honking and bustle.

A constant throughout the trip is the construction of buildings. Mostly 3 story cinderblock. They are everywhere and in various states of completion.

Some are clearly inhabited even though the upper floors are not complete… or perhaps they are as complete as they are going to get.
Some are finished with external mud or paint, but many are raw cinderblock.
Agadir is no exception, but there is also a great deal of larger construction goin on.

At 10:50am we hit the supermarket to buy our picnic lunch.
It was a HUGE modern “box store” shopping center with electronics stores, home and garden stories, a supermarket and even a McDonalds. It was a shock to the system to see.

Mike and Mimi went to McyDs. Everyone else hit the grocery. David and I wanted to do both so we raced through shopping (grabbing some salami, turkey, bread, cheeses, knives, and other random things) then ran over to join Mike and Mimi.
There are some local McDonalds items including a fish thing with different sauces and a McBladi (Mc My Country) which was like a beef tarjin on a bun.

We also got a big “McDonalds” bag to put our groceries in which raised some eyebrows when we returned to the group.

Everyone was back to the Van by 11:30am and we were on the road again.
A few turns and we were on a road paralleling the Atlantic Ocean.
From the High Desert Sahara through the Atlas mountains to the coast in 24 hours. Quite stunning.
The street vibe is much more tropical now with vendors who cater to beachgoers and surfers and could be almost any coastal settlement in the world.

The first section was the port and associated industrial areas but this soon turned into a beautiful rocky coastline.

We pulled off the road and into a nice overlook for lunch.
Without a doubt a amazing location, but this was the first time the random trash spread across the landscape directly affected us.
The amazing rocky overlook was overshadowed by trash.
Plastic bottles and bags, packing material, etc.

It reminds me of the 70s in the States before “Don’t mess with..” and “Clean up our..” campaigns educating kids to clean up and changing the minds enough to start fining for littering and encouraging volunteer coastal cleanups (which still happen).
We packed out what we packed in (even more in fact) but turning around to check the area we just left and seeing more stuff, knowing it’s not ours but still wanting to pick it up even though there was not enough time in the day to even make a dent is oddly frustrating. Run on sentence, but that shows the conflict I could see in all our eyes as we walked away from a mess.
Morocco is making attempts to cleanup (banning black bags), but it’s a long road. I hope they find a way to address it.

We all WAY over purchased picnic material for lunch and easily could have an additional meal. Much of it is becoming snacks on the van.

By 1pm we were back on the road.

At 3pm we pulled up to an Argan oil place.

Everyone had a chance to crack shells, and crush the nuts into a paste.
Heather took the opportunity to work off our tea and snacks.
We learned how they roast the nuts for the oil, or use the paste with almond butter and local honey for a tasty paste. (I bought some of that yumminess)

Coco negotiated a stash of Argan oil direct from the source to try out for her Spa in SF and we rolled out at 3:45pm and arrived at Essaouira at 4:10pm.

When we arrived near the Medina – Kahlid jumped on the mic.
“I’m going to call names. If I call your name, get off the bus.” Direct, blunt, and firm. hehehe.
We knew there was a special thing coming up for the married couple today, but I thought WE would get off the van and they would stay so I started to get ready to run. But no.
He came on a few minutes later saying “Mike and Mimi time to get off the bus.”
We were all like “See ya!”
Mike gathered his things and jumped off the van to grab the bags.
Mimi stood firm “What… is this a joke?!”
Kahlid back on the mic “I’m not joking. Off the bus.” and again had such a serious tone it was hilarious to the rest of us.
Mimi dig in further “I’m not leaving this bus!”
But with our encouragement she eventually did.

We got to our stop minutes later (4:18pm)
We needed to have our bags taken in to the Medina since the hotel was in the heart of it and the van was not allowed in.
The first guy showed up with a cart and was ready to take our stuff. Another guy appeared and there was a discussion. A third appeared and the last two guys started loading up and the first guy was just talking.
Kahlid jumped in and looked like he had sorted out a plan for everyone to participate but the first guy was having none of it (apparently he wanted the entire job). It was cool seeing Kahlid get serious and had to get the first guy to back off… so the first guy on the scene ended up with no bags.

It was 5dh each ($.50) and a brief walk.
This hotel was pretty large and very spread out with many levels and split levels and a terrace on top.
Super cool and fun.
The typical routine of dropping off bags, having some tea, eating sweet things and foraging for wifi was underway.

We gathered at 5pm for a tour of the city with a local guide.
It was made clear this was not a shopping tour but a “learn about the city” tour and there would be time for shopping after. This time we adhered to that and moved pretty quickly through the entire Medina.
The first half was really fascinating going through the port and learning about the small blue boats catching the big fish, and the big white boats catching the small fish.
We also saw a group of kids who had several (15 or so) electric cars singing and doing a dance preaching about being safe around open road traffic and cars.
Basically a road safety awareness campaign.

It becomes clear in situations like this that its hard to communicate the value of anti-littering campaigns when so many are injured and killed due to road accidents and the lack of infrastructure there. (perspective)
We walked across the wall and over the cannons. Saw kids jumping of the wall and from cliffs.

This city and Medina was MUCH more energetic, alive, and a bit happier then the previous places we have been. Less intense and more coastal vibe. But being more humid and a fishing town -> Smellier.

After the basic city stuff the guide started through the Medina and was knowledgeable, but really hitting the big ticket areas. The fancy rug place (that ships) the cool inlaid wood place (with guaranteed shipping partners and accepts Visa), and the Silver co-op (which takes all currencies).
These were really neat places to see, but I think the guide misjudged our groups buying power.
We were more about shirts, sandals, bags, spices, masks, oils and belts. Stuff for sub-200dh not furniture, rugs, and silver in plus 2000dh.

But in the process – the wood working place was really great to see with a behind the scenes look (the work stopped just long enough for the guide to talk us through the process). The silver shop was great to see too and Moira was able to get one of her earrings repaired for free (even though she learned it was not silver).

Bruce and I shared the feeling that we have both had our fill of Medina tours.
Brains full of dates and information with pockets empty of Dirhams.

We were done by 7pm and it was a shopping frenzy free-for-all as everyone took off to different parts of the medina buying things on our last real Souk of the trip.
We had 1.5 hours to load up before dinner and every minute was used.
Else, Bruce, David and Myself sat at a cafe out front of the hotel and watched the Medina Mayhem (and the sunset).
I gave up on trying to purchase David’s small belt from him (he decided it fit after-all) so I went and bought a belt myself (8odh). 🙂

In out hotel there was dinner and show event going on that David and I had a cool view to from above (where our rooms were).

At 8:30pm we met and walked through Medina to meet up with Mike and Mimi at the Dinner place for Moroccan Seafood. This place had a bit of “La Cage aux Folles” vibe to it. Throughout the meal there was live traditional music, dancers, a fire dancer, some strong men and even a magician.
After the magician left David tried his hand at some slight of hand which eventually turned dirty (as it does).
Bruce tired his hand as well and had us “watch” his skills. (You had to be there).

Dinner was fantastic. Moroccan Seafood wasn’t gonna be beat after so many days of meat.

Teresa had her first lobster EVER and the other dishes were equally great topped off by over-ordering desert (which everyone pitched in to finish).

We also learned what Mike and Mimi had done since leaving us hours earlier. They had been hooked up with a fancier hotel (with a pool) and a spa / message visit as a wedding gift! So excellent and perfect timing.
It was Mikes first Message EVER.
He said it was “Alright” with a shrug.
Mimi said she missed us and would have liked to have gone on the tour, but we filled her in and shared photos.

I was out of the room with Kahlid for a bit talking about other tour options (I definitely want to do more of these) and I asked him how our group was compared to others.
“You guys are really like a family and work together to have fun.” he said. I mentioned that for many of us this trip is the first time we met. He was surprised.
He mentioned that many times when groups get to mid-trip and are given options to eat in town and split up, people do (like a bunch of couples who don’t know each other and not connecting)…or they don’t and are frustrated by it (like a family with kids that want to do different things) and for us we never questioned it. He saw it was never a burden for us to stick together and hangout.

He also mentioned that we made “splitting the bill” with each other easier then many do.
We seemed to have a bit of a “what comes around goes around” kind of vibe.
I know I never pinched a penny when paying a bill, and there was always someone around with 10dh for tip when I needed it.
We all just sort of went with it.

Slowly, it became clear to everyone that this was our last dinner together and we enjoyed every moment.

When it came time to pay we discovered we were double charged for a bottle of white wine.
Teresa jumped in and haggled the bottle off the bill all on her own. (Kahlid and I watched from the balcony ready to jump in if needed, but it wasn’t).
We are pros at price negotiation now (actually the owner was super cool and sorted it out right away, but still felt good).
So all said and done – we overpayed (again) but had a plan to use the overage on some upcoming fees for the bag transport and tips for #14 and #15.

Being our last group dinner – even starting at 8:30pm we didn’t leave until 12:15am. On the walk back we could see the Medina shuttered and some places doing some stronger cleaning.
The streets were mostly empty and calm.
Another sight we had not seen.

We made it back to the hotel around 12:30am which is the latest we have stayed up together as a group and this on the night before we have our earliest start.

Zzzzzz.

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Today we traveled 300km.