Tenerife 10-11-1999

In Morocco we had to split up because we dared not leave the boat all alone. Often small rowboats came close to see if we were on board. We were not quite happy about this so we split into 2 groups. Michal, NP and Dennis stayed on board in Casablanca and René, Mikkel and Flemming decided to make a trip into the country.

From Casablanca René, Mikkel and Flemming went by train to Marrakech, a trip of 4 hours. And now it is time to kill all the myths about trains in Africa, at any rate in Morocco. It was a very nice train equal in standard compared to Danish trains and very cheap only 7 USD apiece- DSB could learn from this!! And we found no sheep or goats in the compartments as people often expect in African trains.

In Marrakech, which is known for its production of nice leather manufactures, the 3 blokes rented an old but still well driving Fiat Uno. The trip continued up the Atlas mountains, the highest mountains in North Africa. The highest peaks are no less than 4167 metres and cowered with snow. We went to the part called the High Atlas and the summits here are characterised by jagged peaks, and very steep valleys with lots of small Berber villages (Berber = native north African) and we saw cultivated bench terraces all over. It might not be what you expect to find in Morocco, but lots of places it is actually very fertile.

The small Fiat Uno made the trip nicely. Gradually the green scenery grew more barren and dry as we approached Sahara. We made a halt at a small village about 100 km from Zagora, which is called the Gate to Sahara. It was getting late and as a matter of course it had to rain on this particular night. It is very seldom that it rains so close to the desert. All plans about sleeping in the open were abandoned and the 3 tried to get the best out of sleeping in the car. To sleep 3 men in a Fiat Uno is possible, but with guarantee you get up early. At 5 am we were roused by a sermon, which was send through a large public address system. By accident we had parked close to this loudspeaker. In addition we found out that the car was leak!!

In Zagora we were invited to tea. In Morocco they only drink small amounts of beer, wine and spirits in return they drink buckets of sweet mint tea and they also smoke considerable amounts of hash. The country is the biggest producer of cannabis in the world, which is to be seen, particularly at nights, when you constantly are offered hash- to buy hash in an African country is about the dumbest thing a tourist can do. A nice Moroccan asked Flemming to write a postcard in English for him, because he had a friend in England but as he barely spoke the language and was not able to read and write he needed help. Most Moroccans are illiterate and only master their language colloquially. They cannot even read a map of their own town. If they know another language it is typical French but very few know English and German.

After tea we continued towards the desert in Fiaten but first we had to cross a mountain range, which was the frontier to Algeria. There were no roads and we did not have time to make the trip by camel- there were lots of them!. We only made it to some dunes with date palms scattered around. A bit disappointed because we had to settle with "Little Sahara" we returned towards the Atlas, but we were met by a heavy storm and thundershowers. Some of the roads were covered with water and some people had to return, but our Italian car pulled through. René was the driver and cautiously he drove through the hairpin bends while Mikkel and Flemming eagerly took pictures of the enormous floods, which had been painted blood red by the soil issuing the mountain slopes tearing soil and rocks down. On the other side of the mountains we found a small room (4*3 m) with 1 mattress, but they found another. Just what we needed.

In the morning we drove to the greatest cascades in Morocco beautifully located amongst olive groves. That is why it is called Cascades d’Ouzoud or Falls of the Olives. We went back to Marrakech returned the car and went by train back to Casablanca where the other 3 took care of the ship.

Dennis had read in our guide that we were free to take pictures in Morocco. Dennis and NP were on their way home from shopping trip in the Medina (the old town) when they saw a complete

traffic snarl. Three police officers were trying to direct the traffic with big gestures and a whistle their mouth blowing constantly. It looked so funny that they had to take pictures!! Dennis took out his camera and took a picture, but one of the police officers saw it and rushed to us and tore the camera out of Dennis’ hands and shouted something in Moroccan. We began to realize that it was not a good idea to take pictures of the police!! NP was also about to take out his camera, but when he saw what happened to Dennis he swiftly put his back into his bag – but alas the policeman saw it and thought that he had taken photo, too. We were both taken to the nearest police station kicking up a row. It was really bad ! Just think.. taking pictures of the police!! But, well nobody could decide what to do with the two "spies"-so it took some time, we talked to other police officers of different ranks- but nobody could decide what to do. Dennis offered them the film, but that was not enough- we stated both that we not taken pictures but only had zoomed back and forth with the camera ( we showed how to the policeman and he was very impressed I think) We talked a little about where we came from and what we did here – mind you they knew no English and we no Moroccan or French, which is rather common here. About an hour later a policeman in a lounge suit arrived and he wrote everything down from our passports ( and I mean everything-also hair colour, in what police district the passport was issued etc ) He meant that we could be let off with a caution, but we were put on a list as "possible spies". The 3 chaps on the boat took turns to stay on board and to explore Casablanca. At this time we had a lot of experience in bargaining with the local Moroccans. You had to beat down the prices on everything, from fruits at the market to chessboards in the shops. Michal bought a chessboard and NP bought backgammon both in marble. We had a rule: we divided the price in the shops we 2 and took a little more off- this made our maximum price – usually it worked. Michal and NP got 2 very nice games. To the whole crew’s pleasure Dennis bought a Moroccan guitar, which was made of tortoiseshell covered with skin. Now we could all look forward to some cosy nightshifts with lovely Moroccan music delivered by the total tone-deaf skipper!

It was about time to leave Morocco. A bit mournful because Morocco actually is a nice country. We have indeed had a nice time here. All you have to do is to accept their somewhat different way of living and attitude to life in general. Flemming and Dennis went to the customhouse in order to get our clearance papers, but everyone had left for dinner. Now we had to wait one and a half hours until they had finished before we could get our ship's papers back and get on. By now it was a bit late and we decided to wait till the next morning. Now we had time for our last purchases. Glenn had promised to come and give a hand with our last shopping. It is 1000 times easier when you have a car. Unfortunately Glenn was prevented from coming because of an urgent meeting at work. But then Henrik, his colleague, came to help us and we finished our shopping in a nice and big supermarket. Subsequently Henrik and his wife came to dinner at the good ship Dream. They brought a good bottle of wine (we have to mention that we have accustomed ourselves to red wines from cardboard boxes and they are not just as good as bottled wine!!) and 6 genuine Casablanca beers. It was a nice good bye to Morocco but we all regretted that we did not get a real farewell to Glenn.

This night NP did not sleep very well, he had some stomach trouble, diarrhoea and vomiting but in the morning he and all the others were prepared to go to the Canary Islands. The weather was very nice but there was no improvement in NP’s sickness. He could not keep anything down, everything returned after 5 minutes, even pure fluid. We presumed that it was some sort of food poisoning whether it was caused by water or something he had eaten, we did not know. It was only NP who was sick, the rest of us were all right. NP did not think that he had eaten anything apart from what we all had had, except a chicken burger he had eaten a couple of days ago when he and Glenn have driven go-cart!! We assumed that it would cease but knew that it was very important that he drank a lot. We made an agreement with NP- each and every time he had vomited he must drink a couple of slurps of water. We knew that the water should hold salt and sugar, but as soon as he got it down it retuned 5 minutes later. Now we stuck to pure boiled water. But as he now had vomited for about 40 hours we got somehow nervous about if he could make the trip to the Canaries – or we should try to get some help from outside. Thanks to our dear SatCom and Dennis´ uncle we were able to get contact to a doctor in Denmark. He told us that we could continue but the situation should get better within the next 8-10 hours, otherwise it was very critical. This night it was dead calm and the boat started to roll a lot. We started the motor to get NP to the hospital in Lanzarote as fast as possibly. It turned up to be a hard night.

Next morning NP was feeling a little better and it was agreed that we could go to Lanzarote where an ambulance would wait for us. Finally we got there but the ambulance needed 2 hours to find us on the right pier. Dennis and NP went to the hospital where NP was put down with drip and the next day he left hospital with a list of what to drink and eat.

Tuesday 19 October: We relaxed the most of the day cheap provision was bought for the trip. Early next morning we left Lanzarote and set for Gran Canaria. It was a beautiful trip. We made 7 knots for spinnaker and Friday 22. October we arrived at Arguineguin where we met with the Danish boat Sirius. Together with the crew we enjoyed the meal of a great tuna fish (11 kg) that Dennis had caught.

Saturday 23 October we sailed to Puerto Rico where Susan, Tine and Lise visited us along with the parents of René, his big brother and girl friend. This was the start of a magnificent week: Car around the island, diving, swimming and fun in the city.

Saturday 30 October: departure of family and girls. Later in the evening we heard a lot of noise, a knocking on the boat. What was that? The harbour Master for more money or? It turned up to be the uncle and aunt of Dennis – laughing because the made fun with us. A nice reunion with papers from home, champagne, beers.

Wednesday 3 November: We said goodbye to two good people: NP and Mikkel were going home, sad but sailing like this means a lot of sad good byes. Thanks to you both – You are always welcome again.

 

Word of the week:

Danish papers and "remoulade"

Sports:

Chosen results of the week: Backgammon: René Vs Mikkel: 14 -9