I spent two days wandering around Marrakech, visiting museums and exploring the souks. You can find pretty much anything you’re looking for! You can also get lost pretty easily, but somehow that doesn’t really matter.
On Sunday (Dec 29) evening, I went to meet up for the Monkey Run. There are something like 45 of us signed up for this seven day ride across the country on a monkey bike. We chatted. Beverages were consumed. Pizza was devoured. Some people have tons of motorbike experience! Some people are really prepared. Many people fell into both of those categories. I, well, I did not.
In my life, I have driven a motorbike for a grand total of 5 kilometers, give or take. That was in Hoi An, Vietnam, where the hotel we were staying in lent us bikes to use to get to the beach. And that’s it! Some of the people on this ride are in motorbiking groups! Some regularly take part in bike rallies.
The organizers listed a bunch of tools we should bring, including spanners, cable ties, screwdrivers, a leatherman, and a helmet. So I got those things ahead of time. (I may or may not have had to look up what a spanner is. In my defense, my phone doesn’t think it’s a word.) But then I learned people were talking about different materials needed to build a shelf on the back of the bike to support the minimal amount of luggage we were to bring. People had scoured the souks for trays and dish racks and laundry baskets. Oops.
I got back to my riad (hotel) at around 11:30pm, repacked my bags (setting aside some to leave at the riad and pick up when i return), went to sleep, and got up early for the all-day bus ride over the mountains and across the desert to a camp near Merzouga, Morocco, where we would spend two nights.