On Thurs, after our hammam adventure, we got picked up by Latifa, and then she and Rashid came back to our place for dinner. We were a bit challenged in terms of ingredient selection, but I think we managed pretty well. We had bought a camembert cheese in Marrekesh, so we had cheese, a fresh baguette and grapes to munch on first, then a vegetable soup that turned out really well, a mediocre pasta bake (whuch we made too much of and ended up carting along to our next spot) and an Oreo cheese cake for dessert. It was a really nice visit with them, and our goodbye, as we wont see them again on our journey.
Yesterday was a lowkey day. The days before were on the go all day and all evening, so we just wanted to have a slow pace. I went for a swim in the pool, relaxed in the sun a bit, and read my book. We did a load of laundry, but not til mid afternoon, so we left it on the drying rack, but today its still not dry, so we need to travel with damp clothes.
walk. The same 2 dogs came and joined us. We stayed for the sunset, then stopped at a little restaurant overlooking the beach.
Today we got an early start for our journey to our next house swap, at Moulay Bousselham. I did a quick run to the bakery for pain au chocolat (most of the food has been a little bland here, but they have French bakeries, which are so good! And cheap- about $0.50US for a chocolate crossant, $0.20 for a baguette). Then at 8:20, we were out by the road to catch a shared taxi to the train station.
Weve both packed light, but its still cumbersome, plus an extra bag along with some food, and we tried to get in/out of the taxi as quickly as we could. We unloaded by the train station, and as the taxi pulled away, Monica said my phone. She said it quietly, not 100% sure at first, and took a quick look by her purse as the taxi drove further away. I left my phone in the taxi! she exclaimed, and I tried in vain to catch the drivers attention as he disappeared from view. I tried calling her phone, so
I told Monica she needed to hop in another taxi and go look for him (as they have a shared taxi route, theres usually a spot that they go to wait for the next batch of people to the beach area). She hesitated, not sure if he might notice it back to us, but I said Id stay with the bags and urged her on, handing over some small bills she could use for the fare. She flagged another driver, explained the situation and headed off. There were just 10 min til our train.
5 min to our train I started thinking about alternatives in case we needed to stay longer. 3 min til the train. I was just about to call Latifa to see if she had suggestions, when Monica appeared, beaming with happiness and waving her phone. She paid the driver, with a generous tip, and we hoisted up our bags and started running to the station.
We caught our train and collapsed with relief in our seats. We had an 1 1/4 drive, then had to change trains, so I figured that
was enough time to pull our my damp clothes, to try to prevent them from stinking. Monicas kept festering away in her bag. An hour later, I packed them back up again, and we disembarked.
We couldnt see a display board of the trains to find the platform for our next one, so we hauled all our stuff up a flight of stairs to ask one of the workers. He motioned us to track 4, so we went down the steps. The sign didnt look like the one we needed. We glanced up and the worker motioned that we should go to the neighbouring track, #5 (same platform). We shifted over a few feet and looked at that sign, and train that would be arriving in a couple minutes. That didnt look right either. Maybe after that train? to Monica. I asked if she could read the sign from the next platform over, as her vision is better than mine. It looked like that platform and the train time and number that we were looking for. We went up the big set of stairs with all our stuff, and back down to get to the next
platform. Yep, that one looked right.
