Our Car is a Little Lighter
Sunday, July 27th, 2008Sorry for the lack of posts everyone. We were ready to upload a few posts yesterday about some of the great times we have had so far in Morocco, but hit an unfortunate snag. Two nights ago we left Marrakech and headed toward Agadir, deciding to stay at a campground we found at a beach outside of Essaouira. There were a number of other campers and tents on the grounds, and an easy, relaxed atmosphere: the other campers seemed to have been to this campground before and felt very comfortable there.
We pitched our tent, secured our car and fell asleep pretty quickly after enjoying an incredible night sky and listening to the beautiful call to prayer. Essaouira is a very windy city and our sleep was accompanied by the sound of wind whipping around, which nearly drowned out every other sound.
At around 2:30 AM, we were awakened by three men outside our tent, asking us if we were missing anything and pointing to our tent. We saw that our tent had been slashed near the base and that the items laying around the perimeter of the tent were missing. We are fine. We still have our passports and money. Unfortunately, we did lose our small, USD400 minilaptop (there went all our posts and quite a few of our photos), and Doug lost his manpurse; luckily, there wasn’t much in it other than his ipod and toothbrush.
Yesterday morning, we spoke to some other French campers, who also had their tents slashed last night. They told us they have been frequenting this campsite for years, and they were completely shocked by this incident. The guardians, who did not see the thieves until it was too late, also said that this was not a common occurrence and they were very upset.
The upside is that nothing irreplaceable is lost and we are all ok. We have picked up a few more precautionary measures, and our spirits have improved since we’ve been on the road. We consider this a one off incident. Our time in Morocco has otherwise been wonderful and the people here have been hospitable and very helpful. We are thankful to have had this time to spend here.
The downside is we now need to write all our posts on an Arabic/French keyboard. Oh how we will miss our computer.
Right now we are in Tan Tan. We met up with a few other rally teams last night and camped out with them just outside Goulmim. We will be crossing the next two borders with some of these teams, which will provide added company and support during those long, remote stretches through the Sahara.
As we continue South, please continue thinking positive thoughts and sending good mojo our way. This experience thus far has been amazing and there is not a moment we regret. We look forward to sharing more as we continue.
On a lighter note, we did hear some interesting gossip last night. It seems that the Great Balls of Fur never made it past Tunisia, having been deported without their furry vans, which were confiscated. We’ll keep you updated on any other interesting news we hear.
Susan said,
July 27, 2008 @ 6:40 pm
Hi Jessie, Aparna, and Doug!
I am totally hooked (Ted, too!) and following your progress with great interest . . . checking SPOT every couple of hours (literally) and reading your posts! Wish there were more of the latter :-) , but can also imagine it’s not that easy to be able to make them. And now you’re without your computer, but THANKFULLY physically safe with your passports and money. Sending many positive thoughts and continued good fortune your way! BE SAFE! HAVE FUN! STAY HYDRATED!!! :-)
Susan
P.S. Below is what was posted on Great Balls of Fur’s website re the expulsion from Tunisia of two of their team members. As of this writing, their Zebra and Cheetah are still on the road!
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Susan said,
July 27, 2008 @ 6:47 pm
Re: Great Balls of Fur — Anyway Ian, stop procrastinating I hear you say, tell us what happened to Charlie and Tom. Well, all good things come to those who wait, unfortunately they waited but nothing came. Let me take you back a few steps, remember, the point when Craig’s nose bled? Well shortly afterwards as we were leaving the ferry Charlie, who was travelling on the ferry as a foot passenger, decided that his bag was too heavy and it would be best if he threw it in the vans. So off they went with gay abandon into the Customs hall with no luggage, no tickets and a large portion of arrogance. Trouble first reared its ugly head when they refused to pay a not very subtle request for a bribe. After a few funny looks and a very close look at their arrival cards the questioning started. Question 1. Tom are you really a beekeeper/ philosopher, and Charlie are you really a children’s entertainer? Question 2. Why do you have no luggage? Question 3. Why do you have no tickets? At this point Tom’s rather jovial text messages, which until this point had been along the lines of ‘We should be out in a minute’ took a sinister change. Instead they said ‘Nobody will speak to us’ and ‘Our passports have disappeared’ before reaching the low of ‘The Interior Minister has been called’ and ‘Call me now’. At this point on the orders of the Interior Minister they were loaded onto the next ferry back to Italy with the ultimatum ‘Your bags come to the ferry port before the ferry leaves or you are deported.’ After a frantic phonecall to the rest of the Furballs, a quick appreciation of the 1:4 000 000 map that we have for navigation; engines revved, tyres squealed and Tony and Chris drove 50 miles in the wrong direction before realising, spinning around and reaching the ferry port 15 minutes after the ferry left.
So to summarise, four members of the team are now enjoying the sights and foul smells of North Africa and Charlie and Tom have been deported with nothing more than t-shirts, shorts, flip-flops and 170 Euros between them.
Until next time.
ian 7/27/08
Vicky said,
July 28, 2008 @ 10:53 am
What an adventure so far! Sorry to hear about the losses. Thankfully no one was hurt. Good luck!
Aparna said,
July 28, 2008 @ 1:42 pm
Thanks for the update, Susan! We mostly go by word of mouth for information so we’re not always current on the news. I am glad we can still look forward to seeing the furry vans at the finish line.
amy wilson said,
July 29, 2008 @ 10:55 pm
yikes! so glad to hear you are all okay! and you know what? even when camping at various music festivals in upstate new york, tents get slashed and stuff gets stolen. it happens, unfortunately. and that is why you ALWAYS keep your passport on you at all times. sad about the ‘puter, but so happy that you can still update us!
ap…i can’t WAIT to hear your stories about the suitors in morocco :)