Day 44 – Meski
The sand storm from the afternoon yesterday continued throughout the evening and during the night. The sand seems to have penetrated through the doors and windows so we set to to clean up what we could first thing this morning. Apparently there was a little rain last night but we didn’t hear it but it did leave its mark, with the combination of the sand, on the van.
With brush in hand I cleared most of the sand from the windscreen and front of the van. I did the rest when we got to the site later in the afternoon. We left soon after 10am trying to take the road that will be less of a problem. Almost immediately we got stuck in some soft sand but fortunately we were able to reverse out. Phew!! Back on to the stony exit road and we gazed upon a local tour bus that took a different route. We decided to follow even though we could not keep up with his pace. This proved to be a much better decision as this certainly was better than the stoney road. Once on to the main road we stopped in the next large town for some provisions…. some we needed and some I wasn’t aware we needed !!
The site we were making for was not very far away (relatively) so we arrived there at around 1:15pm. We were greeted by we believed to be the site owner but it turned out to be a very resourceful shop owner who spoke great english. He soon had us circled up and offered to bring over some mats for each of us. It wasn’t long before Tina was encouraging me to buy the one offered to me….. something she has wanted me to buy since day one in Morocco.
He then insisted he give us a guided tour of the site and show us the amenities. There was a pool that had fish swimming in it which he said we could swim in if we desired and the water was warm to the touch. It was being fed by two natural hot springs and then the water was being channelled away to be used by others to irrigate their fields. The final part of the tour was to visit his shop for some tea … moroccon style (Yuck!!). Of course he had things to sell. Tina eventually bought another ladies lightweight Jellaba which he would have altered for her by his wife. So he had now liberated 360MAD (£26) from me already for the mat and the Kaftan. Later he brought round some bread at 10MAD each. They know how to extract money here.
The afternoon saw us all cleaning inside and outside our vans. I took everything out of the garage and had a spring clean before putting it all back. I also had a chance to test the washing machine. The spin motor, albeit worked, didn’t produce the same spin speed as the burnt out one it replaced. No matter we at least have one that will spin for very little money. Tina worked on the inside with vacuum and duster in hand. I have told her that we will get it professionally valeted when we get back home…. it will need it I am sure.
Egg & Bacon sandwiches for our late lunch tasted superb…. yes… we still have some bacon left. Our evening meal was more of a snack … I had a shake and Tina a cheese sandwich.
The evening saw us put on a film and also we needed to put on the heating … the first time since France / Spain. I think it is going to be cold tonight….