Lundi 18 février 2008
What a funny name for a mountain pass! Mr Test was a French engineer who was the first one to go
through the pass, with 2 meters snow legend says. No snow this time because dryness is strong: it has not rained at all for a
year and plantations are dead. Just before the pass, I stopped at the village of Tafinegult and Omar invited me for the night. He was a Moroccan soldier for the French Army during 6 years of Indochina War. He was born in 1924 for his country and … in 1933 for France. He is quite in a good shape so far. He is receiving a 2834 euro annual pension from France and thus he can have the most beautiful house of the village. His wife Fatima is going to receive some money as well and I’ve helped them to fill in some forms since they have not spoken French for a long time.
The village has also provided miners to work in North of France because workers here have always been small and strong. Mr Daurat (old memories of the village still remember his name) used to come to do the selection. It reminds me the story of the small island nearby Dakar… But here it was a « chosen » slavery, so is morality safe? Meeting all these people who love so much France and who have given it so much is giving another idea of immigration. 7km before reaching Marrakech, I was still in deep countryside, with this time a super wind in the back which pushed me at more than 35km/h without pedaling. Marrakech is not as charming brand-new MBK ones with no change for 50 years. It gives a bit of retro touch to the atmosphere of the city. If you add donkeys and horses with their carriages, you are really coming back to good old times!
What a beautiful city and
what a wonderful atmosphere! Lots of cafes with terraces and benches under trees where people discuss quietly, often drinking tea (the Moroccan whiskey !) at the same time, carriages tracked
by donkeys and horses, some women with veil, some without, some men with burrous, some others with jeans, everybody is relax and takes time to discuss. Morocco is really the country to experience
« travel differently » way. Come here with backpack and without a reservation is really easy here. People speak French but it is really different from France with its Muslim character
(no need of an alarm clock in the morning) and it is really cheap! Moroccans are champions for contacting people and they love speaking French. Tomorrow, direction Atlas! Tops of the mountains
are covered with snow and I am going to climb up to 2100 meters through Tizzi N Tess pass before a long downhill to Marrakech.
Yesterday again a terrible Eastern Wind between Guelmin and Sidi-Ifni. Front wind and Back one, we can manage
but that kind of wind, no, it much more difficult especially with bags on the side. The bike is oriented on the side where the wind comes from and you need to hold very strongly the handlebar to
keep equilibrium. Yesterday, in a very exposed part between 2 mountains, wind was so strong that Magic became really out of control accelerating impressively without possibility to stop or change
the direction. Thus, I fell very badly: clouds of dust, pains everywhere on my body. 2 cars stop and 3 Moroccans come to rescue 
me; they want to stand the bike but unfortunately the bag on the handlebar opens instantly because of the strong
wind. I see passport, maps, press-book and 10 banknotes of 200 dyrrams I’ve just taken from ATM, going away from me! Fortunately for me, there were some cactus aside the road 50 meters further and
they stopped my stuffs. The Moroccans collect them; we put them very quickly in the bags and try to finish ASAP today’s stage despite the strength of the wind. Nothing broken for me and Magic! Back
to quiet atmosphere Sidi-Efni. Looking at my bag, everything is there, nothing has been lost. So lucky to not have fallen a few kilometers after, when the sides of the road became ravines! 2 days
more with Bruno, and then each of us will take a different road: Bruno straight to Essaouira, and me on the right to Taroudant. It was such a good feeling not to be aloe to do this part of the trip
during one week with such a strong and tiring wind!
Wind has never given us a rest! For 5 days, I ride with Bruno from Nancy, who is riding across
e desert! There are some telecommunications pylons everywhere; do camels use also mobile phones? We meet lots of
camping cars which go further South but do not rely too much on them to give you some food or drinks, such isolated people sometimes. "Hey, honey, Mister is traveling around the world with his
bike, it deserves a picture! » I heard recently from a car which was driven (too much time) nearby me. “– “I do not want you to take a picture of me!” – “but why mister? it would be a nice
souvenir!” – “I do not deserve to be part of your photo album”. I regret now this stupid answer, I was at that moment in such a bad mood. Yesterday, we met an Australian girl cycling further South
with an average speed of 36km/h, since she is pushed by the wind. What a difference with us!
I have took this train one week ago to come back on the right way after leaving toward Atar in the
North-East, the values of my bicycle traveling trip are safe ! Choum must be the biggest train station in the world, both platforms (one in Nouadhibou and one in Zouerat) are separated by 2.3 km,
which is the length of the train. Indeed, there is no platform for Nouadhibou, just a rust notice. When we see the light far away and we hear the noise of the train, that means that the train is
coming, it will be there in an hour, its speed is 50 km per hour, it needs 2.3 km to slow down and stop, 7 km if it needs to brake and stop urgently. There are 200 coaches of iron-ore and
only one for passengers. It’s free to travel in a iron-ore coach but you get all the dust and the cold, I have chosen to be in the traveler coach for 5 euros … it’s like a shantytown, a slum in a
train, disemboweled seats, no door for the toilets, but you can do everything through the windows which are opened (you push grabbing the guardrails), the window glasses are blocked in the
position opened or closed, no electricity so you use candles. Magic was in the corridor with the handlebar taken apart to leave more space to the passengers.
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