21st Jan 08

Date: 21st Jan 08
Location: Mirleft, Morocco
Weather: Another great day in Africa
Status: Ben – struggling to get my feet ready for the marathon, Colonel – missing water tap from the rear tank, in need of fixing.

R&R beside the beach for the day following an exciting trip into the nearest town Sidi Ifni to visit the Monday market to buy fruit, veg, spices, a washing bowl and a good section of lamb ready for tonights culinary delights.

In the process of sitting by the Land Rover, relaxing in the sun its amazing how many people sit down with you to start conversation which is awesome.

Flavio the Italian/Swiss surfer in his Merc Vento parked up next to us and a day later is still here after sharing a stunning evening meal and making us all laugh with his jokes and stories.

The german couple next door decided if they can’t beat us, join us and pulled their chairs into the fire while we chatted until the sun went down – a fantastic lady who has travelled extensively around the globe, is very similar to my friend Jay’s mum and brought a whole Tupperware of nibbles to the evenings meal!

And then there’s the weird camper, a bit of a run-down American-style day wagon which when it arrived deposited two guys and three girls at our doorstep. After a quick conversation it turns out the 40yr old owner of the camper is on a road trip, picked up the Spanish guy in Casablanca and at the same time collected three ‘female passengers’ from Fes – all between 20 and 25, and there to service their needs as required! Interesting arrangement J

Once the sun had set behind the horizon we set about producing another fantastic meal for ourselves, Flavio, Abdullah, Eisha (2 local cousins who’d parked off with us)! When Eisha had to go as the darkness was setting it, Luke was only too happy to oblige and spent the next couple of hours introducing a bit of English charm and humour to their evening as neither spoke the other language…but we managed to get an invite to tajine at theirs this evening!

Bed before midnight…..

End of day location: Mirleft
Distance covered: 50kms