Of course I am speaking figuratively. The weather in Marrakech is stunning. Bright, sunny, warmish and not a cloud in the skies. Simply beautiful!
After our fantastic cooking class in Maison MK we take a taxi out to the airport to pick up a car we had made arrangements for in Canada. The taxis do not have meters so I ask “Combien?” he says “cent” which means 100 dirhams, about $12, ok, we’re off. We get to the airport and he wants his money before we get to the door. Ok, here it comes… ‘je sais 120’ I’m not gonna argue over 20 dirhams, but it’s the principal; it leaves a bad taste. Not everyone is like this, I am still hoping, the optimist!
Everything is great at Thrifty! It’s a new car, a little 4×4, diesel (yay, diesel is cheaper!). We also rent a GPS, after all we’re going into the dessert! We are taken to the car by the manager who speaks only Arabic (good choice)! The car has no fuel, maybe enough to get us to the gas station; ok, where is it? He points in a general direction. It’s a busy day, the day before the massive celebration of The Sacrifice traffic is mayhem. We pull up to a pump; they serve, we have no choice. We tell the guy DIESEL. Again, c’est diesel? Excusé mois, nous devrions DESIEL. He waves us away. We pay cash for this transaction. As we drive, I am trying, hopelessly to enter the Riad’s address, no such address. It’s a Garmen, I have a slightly newer one at home, I know what I am doing. No such address, no such hotel when I enter the name; oh this can’t be good. We think we can navigate to our Riad, but the roads are chaos (who’s idea was this???). We stop to try to figure out our the map on the iPhone and the GPS. The car coughs a bit. We sit for 15 minutes figuring things out, we ask someone; OK, back on track. We start the car, cough, cough, cough. We wait and try again. Crap. We are not in a touristy area, but the people of Marrakech are generally friendly and honest (except the cabby) we are not scared. We decide to leave the car where it is and return to the hotel by taxi (we would have called but we forgot the specifically bought cell phone back in the Riad room; grrrrrrrr). We call Visa (platinum) right away to register our complaint (since we rented the car with them) – I highly recommend the platinum Visa card, it is WORTH every penny yearly!
The wonderful lady in our Riad calls the car company and they say they will send someone out right away. It is 5:30, while we wait we have the opportunity to meet our hostess and she is quite sympathetic to our misfortune; the technician finally arrives at 8:30. Grrrrrr. We explain where we’ve left the car. He disappears. Now those of you who have been married a long time can probably feel the chill of the silence that ensues! After some talking and a bit cooling down we head out for dinner; we inhale a bottle of wine and some very good food.
The following morning the Thrifty fellow shows up. It was determined that the wrong fuel was put in the car by the attendant. Me: “Did you get a receipt?” JT: “no, we payed cash” and we even tipped the x$!?//(insert really profane word here) GRRRRRRR!
We’re good! Lalala!
Since it is a big holiday here we really can’t do much today so the Thrifty guy just gets our story and leaves. Tomorrow the he wants us to go with him to the gas station; that will be fun!
We have decided to wimp out: no rental car, no trip to the dessert. We are staying 4 more nights in Marrakech and then one night on the way home in Casablanca as planned. We will do bus excursions and day trips. On a positive note, our Riad had let our particular room out so we have had to upgrade a bit to a much nicer room. Our gracious hostess has allowed a 25% discount because it costs a lot more; a happy wife is a happy life! Sadly our new room doesn’t have access to Wifi so we must go into the common areas!
Photos below. This is our new front door. And the only exterior window is a tiny little hike to the street from the bathroom, all other windows are into the central courtyard (this one is far quieter than the first).
Our new home even has a lovely wood burning fireplace – which comes in very handy as there is no central heating!
Ah the adventures of traveling, but nothing that a bottle of wine and good food can’t help with. Sorry for your troubles, but I’m jealous of the temperature there. I think the high today where I am was 7 degrees.
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Hi Jed, today’s temperature will hit a toasty 25-26C! And it not humid so it’s not terribly uncomfortable!
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Oh no Eva – that sounds just horrible. I don’t handle stress very well at all, I’d be bouncing off the walls, raging at everyone in sight (la la, my poor wife :D). It’s too bad you missed part of the trip you wanted to take, but I’m sure you’ll still be able to have a whole load of fun! As soon as you mentioned the gas station I knew where you were going… it reminds me of when I bought my first car ever, just 6 months ago or so. I was filling it up for the first time and the pump nozzle wouldn’t go in. Eventually it did, I filled up, but then I couldn’t pull it out. Finally forced it out and it pulled out a little plastic sock from my gas tank (mechanic said it’s nothing important… just stops vapours from floating up when you open the tank). I was so scared at first because I thought I’d put petrol in instead of diesel, but all was fine in the end.
I’m curious about what you say about the card. When you say you recommend the platinum visa – in Europe, Visa and Mastercard don’t issue cards directly. The cards are issued by various banks, and basically the bank can put any colour they like on the cards. Is it different in Canada? Any case, I have an Amex and I think they offer various stuff like that which is nice!
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Hi Charles, the card is issued by a bank, our’s is CIBC, but it’s the insurances that are important. Thrifty, the rental car company, did not contact us again, which makes me weary – I wonder if we were set up? Just saying! Visa will support us, as we have already registered our dispute. That gas station man should have known, THIS is what he does. 90% of all vehicles are diesel here.
I feel for your first car situation; we just bought OUR very first diesel in Canada, fortunately the regular gas nozzle will not fit into the diesel car; only the diesel will fit, but I am still TERRIFIED to put the wrong fuel in! The people here in Morocco are generally not dishonest; they are indeed lovely. I hope I haven’t dissuaded you from coming. I can tell you some great places to eat, for sure!
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Look at that fireplace. Sorry you had a rough day, but I think that room is the perfect place to help make it better. Also, wine. You should drink wine.
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Yes wine. I like the way you think Greg; Cheers!
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Am so sorry you had cabbie and car troubles on your holiday, but am glad that it didn’t happen in the desert! The cooking class sounded like so much fun and I hope that the rest of your trip is fun, positive and carefree.
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Thanks Betsy. The class had to be one of the highlights.
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So sorry that things to didn’t go nearly as well as you had hoped. That cabbie knew exactly what he was doing and knew that you wouldn’t make much of a fuss over a few dirhams. I always think of it as a tax for us foreign tourists. Glad that you got back to your hotel, safe and sound, and in so nice a room, too. Every trip has some problem and this was yours. It will be smooth sailing the rest of the way, no doubt.
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Thanks John, a little excitement makes the holiday more interesting.
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Oh Eva! Yes that would be a rough day. I’m glad you at least got to enjoy a nice dinner and a bottle of wine. I had to giggle at your comment, “Now those of you who have been married a long time can probably feel the chill of the silence that ensues!” We’ve so been there – I remember one time in Montreal in particular. LOL. Well, most importantly I’m glad you guys are safe and hope that you find some fun these next few days. I’m loving the pictures of the architecture. It’s so ornate and beautiful!
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Thanks Kristy. It’s what makes looking back on the holidays and the stories that we remember more interesting!
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