11/20/2023 Bikepacking Morocco Day 104 : Seeking Yoda

“Voulez vous une pain?”

“Oui!” I reply, and he reaches into the big plastic bag to produce a round bread that looks like a personal pizza crust - without any topping. He slaps it on the dusty counter, squishing at least two flies in the process.

“Autre chose?” He asks.

“Oui, 200 grammes d'amandes,” I reply.

He digs his cracked hand into the bag of almonds and measures them carefully on the scale; approximately 200 grams worth.

This is how I get my food each day, over a counter top. If you use hand sanitizer, you’re going to need to bring the Extra-Strength stuff to Morocco. It’s the antithesis of Spain, where customers were not allowed to touch the produce - you had to find an assistant to don gloves, then weigh and label your veggies in the produce section before you brought them to the checkout. That sort of hassle made me eat fewer veggies.

Once everything is piled on the countertop, the calculus begins. And it IS calculus.. I watch as they punch numbers, making good use of every available button on the calculator: The multiplication symbol, the division symbol… the AC button is a frequent favorite. Eventually the calculator is held towards me with a surprise number each time. Usually it is much higher than I would have expected; sometimes it is lower. Usually I just pay it, but today I questioned the numbers. The man had also written some numbers down on paper, so I asked, “How did 68 on paper become 84 on the calculator?” He explained that it was simple, “I used centimes”. I figured this was some previous Moroccan currency with an exchange rate of 1.2, so accepted his answer. Later,I looked it up later on Google. No, that word means “cents” as in: There are 100 cents in a dollar. 🤔

The first part of my ride was on an extremely rocky road. If you’ve ever been to the Irish Hills, imagine the rockiest section of that. For 30 miles. When I finally got to the road, the military had closed the next section of trail. Good riddance, as I had been thinking of taking the road anyway. This must be Morocco’s Area 51, or baring that, the place where they keep the alien bodies and the cast for Star Wars.

Todays ride definitely looked like the set for Star Wars. For the first time, I noticed that these camels looked just like At At’s. The day I arrived in Morocco, I thought that the men with the long hooded robes looked like Obi Wan. I looked it up, and yes, Star Wars even integrates elements of Islam. The name “Jedi” comes from “Al-Jeddi” (Master of the Mystic Warrior Way). I even rode by a town last week with a name similar to “Tataouine”… well, heck, tonight I’m in Tata, which is kind of close. I’m waiting for a Jedi to appear. Hopefully it will be Yoda; he’s my favorite.

Speaking of Yoda, I figured out a way for you to remember the capital of Morocco today. Do you already know the capital? If not, just think this: Yoda looks like a frog, and frogs go “ribbit”. That sounds enough like the capital of Morocco, which is “Rabat”.

Tonight was going to be my 6th? Night in a row in a tent. I came to a campground and the kind man offered me an already set up tent for $5US. I prefer my tent, but agreed. Next thing I know, he’s poking his head in to offer me tea. Then he upgrades me to a room for no extra; video’d. I decided to make the video due to the audio - so you can hear what it sounds like here. Janet gets to hear this during our phone conversations each night - so thought I’d share with you too.