11/04/2023 Bikepacking Morocco Day 88 : God’s other bridge

I went downstairs for the breakfast and met a long table prepared for a paniphile. There were no fewer than 8 kinds of breads. Flat ones, round ones, rolled ones, puffy ones. I was about to return to my room with a coffee when I spied one other type of food: hard boiled eggs. The man eyed me curiously as I walked to my table with 5 eggs and a coffee, and then he brought over an orange juice as if he was worried that I was going to be starved for sugar. Deciding that I need to embrace this too, I shot up some insulin for the orange juice, and then decided to go for some of that flat bread. I knew that bread was going to turn into sugar faster than Cinderella’s coach became a pumpkin, so I decided to get moving and shot an extra unit into my leg muscle.

When the tall slender man in a blue suit took me to my bicycle, he must have noticed my swift movement. He said, “don’t worry. There is no hurry. I can wait here while you pack your bike.” A sincere smile accompanied his words; again and again I’m being counseled by smart people to slow it down a bit. I feel like a dog that just wants to keep running after the ball - even when exhausted. And exhausted I was… well not for the first 3 hours which were accompanied by a tailwind, a sugar buzz, and coffee… taking me to a lovely, but deserted beach with ease…. But then the climbing to the mountains began amidst furious headwinds. I hunkered down and plugged into the wind.. and into my French podcasts.

Everyone here seems to speak a little bit of Spanish, a little English, a decent amount of French… and lots of Moroccan Arabic. The only two words I understand in Arabic so far are “Salaam-Alaikum” (peace be with you and Gods mercy)…. And a word “inshallah” that sounds like the Spanish “ojala” which means “god willing”. It is now a race to learn French and my speaking has already improved today. I would pull over repeatedly as I thought of things to say in French and speak them to my phone to “test out”. Sure, I can get a hotel or coffee in French.. but the key to a more rich experience is going to be to engage with the people, tell stories, and make them laugh (the later has proven to be the easiest of the three).

After lots of physical effort, some walking (because of the wind, not the hills) I got happy, saved by the mountain scenery. There seem to be 3 things that are hardwired to the happiness receptors in my brain. Seeing Janet, coffee, and beautiful scenery. The day was turning out to be good, with the objective of visiting “God’s Bridge”. In our travels, Janet and I have come to dozens of God’s bridges…. I wonder if it bothers God that he needs all these bridges, while his son can just walk on water. Regardless, I’m glad God left these bridges around for us to hike to.

It turns out that this was a pretty touristic location. My opinion on touristy spots kinds of flips when I’m alone in a foreign country. I end up liking touristic spots a lot more because there are other people interested in the same thing as me mulling about. And so I ended up hiking with a guy named Omar from the desert of Morocco. I’ll be dammed, he had worked on building the (now) highest dam in the world in Tajikistan. It’s now bigger than the formerly biggest dam in China. I asked if they had a competition going on with dam size… anyway, by the end of the hike (which ended for him once the slope turned 35 degrees upward) he decided to give me his phone number so I can look him up in 800km. He lives right along my planned route, so I’ll be looking forward to seeing a friendly and familiar face in a week or so. I decided to stop “early” (meaning before dark) and got a hotel room for less than $20 USD. Why not?

One thing you should be careful of is a hotel run by young men who are not dressed in suits. The smiling guy took me to the room, and quickly picked up the trash and fluffed up the pillows. I learned how to ask for a towel (“serviette”) in French (Janet will laugh at this one, because it sounds like asking for a “napkin” in Spanish). The room probably looks good in my picture.. but because I’m still doing the upside down eating thing, I had the opportunity to become closely acquainted with the variety of unique, but squished bugs inhabiting the floor. A god day.. and good night to you!