It’s been a pretty hectic and interesting trip to Morocco, now drawing to a close on our last night in Marrakech. Our last night wasn’t supposed to be in Marrakech; the tour finishes up in Casablanca. And that’s where we would have been right now, at the farewell dinner, were it not for me getting nailed badly with something that created an intimacy with the toilet that I’d rather not duplicate. And yes, I had the fish, and yes, that might have been the cause. It’s also possible that I was a bit run down from the many early departures on this trip (an excursion with the Gate 1 company called “Kaleidoscope of Morocco” and we certainly saw a lot of it!).

In the end it wasn’t so bad that we had a day in Marrakech all to ourselves; we got to go back to the marketplace and cruise at our own speed, including a visit to one of the snake charmers. If you think vendors selling merchandise are aggressive, you ought to see the snake & monkey people!!! The use every trick in the book to try and extort more money out of you, after you’ve agreed on a price. But it is a lot of fun being among Cobras and curling a snake around your neck (and living to tell the tale).

Getting home from Morocco is not so easy! Tomorrow afternoon we fly to Geneva, then Monday morning from Geneva to Zurich (short flight) followed shortly by Zurich to SF (very long flight). It will be good to be back at work and, of course, back on the bike. Don’t think I would’ve have gotten sick if I’d been riding my usual routine, instead of never getting to push myself.

Think it’s time to get off this bus! The past several days have seen my wife and I traveling pretty big distances across the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, required if you want to see the desert and, of course, the mountains. But sometimes you can spend too much time on a bus seeing too much mountain through bus windows. Thus it’s a huge relief that we’re now in Marrakech, spending three nights in one hotel (and not a bad hotel at that).

Saturday we leave Marrakech for Casablanca, then very early Sunday morning Karen and I head back to Marrakech, via train, to catch a flight to Geneva. One night there, then the next day, fly home to SFO via Zurich. It’s been a great trip but I’m sure I’ll be very happy to be home again. And instead of riding a bus through the mountains, I’ll be riding up them on a bicycle. Much preferable! Although I do admit the mountains of Morocco look like a pretty nice place to ride.