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| Moroccan lunch at Lalla Takerkoust |
28 Feb, Fri – Spent the day getting ready to go to Morocco.
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| C.J.'s scrapbook post card |
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| Nut and dried fruit stand in the souks |
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| Tea in the courtyard |
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| Courtyard of Riad leBel Oranger |
2 Mar, Mon – I got up round 0700, took a shower in the open shower stall (at least washed my hair) and went downstairs to write in this journal. C.J. hadn’t slept well, and when she woke up and found me gone, she went looking for me. She found me downstairs and joined me for breakfast about 0800. We were served hot milk for making hot chocolate, pancakes, a muffin, yogurt, a wedge of a coffee cake, a couple of packets of soft cheese and a basket of the local round bread. We went back upstairs to finish my journal and make a plan for the day. Plan? We don’t need no plan to wander the souks! I don’t think we got going before 1100 and then we headed along the same route we took the day before leading to the main square. But this time we took some of the side “streets. One took us into the dyers souk, another took us in as far as Souk Soumarrine (?) where we turned back to return to the path we knew. [Google Maps was only “sort of” useful as the GPS did not acquire well in the covered and narrow lanes.] Next we turned left (east) on Traverse Des Ksour (maybe) (with mostly normal day-to-day clothing) to Souk Smarine (alternate spelling?) again and followed that south to Jemaa El Fna. There were lots of people selling stuff on the pavement and wandering
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| Fruit juice stands in Jemaa el Fna |
We returned to Souk Smarine and branched to the right where we thought a passage might take us
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| A metal shop in the souk |
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| Dinner at Table de la Medina |
3 Mar, Tue – The usual cry of the muezzin woke me around 0625 but it remained dark until quite late so I went back to sleep. We had breakfast downstairs in the atrium. [Assiss had told us that they often
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| View from roof of Riad |
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| Chez Ahmed dining area |
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| G taking a break between flights |
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| Our rental 4x4 with a load of wings |
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| Aguergour launch building with cafe |
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| "The Castle", ruins above a cliff |
5 Mar, Thu – Breakfast at 0830, same hardboiled eggs and
bread, and an unpalatable soup. Toby said that the weather was not looking good
locally starting Friday so we might go to the coast leaving at 0600 on Friday.
We drove up to the gate at 1030 and we got the second trip in the 4x4. No real
rush to launch anyway although it was coming in a bit more west, so crossed somewhat
from the left. Cirrus started to cover the sky from the west. Nevertheless,
people began soaring early and I got ready to go, launched and went right and
had no trouble staying up and getting above the ridge all the way out to the
point where the ridge turns SE. Later I went out toward the village below and
to the right of
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| Aguergour launch from the air |
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| Dinner on a tajine platter |
6 Mar, Fri – Up at 0530 and out at 0600 to load the van in
the dark and cold (but not as cold as we had feared). We got going not too long
after 0615 and stopped in the town next to the lake (Lalla Takerkoust, “the barrage”)
to pick up a second 4x4. The next stop was about an hour and a half up the
road
at a small city/big town (probably Amizmiz) where we had breakfast local style,
i.e., with communal plates and no individual ones – no silverware either; we
ate the omelets using pieces of flatbread. There was also bread and “tortillas”
with saucers of honey and jam. It was an interesting experience. [The toilet
was up the stairs and it was a Moroccan squatter, first we’ve encountered.] We
took the motorway through the cold fog of the mountains (about 1000m ASL) and
stopped at a rest area for a bathroom break. C.J. and I got a Magnum bar which
was a nice treat. The next stop was in Tiznit, a larger city with a new wall
built only 100 yrs. ago, according to Toby. We walked around the markets
(souks) for a half hour. They were much less intense than the Marrakech souks
and were more like markets. It must have been close to 1400 when we reached Le
Nid d’Aigle (actually, Nigel’s which is just north of The Eagle's Nest)). Wind was strong and we took time to eat the
lunch sandwiches that Mourad had picked up in Tiznit. The wind dropped down and
I was able to launch and got some great lift as I went south to the near end of the
cliffs. When I turned around and started heading back, there was very little
lift and I had to resort to finding bits of thermal lift. I managed
about 15
min before I had to land in the official LZ, 300 m below (17 min). Chris came
down to pick me and since it was just me, I didn’t even put my gear in my cinch
sack. Back on launch the wind had come back up even stronger so I waited for a
while. Eventually I launched again and got right up
along the ridge to the right, trying to avoid the crowds to the left. The ridge only goes 200 meters to the right and I managed to cross one gap but didn’t find much in the next section. I continued working the righthand ridge for a while and then flew out part way along the 800 meters of the ridge to the left. Flying was full of lots of up and down and didn’t really feel exactly like ridge lift, especially this close to the coast. Later I spotted C.J. out quite a way heading for the larger LZ so I joined her for landing. Wind was strong and I landed short and then had to work on not getting dragged through the bushes (48 min). We put our wings in their cinch sacks and walked out to the road where we got a ride up with our local instructor, Mourad. No one was flying at all when we got back up, but Toby was predicting that it would get flyable for everyone before too long. C.J. decided to pack up but I waited and, when conditions looked good, I launched again and found it much more
pleasant. I went to the end of the left
side of the ridge, then came back and tried a top landing, but I was too high
(and I didn’t want to look desperate). The next time I flew low across the
front of the launch, and the third time I came in low enough and had a neat
touchdown right where I wanted to land (20 min?). [Earlier, Dee (Dj Best) was kiting
a mini-wing designed just for kiting and she got plucked from launch and flew
down with the wing oscillating wildly. She landed safely in the big LZ.] Once
the sun had set, we headed south on the coastal road about 30 min to Mirleft
where we stayed at the Itrane Guest House which had actual working hot water
showers, soft beds and closets. Before dinner I had an episode of SVT in our
room. I laid down and rubbed my neck when straining and relaxing did not seem
to work. Dinner was served at 2100 on the roof on the third floor – first a
salad assortment, then several fish casseroles served on tajine platters. We
had a fruit cup for dessert.
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| Making bread in Amizmiz |
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| Souk in Tiznit |
along the ridge to the right, trying to avoid the crowds to the left. The ridge only goes 200 meters to the right and I managed to cross one gap but didn’t find much in the next section. I continued working the righthand ridge for a while and then flew out part way along the 800 meters of the ridge to the left. Flying was full of lots of up and down and didn’t really feel exactly like ridge lift, especially this close to the coast. Later I spotted C.J. out quite a way heading for the larger LZ so I joined her for landing. Wind was strong and I landed short and then had to work on not getting dragged through the bushes (48 min). We put our wings in their cinch sacks and walked out to the road where we got a ride up with our local instructor, Mourad. No one was flying at all when we got back up, but Toby was predicting that it would get flyable for everyone before too long. C.J. decided to pack up but I waited and, when conditions looked good, I launched again and found it much more
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| G launching at Nigel's |
7 Mar, Sat – C.J. and I got up around 0800 and went for a
walk a couple of blocks into town. There was a new mosque under construction
but otherwise the place looked quite rundown. Many of the side streets were
unpaved, and it was too early for many shops to be open. A steady stream of
people were heading on foot to what we guessed might be the equivalent of
Sunday school (Madrassah?). We had breakfast on the rooftop at 0900 – bread,
both flat and baguette, butter (!), jam, sweetened peanut butter, raw honey and
cold crepes with fruit slices, oh, and olives. Toby thought that conditions on
the coast would be light but that it would not be flyable in the Atlas. We
would overnight in Mirleft and possibly not return to Aguergour until Monday
night. We left Mirleft at 1100. Conditions were lighter on launch at Nigel’s,
but people started launching pretty soon. I took off and worked lift to the
left occasionally getting above the cliffs but mostly having to work the slopes
for thermals (mostly in the large creases). When I sunk out, there was not much
wind and I landed in the large LZ (28 min). Back at the launch, we had “Passion
Sandwiches”, salad and sardines or tuna served in half of a flat bread. There
were also oranges (or maybe tangerines), bananas, and cookies for dessert.
Conditions looked to be improving and we flew again around 1400. This time I
got all the way down to the south and a bit over the ruins at the end of the
cliffs before heading back. A flush cycle put me on the ground after a bunch of
scratching in weak thermals (30 min). I was tired after that and laid on the
cool pavement in the shade for a while. Around 1730 or so Toby organized a
L-over-D contest for those who wanted to try flying straight out toward the
beach, about a mile. Surprisingly, most pilots made it all the way and turned
south for a bit farther along a high dune. The rest of us packed up and drove
down in the van. We ended up at Green Wave (?), a small resort on the beach
where we had some drinks (a blended fruit juice and a beer for us: 80d) before
driving back to Mirleft. We got there with barely enough time to get ready for
dinner call which was at 2000. However, we could have taken time for a shower
since serving did not begin until 2215 or so. We had separate salads of various
veggies and a little pasta, then each of us received a charcoal-grilled whole
fish. Then there was a platter of three larger fish and a tajine platter of
potatoes and other roasted veggies. There was a fruit cup for dessert. Toby
actually had some cold beers, so I had one with dinner. Weather report is
still not completely good for Aguergour although people flew there today. It’s
supposed to be good there on Sunday but not on Monday. The plan so far is to
stay at the coast. There are some other sites that we might get to.
8 Mar, Sun – Up at 0800 for 0900 breakfast – same baguettes
with thin peanut butter, jam, honey, butter, orange juice, sweet tea (coffee
and hot milk – but no chocolate). This morning there were also the ubiquitous
fried, square tortilla-like thingy. The plan is to leave for a flying site at
1130 and to spend the night back in Mirleft. Conditions were not supposed to be
good at Eagle’s Nest but the coast near Aglou faces various directions so there
are multiple launch directions. We saw no activity as we drove past Eagle’s
Nest and it was about 20 km farther to Aglou and Aglou Plage along the coast
highway. We stopped in Aglou Plage to hang out while waiting for the winds to
come around. C.J. and I walked along the “corniche”, what would have been a
boardwalk in a US seaside town. There were lots of families, some with kids on
scooters and pedal cars, and a few electrics. We shared an ice cream bar and took some pics. Around 1300 we loaded up again and drove north onto a dirt
road and left the bus. It was a couple of kms to the flying area and we went
beyond the first areas (which might have been training slopes). The cliff was
about 35m high and had rooms carved into it (or they were remains of old
coastal defenses); there were even rooms for rent and a café. We waited and
waited for soarable conditions and it wasn’t until near five o’clock that
people, maybe locals, started to probe the air. Meanwhile I had walked down the
sandy trail to the beach and discovered a large, dead sea turtle. Mourad
brought back sandwiches for lunch with fries/chips, and I bought a Coke at the
café. When our group started to get ready I did, too but I was
unenthusiastic at the thought of so many people trying to fly in light
conditions in such a narrow lift band on a rocky cliff. Nevertheless, I got my wing
out and tried to kite to the edge. Looks like I need more kiting practice.
Eventually, I reached the edge and leaped into the air just barely avoiding
catching my harness on a wooden railing. I made a short run to the N, then
South and back north a longer distance to where the cliff began to curve away
from the rapidly dwindling wind. I managed a top landing and found Chris W. and
Neal already on the ground nearby (05? min). I packed up in a not-too-deep
sandy area and walked back along the cliff top to where the rest of the group
was also getting packed up. We got shuttled back to the bus through the sand
and drove back to Mirleft arriving around 2000. We had another good dinner,
this time platters of meat casserole and chicken casserole preceded by plates
of dates and a sweet, then a bowl of soup with lentils and chickpeas. Dessert
was a 3-layer fruit custard. C.J. had not flown but had done some kiting and
was just as tired as I. She also seems to have some kind of bug and took an
Immodium. She has a headache and may have a fever. I’m still sneezing and have
a runny nose. We leave Monday at 0900 after breakfast at 0800, destination is
unsure at the moment except that we will be returning to Aguergour for the
night. The first group leaves on Tuesday and Chris and Patricia arrive. We are
planning to do some cleaning of clothes and maybe change rooms.
9 Mar, Mon - Up at 0700 for a warm shower. Breakfast on the
roof. We got packed up and took a walk around the town to a street with artisan
shops. We looked for a Monday market that Duncan said was just setting up but
we couldn’t find it. We left around 1100 (maybe) and went to Eagle’s Nest where
conditions were forecast to be light and getting better (maybe). The wind was
very crossed from the SW and no one was flying. We waited and waited, had lunch
(Passion sandwiches) and waited some more. Finally, the wind direction came
around a little and Toby sent Yuki off to probe the air. She stayed up and
finally toplanded at the auberge (le Nid d”Aigle) TO. Once a few more folks
stayed up I launched. I was able to get above the cliffs down to the south but
not climb up high or stay above the cliffs. After a quarter of an hour, I went
to the right of launch a short distance then came back above launch. I took a
couple of passes and managed to topland to a round of applause (20 min). That
was enough although many people continued to launch and we didn’t get going
back to Aguergour until after 1730. C.J. had not been feeling great and had
decided not to fly although she may have felt some regrets after so many people
flew (and we stayed so late). We stopped in Tiznit to get gas and buy snacks (Magnums
and tonic) and again at a rest area (chips). We got back to Chez Ahmed
in time for dinner at midnight. Too cold for a late-night shower with flaky hot
water, we just went to bed. I woke up a little chilly and threw a sleeping bag
over me. By the next time I had awakened, the slippery sleeping bag had ended
up on the floor. No problem; I no longer felt cold.
10 Mar, Tue – Breakfast at 0900 with square “pancakes”. It's the end
of the first week and most folks are heading to the airport but there is a
sizable number who are staying and will fly with Toby and Chris W. today. C.J. and
I moved out of our tiny room into the much larger room (and with a window) that
Jim and Maggie had used. The only problem is the stream of ants across the
windowsill. C.J. and I had to wait for the second 4x4 shuttle from the gite but
I was in no rush anyway. Once on launch, the wind was somewhat strong so I went
down to the little niche in the slope and launched there. [C.J. had used that
takeoff a couple of times previously.] Soaring was good and I went back and
forth several times before heading out toward the lake. I didn’t go far beyond
the usual LZ before turning back and landing (40 min). The folks from our group
who were on the ground got sandwiches from the gite and, when C.J. landed, I
shared mine with her. We had just finished lunch when the new group arrived
with Chris and Patricia. Also arriving were Danny (Dag) and Nicki, pilots from
Sweden whom we had met in South Africa. [The pilots who are staying are Simon,
David, Kevin, Tim and Dee (Dj).] The new folks had lunch, then a briefing, then
we headed up around 1700 (needed to wait at the gate for a shuttle). Conditions
were again strong and I launched below again. C.J. decided not to fly, as did
Patricia. The sky was filled with wings but the lift band was reasonably wide.
After a half hour of ridge soaring I flew out to work the light thermals. I
remembered my camera and pulled it out for some photos of the launch and the
villages. I flew out to the bend in the road where the hills start before
turning back to the LZ and landing (52min). Dinner was soup and then large fish
(sardine?) balls, no veggies, no salad. We had the little muffins for dessert.
And sweet tea, as usual.
11 Mar, Wed – Breakfast at 0900, headed up the hill at 1015.
Conditions became soarable by 1100 and I launched (not first, at all). I tried
going right but there wasn’t much lift so I went left in pretty sinky air. I
ran into a few light thermals to keep me in the air and then caught a good one
that drifted me back over the village with the cliff ruins. After I got back up
over launch height, I pushed out front and found lift in the flats. I passed
the LZ and went more than 3 km farther toward the lake. At one point I was
thermalling with Chris A and climbing slowly. I got impatient and headed off
toward the lake again. When I looked back Chris appeared to be much higher
(later he said that he had broken through the inversion and climbing was easier
after that). I reached 1640 m but others got above 2000 m. Since I hadn’t
gotten high enough to make the lake on a glide, I returned to the LZ and landed
(41 min). After a while some of us (not C.J. because she had not landed while
flying for 1hr 15m) got a ride to the gate and then we hung out at Gite Aznag
until it was time for lunch (sometime after 1415), a good salad and a tajine
with tiny meatballs, then the oranges and tea. The wind had picked up while we
were eating and we didn’t go up to launch right away but eventually all of us
got up there although many walked. After another long wait for most of us
(although Danni and Simon flew earlier), most pilots launched – not me or C.J.,
Patricia, Dj, and one other less-experienced pilot. The wind speed never
dropped and after sunset, one pilot, Dana (say “donna”), was still stuck in the
air and required coaching to get down using speedbar and “big ears”. He landed
across the road from Chez Ahmed in the large field and in the dark, but safely.
C.J., Patricia and Dj had walked down to the gate and didn’t get a ride down
until another car could be sent up for them (Dj was able to snag a seat in the first
car.) We had dinner as soon as everyone was down, a vegetable tajine
with chicken and couscous, orange slices and tea. I used the 20-dirham recharge
vouchers to add a week’s worth of data to our phones. [Call 555, enter “1”,
then enter the multi-digit scratch-off number with “*3”. After a pause, a
message is received indicating success.]
12 Mar, Thu – I got up around 0800. Patricia told me that
Chris had been emailing with his family and heard that the US will be banning
all flights from Europe starting tomorrow. Possibly for up to a month. Since
our flight from Morocco goes through Amsterdam, we may be affected. I’ve seen
nothing official yet, but we do not have an internet connection except through
our phones. I haven’t received any emails since yesterday so I’m not sure whether
I’m even connected by phone. Another of our pilots said the news he had was
that Europeans were not being allowed to fly into the US but US citizens could
fly home. At least we don’t have to worry until our departure date of the 23rd. [Famous last words!] Breakfast was only the square “pancake” with fresh cheese and jam, and OJ. No
eggs or flatbread. [C.J. later complained to Toby about the lack of food or
variety at breakfast.] We went up the hill at 1015 and I flew around noon. It
wasn’t soarable on the ridge but I managed to find a thermal or two on the way
to the LZ. I circled with C.J. and with Chris A and gained some altitude but
not enough to go anywhere (26 min). We went back up to launch again and found
conditions changing – there was virga over the High Atlas and moving toward us.
The sky was mostly obscured by clouds and it was definitely cooler. Mourad
brought the sandwiches up and we had lunch on launch. Later Chris W. and Toby
said it was safe to do a fly-down to the LZ. C.J. and I one other pilot decided
to ride down (C.J. and I had just repacked our wings and didn’t feel like a
sledder would be worthwhile). Back at the gite, Chris White put on a reserve
parachute seminar with Tim deploying his new square. Later he repacked it – not
much different than a round PDA. We had dinner relatively early around 1945 – a
good salad, soup, bread, and many skewers of grilled meat, sausages and
patties. There were slices of something like biscotti for dessert, also plates
of little cookies something like animal crackers. And tea. C.J. and I bought a
bottle of wine to share with Chris and Patricia. We stayed talking to
Colin and David until about 2130.
13 Mar, Fri – A better breakfast this morning with
hardboiled eggs and soup as well as fresh flatbread, cheese and jam. We went up
at our usual early 1015 but I didn’t launch until it looked soarable sometime
after noon. It was indeed soarable out front and in the flats, but I had
launched with a knot in my right brake line so I had to go out and land (16
min). When I landed the wing overflew me and got all tangled up. I got a ride right back up and launched again
after having to sort out the lines by disconnecting the risers. This time I got
to thermal over the villages and out some distance past the LZ (33 min). I got
low enough at one point that I could see the ostriches in the next compound
over to the NW. My landing was fine, but this time, though, I put my wing and
harness in the cinch sack instead of just stuffing it in the back of the car.
Conditions seemed too strong to launch so I rested for a while. It wasn’t until
after 1800 that I launched again. By now C.J. had toplanded and taken a ride
down to the gite for a shower and rest. I made a few passes on the ridge and
then headed out when I saw that Dj had stayed on the ridge too long, gotten
much below the cut-off point and had to follow a canyon out to the flats. She
landed just short of the big powerlines and had to walk maybe a km along a wadi
to get to the paved road. I flew toward the lake and with thermal lift got to
over 1500m but that didn’t last and I had to turn around short of my farthest
point a few days ago. I landed to the NW in the LZ (54 min). A shower was much
appreciated. Unusually, today, we had big Cu buildup over the High Atlas and
some clouds overran our ridge. Dinner at 2000 consisted of cooked veggies,
chicken and chips, and a fruit cup (plus flatbread and tea, of course).
14 Mar, Sat – there was some kind of official government
visit to the area and flying was off for probably most of the day. Toby laid on
a trip to Asni, a village with a Saturday market about forty minutes away
toward the High Atlas. We left a bit before 1000 and drove up through Aguergour
and continued over a 1340m pass and down into a valley. The market was large
and crowded, and definitely not a tourist market (although we did see a couple
of small tour groups). There were lots of stalls with veggies and fruit,
electronics and hardware, butcher shops with flayed cow heads and decapitated
sheep heads, clothing, cookies and candy, and baskets. We walked around with
Chris, Patricia and Job. We didn’t buy anything but there were several
silver bracelet salesmen who were hard of hearing when told, “No, thanks”. We
stopped at a café and had a drink while resting, then went back to the
bus (about 1230) where Mourad had lunch sandwiches and chips for us. We sat on
the sidewalk in the shade of a wall to eat while crowds of students walked past
of – must have been some kind of Saturday classes maybe at the mosque. We drove
back over the pass and got back to Chez Ahmed where we could see that there was
quite a cloud buildup over the launch ridge. When Tony and Chris W got back
they recommended against going flying and said that there was even a chance
that there would be rain in the evening. Meanwhile there was much discussion
about the cancellation or pending cancellation of airline flights from Morocco
to Europe. Not to mention the closing of airports in much of Europe outside the
UK. At the moment there is a chance we will be stuck here for two or three
weeks. If so, should we stay with Toby out away from the city, or go to our
AirBnb that we reserved (must cancel by the 15th to get our deposit
back less the service charge)? Since Toby may not have a new group arriving (on
Fri, not Tues when we are finished), we’ll probably continue with our present
plan to stay at the AirBnB in Marrakech. There were a few drops of rain, and
some thunder, but nothing even close to a storm. We got back a
little late for dinner but there was plenty of food left – a beef and vegetable
tajine, bread, tangerines and tea.
15 Mar, Sun – It was windy overnight, enough that we had to
pad the rough door with some dirty socks so the bars and locks didn’t rattle
too badly. It was also pretty chilly, although our room stayed pretty warm; the
two-foot thick walls may have something to do with that. Breakfast was a little
earlier but I couldn’t see any reason for that because there was low cloud and
fog obscuring the launch ridge. And did I mention that it was colder than
usual? (May get a chance to wear my windpants and/or long underwear). C.J.
canceled our reservation with AirBnb in Marrakech (no service charge). We’re going to stay in
Aguergour for now. We’re figuring that if we want to go back to Marrakech,
there will be plenty of riads to choose from. We didn’t go up to the gate until
after 1230 and then we hung out at the Gite Aznag with tea for a while. By then
it had cleared enough that those who wanted to could launch from just above the
gate. Surprisingly the flights were not sledders and there was some
thermalling, the wind was too light for the lift to be orographic. C.J. and I
plus several others did not fly. We had the lunch that was brought up – meat
and cooked onions and stuff in a flatbread, and a paper roll of fries. Then we
drove down. A half hour later we all went up again this time to the top which
was now out of the clouds. Only a very few did not fly. There was just enough
wind to do a reverse inflation but C.J. had better luck with a forward. We
found thermal lift over the ruins above the cliff and elsewhere. I landed with
Nicki (15 min). Toby said that there was cumulus build up all around us but
hidden by the low clouds so we could not go back up again to fly. I caught a
glimpse of the sun once after we got back, but otherwise, it was solidly
overcast. C.J., Chris and Patricia took a walk through the nearby village. We
stopped to buy cookies and Patricia bought some nuts at the next shop. We
walked past the Mosque and came out on the road to launch near the place we
called Home Depot since it looked like it had building material for sale. After
dinner – salad, meatballs and peas, tea and cookies – C.J. and I registered our
Morocco trip with the State Department Smart Traveler Enrollment Program
(STEP). That allows us to be contacted by the embassy in Casablanca if
necessary. So far the rumor is that the Marrakech airport is going to be closed
down on Monday. We have no idea how we are going to get home in a week from
now. Hopefully we will hear something from Delta before then.
16 Mar, Sun – Still quite cool and cloudy (in fact, later in
the morning we had some light rain. I’m wearing long underwear!). We got an
acknowledgement that our STEP enrollment had been verifies. We also got an
email from the consulate General in Casablanca confirming that all Morocco
airports had been closed and asking us to send them contact info if we were in
the group of people who were more susceptible to COVID-19. I looked at my
MedJet Assist app and there was some additional fine print saying that we could
forget any evacuation help if we were in a banned country (like all of Europe)
or if the State Dept had declared a country level 3 or 4. Not sure what that
means for Morocco. Toby had a little meeting – no flying today, well, probably.
But Mourad would take us on a walk through the villages (when it stopped
raining). Otherwise we can stay on at the gite and have full guide services for
half the usual rate. It sounds like the next group is not/cannot show up for
the third week which should begin on Friday the 20th. Most of the Brits are
expecting that there will be “repatriation flights” to get them home starting
on the 19th. We four Americans haven’t heard of anything like that.
Maybe if Morocco opens the airports, we can get our scheduled flight…or some
flight anyway. Chris and Patricia’s flight goes through London so they may be
in better shape than we are (All Europeans but Brits and Irish are banned from
flying to the US, and our flight home leaves from Amsterdam). Since we were not
going to fly (strong NE winds, low cloudbase), Mourad took us for a walk
through his village (almost the same route that we took the night before) and
up through another one to reach the paved road one switchback above. When we
got back to the gite, we had a short rest before loading up the van and driving
to Lalla Takerkoust, “the barrage”, for lunch at a café terrace. We each
had a big plate of mostly tomato salad, then bread, skewers of beef, and
grilled ground meat with tomato and onion slices. While waiting for our food to
be ready we walked around the shopping area and bought a couple of large
envelopes of Nesquik so I could make hot chocolate with heated milk at
breakfast. After lunch C.J. and I walked up and over the bridge to where
we could see the dam. Back at our gite, Toby told us that the cafe we had just
eaten at was closing right after serving us… and all the other restaurants and
cafes in Morocco (just like in Washington State, we heard). [So if we had gone
to Marrakech, we wouldn’t have had any place to eat.] A few people from our
group went to the airport this morning and at least two of them (Danny and
Nicki) caught a flight out. We heard that Sebastian, who is from BC, had not
gotten a flight. Maybe we will see him back here. [Yes, he was back at least
for the night.] I took a nap from 16-1700 and then the weather looked to have
improved for flying with some blue holes and sunshine. We headed up (except for
Kevin who had packed his wing for travel) and found a big black cloud behind
and to the west, but otherwise launchable conditions. We had to take off to the
north in quite a crosswind, but most got off with little trouble. C.J.,
Patricia and Dj did not launch. I found a little thermal lift over the power
lines at Gite Aznag but it only extended my flight (11 min). I packed up my
wing on the roof which is nice and clean, if not too big. C.J. thought we
should use the hammam (like a heated room with hot and cold water taps) but
Toby said dinner was imminent – chicken and vegetables with couscous again.
Near the end of the meal Chris got a notice that their flight was canceled. And
it was only this morning that they had an email saying the that their flight
was on as scheduled. After dinner we
used the hammam to get cleaned up. It’s been too chilly for a comfortable
shower, especially when the showers are erratic about supplying hot water. Chris
and Patricia decided to pack up and go to the airport in the morning and try to
get a flight out at least as far as London.
17 Mar, Tue, St. Patrick’s Day and last official day of the PP tour – I couldn’t get any hot milk
to make hot chocolate with the Nesquik so we had our usual hot, sweet tea with
hot hardboiled eggs, bean soup, bread, farmer’s cheese, and jam. Chris and
Patricia left at 0900 with several other group members. I didn’t know whether
to wish them luck or hope that they’d be back. It was cold and I dressed in
long underwear and multiple layers. The light down jacket was necessary out in
the courtyard where I am typing this at a low table sitting on a stool. We are
considering packing up most of our stuff in case we feel like we have to get
out of here before they close the airports in Morocco on Thursday. I sent our
contact info to ACSCasablanca.state.gov and got back an automatic reply and
another reply that actually had some info. A bunch of the guys walked up from the gite
without their wings and we drove up an hour later with Dj and the gliders. It
was cold on launch and colder in the air. I took off and went right and got a
pretty close view of a red fox with a long bushy tail on the rocky slope below
the ridgetop. Then I came back and did figure-eight turns on a bump sticking
out from the ridge and gained a little; next I pushed out front to the places
where thermals are usually found. Nothing there, so I ended up with a short
flight (15 min). After a while, we all went up to Gite Aznag for a good lunch
of salad, tajine with eggs, tea and orange slices. Then we went up for a mid-day
flight which I found to be too turbulent to be fun and I soon landed (13 min).
We went up one more time around 1630 and I launched about 1745, got right up
over launch and then headed out over the villages – again no lift until I got
quite far out. Then I found one that got me to 1450m and attracted a few others.
I took my elevation gain and headed toward the lake but never found another
good climb on my push into the wind. I turned back and landed at the LZ with
another pilot (28 min). C.J. had strong conditions on launch and could not get
off; she rode down with Mourad. Reports from people at the airport say that
Chris and Patricia got a flight to London-Gatwick. Dj heard that her flight to
London on Sunday has been canceled. We haven’t heard anything substantive from
Delta/AF/KLM about our flight on Monday 23 Mar. After dinner we decided to try
to get a flight out of Marrakech the next day when Chris W. and Dj have to go
to the airport anyway. We got everything packed up by 2315.
18 Mar, Wed – After a different breakfast of an omelet, red
juice, bread, cheese and jam. We got sorted out and drove into the city with Dj
and Mourad. Another taxi carried Emily, the dog, Max, and Chris W. We got our
stuff through the entry security scan and then were confronted by not just one
line but several. We tried the British Airways queue but they were only taking
BA ticketed passengers. We ended up in a very slow-moving line at Air France.
By 1700 the line had stopped and there was an announcement (in French) that all seats were
filled but there might be some no-shows on the 19th. We didn’t see
any signs of a KLM ticket counter (or Transavia) which is what our flight is
on; no sign of Delta at all. Toby was having some kind of first aid-required
emergency back at Aguergour but came to pick us up at 1900. [Later we found out
that the waiter at the Gite who had lost his father not too long ago had tried
committing suicide by taking rat poison. He survived but was not in good
shape.] C.J. and I tried finding a flight to London on Expedia.com and were
surprised to find a flight that had seats available. We booked it ($580 for
two) and felt much more confident about getting out of Morocco before the
shutdown at 2359 on Thurs. We made up our bed again and did not bother getting
the sleeping bags unpacked.
19 Mar, Thu, First Day of Spring, Last day before Moroccan
air space was to be closed – We had an early breakfast at 0700 and headed into Marrakech
at 0745 with Dj and Toby. We got there before 0900 so Dee could get her place
in line which was determined by a list she was put on the previous day. We got
into a British Airways queue and patiently waited and slowly advanced until we
got to the counter and received our boarding passes and dropped off our checked
bags (extra fee required). Since it was early and our flight was not until 1535,
we went to the Arrivals area and had lunch at Le Table du Marche’. It was in a
courtyard exposed to the outside air and it was pretty chilly but we enjoyed
our two kinds of quiche, a Caesar salad and a quite good chocolate coated black
forest cake. At some point we used Expedia again to book a ticket from
London to Seattle going through SFO. We then moved on to the boarding gate
which got changed. Everyone got on the plane, and there were still a few seats
unoccupied. We were late taking off partly because workers were still loading
the luggage. A big surprise was the weather - it was actually raining lightly in
Marrakech. We arrived at Heathrow late, too, and went through an ePassport gate
(as quick as our Global Entry usually is), picked up our bags and walked out
through the “nothing to declare” customs door. We may have missed some
directions about how to get from Terminal 5 to Terminal 2, but we managed to
get the free ride on the Heathrow Express train to near Terminal 2. Once there
we went to the Departures area and used the kiosk to check in with our
passports. Then we found out where the United Lounge was and headed there to
hang out until our flight the next morning. Unfortunately, that lounge was only
open from 0500 to 1400 (What good is that?!)(possibly the lounges were all closed
because of the Coronavirus situation) We eventually settled down in some not-very-comfortable
chairs prepared to spend the night rather than pay for a hotel and taxi, etc.
When I went back to the kiosk to see if I could get it to print out our luggage
tags, I found out that our flight to SFO had been cancelled. Fortunately United
had several other flights on Friday to Seattle. We were still in the game! Patricia
contacted us by What’s App and volunteered to pick us up at the airport to
minimize the chance of infecting other people who had not been travelling with
us. C.J. slept for a while then got her sleeping bag out and slept several
hours. I couldn’t get comfortable in the chairs or on the cold, stone floor, so
I didn’t get much sleep.
20 Mar, Fri - Around 0600 we packed up and went upstairs to
the Departure area and checked in (the luggage tag machines were in a different
part of the room) and dropped our bags off (I think we may have had to pay for
the third bag, $100). After that we went through Security and wandered around
the concourse until we settled on the World Tree restaurant for some
breakfast. We had an “avo smoothie bowl” with granola and chia seeds, a mixed
fruit juice, hot chocolate and a yogurt bowl with coconut and fresh berries. Then we wrote in our journals until the gate was announced around 0850. We
got to load in Group 2 so there was hardly a wait at all before we were on
board. We had a long flight with assigned seats in the center three seats, but
there was no one in the two seats next to the window so we moved there. We had
a lunch (chicken or pasta) with wine once we were in the air and we had some
views of England and then over Ireland we could see the Dingle Peninsula before
we headed out across the Atlantic. I watched part one of The Hobbit using the
captions – much better than trying to understand the conversation of the
dwarves, et al. Near the end of the flight we had melted cheese and ham (the
first pork we’ve had in a long time) on a roll. Somehow, we missed the crossing
of the Hudson River and I didn’t recognize anything until we passed over the NY
Thruway where it bends at Suffern, and the Garden State Parkway intersects it.
Soon we could see the approach to NY and the NYC skyline with the new One World
Tower, built on the site of World Trade Center. We had to go through
Immigration in EWR and there was no Global Entry, but the wait was minimal. We
had to fill out a customs form and a new one for the Coronavirus. On the way to
the line someone took our temperature with an infrared thermometer. Once we
picked up our bags, we piled them on a $6.00 cart (Great to be back in the
US!) and wheeled them out of customs. There was a transfer station for bags
right outside, but our flight was leaving from another terminal so we had to
“follow the black line” painted on the floor which involved a walk through the depths
of EWR, taking a lift up to the next floor, catching a train, taking another
lift back down and then going to a bag drop. Glad we weren’t in a rush. C.J.
sat at a desk at our gate, plugged in her phone and got a call from Patricia. I
went off to find a milkshake but ended up with a mocha frappe from a food court
shop. C.J tried to get an interesting fruit drink from Starbucks but there were
too many people ordering special drinks. We boarded in Group 2 again and this
time we had a group of three seats to ourselves. In fact, there were few people
on the flight and we probably could have had two sets of seats. We reached
Seattle around 2020 local time (we had missed the “spring ahead” of Daylight
Savings Time while in Morocco). Chris and Patricia picked us up as soon as we
got our luggage from the carousel onto a free cart that I had snagged from the
sidewalk outside. We were home in 45 minutes, and it wasn’t much later that we
crawled into our own warmed bed for a good long sleep.
21 Mar, Sat – A hot shower felt really good after the long
stay in the rural gite in Morocco. By the time I got up C.J. had sorted out the
laundry and started the first load. It was a nice sunny day so she hung out the
washed clothes. I made some pancakes for breakfast with the sour milk that had
been in the freezer. It took a lot of cycles through the microwave to get it
thawed. Later I went out to the post office to get our held mail; there was a
big box of it and much of the weight was in cruise catalogs. I also stopped at
QFC and got some onions, milk and garlic and a tub of hummus. In the afternoon
I rode my bike over to Safeway and got some grapes, sharp cheddar, and bananas.
It was interesting that no one in North Bend was wearing a mask; I took mine
off before I left the PO. We had soup for dinner and went to bed early.
Since we returned home we've been "sheltering in place", self-isolating" or self-quarantined". whichever term you prefer. When we started, we were expecting only a two-week period of staying home, but as the Coronavirus pandemic has spread, we may be in for a much longer quarantine. Except for one trip out for groceries and mail, we haven't been anywhere until ten days after we got home. Then we were out of fresh food and I went to the local grocery store (QFC) during the 0700-0800 senior access time slot.
