Anyways - catching up from my last posts - we left Essaouira yesterday afternoon and got on a big coach bus (picture attached - the caption at the bottom of the bus says "the other way to travel" which made us laugh a bit as we have hopped off our big yellow truck...) and we drove down a long windy highway to Agadir. Now - I haven't gotten motion sickness since my younger days on the coach buses heading to basketball games in the UP...but I must admit the bus ride yesterday tested me!! It was a super windy coastal road and the bus driver was insane!! Luckily we had a 20 minute stop after an hour so I was able to jump out and get some fresh air. I was fine after that - but the first part of the journey was tough! There was some stunning scenery of the sea and beach as we drove by - especially the siunset - so it was worth it. Until we got to Agadir and I got a text from our tour leader...now they were adamant that they wouldn't go through Essaouira to pick us up because it was like 10km out of the way - so we had to take the bus to meet them in Agadir where they were stopping at the grocery store. So my text in Agadir says that she hopes we haven't left Essaouira yet because turns out they are going to stop there and they can pick us up!! LOL!! If only that would have been decided a few hours sooner - oh well! Agadir has been ok! A new city to check out. We stayed in a proper dive hotel last night though! Which was sad because we thought it was our last time with a shower and toilet for like 10 days-but luckily we get to stay in town tonight too - so Jo and have have upgraded further and are in a lovely hotel with a proper bathroom and a flatscreen TV (pictures included above - my bed has the zebra stripes!). So I had a shower this evening and I'll have another in the morning because then I think its 3 nights of bush camping (ie. no water) and then a night camping in a really crappy hotel carpark and then more bush camping. Basically the next 10 days are pretty much 8-10 hour days of driving!! Hopefully the scenery is good! Oh - and the weather is warmer!! So all should be good - soon I'll be complaining that its too hot :P
Anyways - we met the truck at the grocery store today because its our last chance to stock up on anything for days and days and days...so I got a bunch of water (did I tell the story before about how they forgot to treat water and gave everyone dysentery...I think I did...so I'm not risking dysentery and I'm buying my own water!) And I also bought my "secret santa" present. We basically spend 5-10 euro and exchange gifts on Xmas...I bought a bunch of random small snacks and little toys...junk mostly but it should alleviate some boredom for a few hours :P
After dinner we got into the discussion again about our local payment and how because there is no transparency we don't trust that its being spent properly just because no one tells us anything and we don't trust the tour leader basically - I'm sure its all above board (and she isn't siphoning off the local payment for a deposit on her new house after the trip) but without any accounting (yes I'm an accountant) its just hard to be sure - and more and more people are questioning it. So I sent a quick email to the Oasis office this evening. Hopefully when I get through the desert and get internet again - all our questions will be answered!!!
I think that's it!! But I'll likely be gone 10 - 14 days - so don't worry if you don't hear from me! We are hoping to get to St. Louis, Senegal for Xmas - so it will be long days driving but I'm still so happy I got my Mauritania visa and don't have to fly over!! Saves me so much money that its ok to super upgrade and pay £15 for my share of the hotel room tonight (compared to the £5 I paid last night). I'll write as much as I can and upload it all!! It will be interesting to see the interactions of the group after being away so long! I've heard that there are 2 leaders that have emerged that set the course in picking on the weaker members of the group!! Oh boy - the drama!!PS that last picture is the beach in Agadir! Not too bad! Merry Christmas if I'm not online before then!!!
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