2019. Family summit in Marrakesh #10

Pre-read Note:

• This post is from our 2019 Basque Country – Senegal trip. We never did a post about the days when Gaspard and I reunited in Marrakesh, just before our families arrived to visit us.
• Why now? Well, because we are planning something in relation to our trips, and first we have to cover the holes we left about our story ;-).

As a refresher, Gaspard had injured his hand in Mid-February in southern Spain (See post #3 from 2019) and had spent the last weeks recovering in Paris. Javi had meanwhile cycled from Sevilla to Marrakesh (posts #4, #5, #6, #7, #8), while Gaspard, once recovered, cycled to Tangier and took a bus to Marrakesh to meet Javi there. Before the injury, we had the brilliant idea of having our mothers visit us midway through our trip, as a way to make up for the stress that our trip was going to cause them (no, we are not exaggerating). Javi had a girlfriend at a time that he had started dating barely 2 months before departing, and in a very optimistic planning, decided to invite her too.

Marrakesh was the best option for that, and the plan was so cool that the sister of Gaspard and the aunt of Javi decided to join too. We also found out that two Spanish friends living in Zurich, Moi and Ángel, where also going to be around. A true random mix of people.

Needless to say that the memories are rather blurry, given the overdose of events we were experience daily those days, and that nothing less than 5 years and a half have passed. I will give it my best try.

14th of March:

I (Javi) arrive timely in Marrakesh with fellow riders Lysiane and Patric, who will stay in a different place. Before leaving, they show interest on continuing with us after Marrakesh. I tell them we will most likely leave the 20th, after our families have left, and that I need to discuss with Gaspard, who should have a saying on the idea too. After all, riding the whole day for multiple days with the same people is no joke. But they fully understand, and tell me that they are likely to adapt to our departure date. They are really easy-going people and have a lot of time.

Before Gaspard arrives, I play it safe and take my bike to a proper-looking bicycle shop for a service. I find it goes a bit against the essence of the trip, allegedly based on autonomy and self-management, but I am unsure about my derailleur hanger, which broke recently, my kickstand looks terribly (a poor kickstand will follow me until the end of the 2024 trip), and I feel like letting a pro do it. Plus there is not going to be any more bicycle shop until Dakar, our estimated end destination. Plus it will cost a third of what it would cost in Spain, let alone Switzerland. Plus I need a place to leave my bike, my bike won’t apparently fit in the narrow streets to access the boutique hotel my mom has booked in the Medina. I can even choose what excuse to rely on.

I then meet a good-looking Gaspard in the bus station: shaved and smiley. We merge in a solid hug. The whole thing is pretty unreal: I honestly didn’t give a penny for Gaspard making it in time to Marrakesh. I mean, the sensitivity on his hand was gone not even a month ago, he couldn’t grab a spoon. His knee was also hurting. Meanwhile, while recovering, the story with the girl he was kind of dating in Zurich, fell to pieces. I was nervous on the distance, felt I needed him for the next leg of the trip. But Gasp proved again that he is harder than a rock. It is not possible to beat him forever, he can get himself in shit once, but in the long term he will recover and exceed the initial expectations.

We update each other over a shawarma: what I experienced during the last 4 weeks, but also his first feelings riding again. Overall good, but still concerned on how the evolution is going to be. We have still over 2’500 km to do.

We are pretty tired, so we go to the cheaper hotel we have booked for the night, before we reconnect with luxury and comfort in the hotels our mothers have respectively booked for the day of arrival, tomorrow.

15th of March – 17th of March: Marrakesh

Our relatives are arriving rather early. Each of us goes to his hotel and agree to meet for lunch all together in a nice restaurant with a view of Jemaa el-Fnaa, Marrakech busiest and most central square.

As usual with these things, I start getting nervous by the first-time combination I am going to do. My girlfriend Nathalie doesn’t even know my mother and I am putting them together in a solid 5 day holiday together. But Nathalie is very friendly and easy going and I know for a fact that my mother is happier than ever since I have a girlfriend. She kind of things I am going to relax because of it. If she only knew what is coming for me in my next years…

After a bit of relax, we meet for lunch. We had no doubt that our mothers were going to get along very well. They are pretty similar in fact. Caring, kind, maybe a bit neurotic too… They both speak their mind if they don’t like something (“C’est degoulas!”). Javi’s aunt Anatere doesn’t speak much English, but that’s not a barrier to bargain with any seller about anything in the Souk. She has a list of people she has to buy presents for, and nothing can’t stop her from succeeding on her mission.

Gaspard’s sister Clara arrives from Paris after lunch, and we start our self-planned small tour of Marrakesh for the next days. The atmosphere is great, everyone has lots of fun. We are quite proud to see our mothers getting along pretty much as well as we do. We do break a bit the nice atmosphere when we share that the plan is to continue towards Senegal, and we have to insist a lot in the safety of the countries we are going to visit. Our mothers, however, recover from the shock, and we get to enjoy the Souq, Badi Palace, Bahia Palace, or the Kutubiyya for the next days.

18th of March – 19th of March: Essaouira

Before finishing the trip, we go for 2 days to the coastal town of Essaouira, less than 3 hour bus ride away from Marrakesh.

Strong winds comb its beautiful old town, full of reminiscents of its Jewish heritage. In fact, somewhere in the XVIII century, Jewish comprised the majority of the population. In Marrakesh were the remains of jewish culture very evident too.Nowadays, there is only a handful of them still living in Morocco. Most of them have moved to Israel either in search of opportunity or escaping from the increasingly tense relationship between Islam and Judaism.

We go back to Marrakesh for a final farewell dinner, where our friends from Zurich Moi and Ángel and an old friend of Ilham, Gaspard’s mother, join us.

It has been some fantastic, relaxing days, full of love and laughter. Our batteries are charged to the fullest. We feel like we count with the support of our mothers and girlfriend, despite they would never tell us so, due to fear of feeling they are encouraging us to do these things more often.

It’s time to continue, the road is waiting.

Distance cycled: 0 km

Elevation gained: 0m