Hubs and I visited Morocco for a 5 day weekend last weekend. Our hotel was in Casablanca but we also took a day trip to Marrakech and a day trip to Rabat. Public transportation is not as prevalent in Morocco as it is in NL so we relied on a taxi for our trips. And the few buses we did see seemed all to be in need of some repair (broken windows, dents, missing parts...)
We used the same driver for our quick tour around Casablanca on Friday, the day trip to both Marrakech on Saturday and Rabat on Sunday, as well as our return trip to the airport on Monday. He was a kind man, speaking only French and Arabic which made for some interesting conversations as neither hubs nor I are fluent in French and hubs only knows a couple phrases in Arabic. Those of you who have ever ridden in a car with me will be amused to learn that our taxi driver scared the living shit out of me. Our driver didn't appear to drive any worse than any other driver (taxi or otherwise) in Morocco, but still. The sudden accelerations, the immediate braking, the tailgating... all classic Robin driving. But from the backseat of a Mercedes Benz that was older than my 23 yo son, and that had electrical tape in places, that vibrated whenever he shifted from first to second (yes, it was a manual), and in a country where the police prominently walk around with automatic rifles... I wasn't feeling too warm and fuzzy on the inside.
The only driver who scared me even more was our taxi driver from Rick's Café to our hotel on Sunday night. The trip took us through Ancient Medina, a very old part of Casablanca with exceedingly narrow and windy streets. People walk in the streets, there are many blind turns, cars move in both directions, there are bicyclists and mopeds, children are playing... in other words, it's chaos. Our driver seemed to delight in going as fast as his little car would allow while talking to us at the same time. (Our driver mentioned Tom Cruise a few times, I have no idea why, and was invested in letting us know his family was asleep... all 5 children) There were a couple of pedestrians who narrowly escaped with their lives and I needed a change of underwear when we got back to the hotel.
I think the best way to describe how people drive in Morocco is "He with the biggest balls wins". Traffic circles are prevalent in Casablanca. The best way to get through these circles during rush hour is to go on the outside, around the cars already in the circle, and force your way back into the mass of cars on the other side. If you need to turn left or cross the road where there is no traffic light, simply keep nudging your car into oncoming traffic until the cars in the other direction decide to stop. At 1 stop sign on a 2-way street I observed the driver who was 4th in line simply drive around the 3 in front of him and turn right. Part of me was elated... those who can get going simply bypass those who can't. Part of me was petrified... EVERYONE DRIVES THIS WAY!!!
Cars compete with mopeds, bicycles, pedestrians and carts pulled by donkeys on 6 lane roads (3 in each direction). Hitchhiking is prevalent. Speed limit signs seemed to either be a suggestion only or the minimum speed one should be driving. I couldn't figure out which. I tried to rationalize that our driver didn't want to die any more than I did, and therefore we would be ok. But I did have to revert to reading a book so as to not have several heart attacks on our 3 hour drive to Marrakech.
The lines on the highways were merely suggestions some times, especially when passing another entity (be it slower vehicle, pedestrian, mule-cart...). No need to commit to a lane, right? And when passing vehicles on the highway it seemed to be best to wait until the last possible moment narrowly avoiding rear-ending the car in front of you while at the same time cutting off the car in the lane beside you which is accelerating to pass the same vehicle hopefully before you do.
But, as is obvious, we survived. And we got some great stories to tell in the process.
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