Guelmim to Tan-Tan - Day 164

Date: January 29th, 2010
Distance: 138km
Country: Morocco
Song of the Day: Greedy Fly - Bush

If the day before had been raining and hilly, today was the opposite. It was bright and sunny and fairly flat. Not really exciting terrain though. Just more miles. I did meet another cyclist on tour. He was a Spanish guy, but didn't speak much English. I really don't speak any Spanish. So communication was limited. But we did ride together for a while. He was really kicking my butt . Plus in his rig he is pulling a trailer. I must really be a wuss for not being able to keep up. I stopped for lunch and he went on ahead. After I was back on the road I saw that he stopped for some tagine. I figured if he wanted he could catch up. But I didn't see him after that.

I did get to Tan-Tan just before sunset. A lot of good hard riding. I felt great. I also got stopped for my first police checkpoint. I have gone through a number before, but so far no one has stopped me. I think in the north of the country you are just a weirdo on a bicycle. I think in the south they may be more cautious. This is the first time they pulled me over. They just wanted to see my passport and ask me where I was going. The police were very formal and polite. Other than the time it was no hassle at all.

I also got myself checked into my first 30 Dirham hotel. Let me tell you that is an experience. For those of you back home 30 Dirham is a little less than five bucks. What, I hear you asking, do you get for all that? Well, you get a room, but you have to share it. Not with people but about hundreds of flies. I first noticed them when I tried to close the window. (They like to keep the windows open in the hotels here, apparently to let the files in.) Once I did this I saw a couple of them fly off. I was just about to start a killing spree when I noticed how many there were. Flys everywhere all over the room. I would have done something, but I also noticed these weren't the smartest creatures on the planet. In fact they didn't seem to have any self preservation in them. I stepped on one, and it didn't even try to get away. I told it I was going to put my foot there and it better move. But the damn thing didn't twitch. Okay, so I could let the fly-tards be. The next thing that I noticed was that the one power socket in the room wasn't working. Oh well, I wanted to charge my laptop. I guess that could wait. When I turned out the light however, then the power came on for my laptop. Then the power to the laptop faded and the light in the room flashed on for a second. And this cycle started repeating itself until I unplugged the laptop. This actually did scare me. I have a bit of an understanding of how the power to a house or building is wired up. I haven't a clue how to make something do what that room was doing. I just hope the place doesn't burn down while I am staying here...

-Dravis