Morocco 2010 trip report - The worst of days

Of course it all had been too easy so far. Soon after crawling into the sleeping bag it all started. At first I thought it was only a normal diarrhea and after pretty much emptying my stomach I went back to sleep. After my stomach decided that it's time to explode for the third time within an hour I realized that something is not right. Soon I started feeling really cold and wanted to vomit, but could not. I had bought a thermometer just before that trip and it was time to use it: 37.9.

It didn't take long to recognize the symptoms of food poisoning. For about 3 - 5 hours I felt really awful and couldn't sleep at all. I knew that I have to try to drink to avoid serious dehydration but walking upstream to get at least a bit cleaner water felt like the biggest challenge of my life. Somehow I managed to get the water and tossed water cleaning pills in. In two hours I started sipping the water slowly, hoping that it will stay inside.

During the night I was thinking if I should stay put and rest on the mountains or head for Imlil and take a taxi from there to Marrakech. The thought of climbing 1500 m down with food poisoning and a 20 kg backpack felt overwhelming but I knew I had to walk down at some point anyway. On the other hand I didn't know how long the food poisoning would last. Maybe I would feel only worse the next day?

Finally I decided that I'd leave as soon it was bright enough for walking without a lamp. At 6 am I started packing everything and at seven I was on my way down. The diarrhea wasn't disturbing me that much at this point but my temperature was still up and it made me feel awful. I forced myself to walk all the time as I knew that by resting I'd get nowhere.

On the way down some local people asked 'how are you?' and even when I answered 'I feel like shit' they didn't react in any way. They just walked on with a smile and asked for money in some way. In about half way I met couple of men from somewhere, anyway not from Morocco. They spoke English and were really polite. Thanks to them for cheering me up a bit. After about three hours of walking I thought I was already quite close but oh was I wrong. It took another whole hour to finally get to Imlil and to the taxi station.

The only picture taken that day. Marrakech.

The hotel interiors at night

At the taxi station it wasn't difficult to get a ride back if you were to pay a huge overprice. So bargaining it was again. After a while the driver said that for 200 dirhams he'd take me to the center of Marrakech and for 150 dirhams to the taxi station of Marrakech. I asked if the taxi station is the one right next to the bus station and 'yes yes' was the answer. I knew that the old town and hotels would be really close from there and paid 150 dh.

I slept almost the whole way back and woke up when we arrived at the taxi station. Of course the taxi station was somewhere where it wasn't supposed to be and the bus station was nowhere to be found. In addition to this the taxi driver didn't give me enough change and just walked away on me. At this point I was already used to the shit people of Morocco and didn't feel like arguing over a few dirhams when I was running a fever. I started walking towards what I thought was the old town and in twenty minutes I reached the red walls.

Two hours, one over-priced Internet cafe and one yelling/annoying/money-begging/you name it he got it 'guide' later I was in a typical medina hotel in Marrakech. I took a shower and enjoyed resting on a bed more than ever before. One of the most tiring days of my life was over.