More on Driving in Morocco

Hi, yeah realized somehow that I had been mispelling Morocco to my mortal embarrassement. Oh well. I looked it up in the dictionary, but apparently forgot how to write it. Anyway, hope I don't forget in the future?

White Taxi: Have proximity alarms. When in town if you drive too close, their proximity alarms start blaring. When I say too close I mean like within 6 cm. Once in bad traffic, I set off 3 white taxi alarms. White taxis are simply very old 4 door mercedes that are white or cream colored and are taxis. They fit up to 6 people not including the driver and always max out this number. 2 adults wedged in the front seat, 4 adults in the back. It gets very intimate for a country that has so little contact btw the sexes.

I almost blew a stop light the other day. I was in the far right lane of the 3 lane road. On the right of me was a bicycle. Suddenly, he swerved wide into my lane because he was avoiding about five 11 yr old boys who decided to lunge across the street. I was totally freaked out because they ran around my car and I was terrified to hit a kid that I wasn't focused on the large intersection coming up and almost blew right through the red light.

The Death Star: Right by my husband's office, there is a 6 way intersection ran by traffic lights. Each road consists of about 3 lanes. The lights are controlled by 2 cops. It's always a pleasure trying to drive in Morocco. I just start directing people now when everyone gets stuck at a street and jammed. People will just sit there stupidly without making a move or a decision. It makes me crazy!!

I got stuck the other day on a small road filled with parked cars because a truck was just sitting there with his turn signal on. He was blocking everything. I was driving a different car and couldn't find the horn, so I rolled down the window after probably mumbling expletives to myself, put my arm outside the car and pointed to the guy in the truck, then gestured my hand for him to either move forwards or turn, but to make a frickin' decision already. He just sat there at first, and I continued to insist, then moved my car out of the way to get him going. He finally moved forward. The whole affair lasted about 5 minutes, 4.5 of which it took for the truck driver to wake up and move.

Still haven't hit any pedestrian yet, bicycle, mobilette, moped, motorcycle, and car. I'll keep my fingers crossed. I've had a lot of near misses though. It is incredibly tempting to hit pedestrians since they always insist on walking in the middle of the road, especially when there is a ton of space on the shoulder off the road. It's just dusty on the shoulder. People don't want to get their shoes dirty, not that I blame them. When I go running, I run on the road as well to avoid getting dust in my shoes. There is nothing like running in Morocco, no sidewalks, cars, wild dogs roaming outside, motorcycles clipping you. Nothing like sharing the road with everyone and inhaling the gas fumes that spew out of cars. Guys honking at you, or yelling things out of the windows in French, Arabic or English, or guys hollering after you off their motorcycles. I have this fear I'm going to experience a drive-by bum smacking by some guy on a moped. It hasn't happened yet, though I make sure I always get off the road when wheels approach...just in case.

Conclusion: If you ever feel ugly or fat, just take a run in Morocco to feel better. If you don't mind a little sexual harassment. When you reach mid-life, after a few kids, sexual harassment by some 20-50 yr olds (scary when it's from a child), can be perhaps, not such a terrible thing.