A Timely Exit

The radiator has sprung a leak. What in the hell are you meant to do? There's just a day left on the rental of the car and there's no way I'm going to fork out hundreds of dirham to some greedy mechanic.

How on Earth am I going to get this bomb back to Ourazazate tomorrow?

I let the engine cool and top up the radiator with what's left of our mineral water. This brings down the temperature gauge on the dashboard by a couple of rungs but I'm still concerned. We manage to get to our hotel however and that night I tell the friendly owner about my predicament.

"I can fix that, no problem," he tells me looking under the hood a little while later

He disappears and returns with a cup of some strange looking powder and a teaspoon. He gets me to turn on the engine, adds a few tablespoons of the yellow powder to the pissing radiator. I have visions of the engine seizing up entirely, of being left with some astronomical repair bill by the irrate local rental car man.

In five minutes or so the stream of water is reduced to a dribble and five minute after that it completely dries up. The temperature gauge drops remarkably. A miracle?

"Ginger powder, straight from the kitchen, that's what we Moroccans use to plug up a leaking radiator. You'll have no problems getting back to Ouaurzazate tomorrow, I guarantee it."

And he is right. The temperature gauge hovers at a normal level for the whole of the 50kms back to Ouarazazate. I return the car to the who is delighted to have the balance on the vehicle, so much so that he even offers to drive us to the bus station where we will make a well timed exit to Marrakech.

We had had no choice but to take the car at an inflated price due to the Christmas/ New Year holiday rush on rent a cars by the droves of Europeans who have come to Morocco for the brief but busy holiday period. There were no credit cards involved, just payment in cold, hard cash and no indication that there would be any assistance in the case of an accident or break down. We decided to take a chance.

According to my mechanical minded saviour I had been rented a lemon and should feel no guilt, especially considering how much we have had to pay. He tells me it looks as if the radiator and its very worn tubes needed replacing a long time ago.

We have amazingly made it through vast desert landscapes, up and down mountain ranges, driven lonely roads with not a soul around for hours at a time.

Now we are on the bus to Marrakech slowly but steadily climbing the massive mountain ranges of the High Atlas. We soar down into valleys which dramatically change shape and colour.

This is the Tizi n' Tichka - the N9 on the road map which will land us in Morocco's second largest city. It may well be the most awesome road I have ever travelled on, and we are glad and relieved to be doing it, not by car, but as passengers on a local bus!

All photos are of the Tizi n' Tichka on the N9 which connects Ourazazate and Marrakech

 

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