43:47
salamualikum' and welcome to the second episode of this miniseries here in Morocco in just two weeks time me and Damon here we're gonna try and show you as many cool sides of Morocco as possible we're gonna prove that you can travel Morocco on the cheap budget ear style and help you discover all variety of things this Islamic country has to offer from experiencing the local life in ancient cities trying out the public transport tasting the Moroccan cuisine tracking the highest summit in the Atlas Mountains and exploring the coast of the Atlantic Ocean so be sure to check out this miniseries of the budgeteers before we start a big thank you to audible for sponsoring this series go to audible.com
slash establish its years or for people in u.s. text the budget ears to five hundred for a free 30-day trial and get one audio book for free that you can download and listen to you on your next long train plane or bus ride enjoy previously on a budget tear in Morocco after leaving Belgium for Morocco me and Damien please approach 'dear subscriber and adventure traveler himself we chose to throw ourselves into the busy and alive American culture of where he can still see the old way of life in the medina however we did get lost many times this Medina is hectic guys but it was amazing to completely immerse yourself into a different world and after just one full day in fest we took a four-hour bus to
explore the city of Chefchaouen - that is the blue city in the north and we met some really nice locals who showed us some really nice spots that only the real locals would know so fair to say our first three days of travel in Morocco were a big success but as you know with budgeteers show the full travel experience and as you will see in this episode travelling in morocco can at times be a real challenge good morning guys it's really early in the morning now it's about 6:30 ish we left our hostel we had Pharos where we had really bad hostel experience which is not the fall of the hostel but our roommates were the worst or I have ever had in three years of travelling now Jesus won a couple of older women or one
from the US and then yeah from my us from Russia and one of the Russians and ladies had the remote of the AC and she refused to give it to someone else because she wanted to AC to be like really high like just so she wanted to the room temperatures are being crazy cold yeah we're sick so we're trying to get the AC down like you know huh disclose we do not gu but the hostel staff was saying like the these women they were like trunk and smoked hashish and they were saying like crazy things apparently all evening so we weren't the only ones is not even worse yeah didn't sleep too much now oh well just another day in the adventure of Morocco and right now we're going to the train
station and take an 8 hour train tomorrow cash so we'll let you know how the trains are like yeah the first get breakfast oh man I'm like sort of drunk on like a fleet so fairly say we were not in the best shape that morning nevertheless today we were about to start on our biggest challenge of this trip our goal was to make it to the city of Marrakech 500 kilometers south and travel onwards to the Atlas Mountains because we wanted to climb the highest mountain Dew count please 4200 meters some it would be a major achievement if we managed to climb it but to get there we lead it across the vast country of Morocco with public transport so we headed to the train station of Fez where we got some cash out and got on the
train in search for a decent spot trends in Morocco are a mystery to us but a routine six hour train ride seems like a relaxing journey so we were pretty happy with our eight empty seats I wanted to introduce our newest travel companion okay my name is Prince I've been in Morocco for 7 weeks I've been a volunteer at funky Fez Hospital so basically I worked with 25 hours or less a week and I'm a writer and I made some new friends here we're gonna go to Marrakesh and whatever I'm from Cleveland Ohio do any of you know where Ohio is I don't
oh yeah so we were a fun company while the train departments so we could chill and enjoy the views hello guys it's been now I think over three hours into the trip I think we're almost halfway I'm standing here in the hallway now because it's a bit more a bit less boiling-hot this is the only place where there's a little bit of a breeze we're all slowly dying this strain easy but on the upside we just passed the city of robots and I think the next city will begin is Casablanca and then we'll head if the mainland against any two markets we still have about four or five hours ago I think
and while the powers best betray co-pays were becoming even hotter temperatures go above 35 degrees here so even use dowels to block the Desert Sun didn't help the only place where you can get some fresh air was at the open doors which gave us a chance to spot some beautiful sights while the train stopped once again we had no idea why the air conditioning of this train didn't work but a visit to the toilet showed that there were some small issues
a small little update guys more than eight hours into the journey and the train has stopped for what seems like the million millionth time this train stops very often right now I think we're more into the desert is if you look around there's nothing at all it is crazy hot and I think we still have like an hour to go to Marrakesh this train ride has been pretty crazy so far what a challenge but we can still smile are you liking uh the train journey so far is it feels like purgatory legit close to hell sticky running out of water the bathrooms here he's like you know I don't know I've been through worse I think I'll let you know when it's over this is the citizen the worst how are you doing that you get the camera well my god okay just right next to us
yeah I think we kind of made the mistake of training remember when I should have us part of today yeah I remember when I said that public transport is very more and after another hour of waiting in the shade of the train while we killed some more time and listened to an audio book we tried to forget about the amounts of sweat thirst and hunger we had and we started wondering if you would ever make it to Marrakesh now I hope that the trains gonna move so we can go to Marrakesh finally that I don't think they see but the train did eventually start moving again
and after crossing the final stretch of the desert with its red sand dunes sheep herds and little green patches of trees we finally made it to Marrakesh I'm gonna call my mom tell her I love whoa yes we were really happy to have reached the city of Marrakesh after such a long day we were not looking forward to haggle and negotiate for a decent price section but it's something you have the recipe to get the budget down is did at one end up to look like one of the is did it not that you impression it's a gun if not Han 120 terms in ridiculous - miles - miles
Marcedes nobody's stopping for these partners so eventually it took us a while but we found a good price we could all settle on yeah so we got a taxi 65 although we had another problem now we didn't hook a hostel yet so uh prince what was your feeling about that cab ride he wasn't nosiest you know he first used it was acting like mr. nice guy he's just showing a city but then I was like oh this friendliness it's so suddenly he was like oh can I get the number we learned whenever you get something for free yeah you will get charged in the end and that was probably gonna yeah he for showing us so he asked like oh what is
your hostel we said like yeah it's a full moon hostel book he's like all you have reservation and we were like no we're just gonna see all the weight and then and he says like oh give me the phone number I will call for you and then Damon then name it was like well this might be sketchy this might be sketchy because I wasn't happy or a couple of months ago I was in Sri Lanka and Nepal and it constantly happened they always ask me for the number of my hotel and then they called the mother number or whatever and then they spoke in their own language so I couldn't understand it yeah and then they would tell me oh it's fully booked you know you should go to my friend's hotel or my hotel and then they would charge you extra
and it would be more expensive so I made that mistake once I'm not gonna do it again so your warrant we're not even one hour in Marrakesh I mean getting all ready trying to get scam but we'll see how it goes I spoke on the phone with like a girl that was saying that she was from Blue Moon hostel so I'm really curious if they're actually a female receptionist working at full moon otherwise it's a complete house turns out there was no girl interception at all but the hospital was nevertheless full around for ages until before we found place we were never so happy to finally be able to have a proper night sleep
the next morning we woke up really late and even to call to prayers did not manage to wake us up we were really in need of some recovery and this amazing breakfast helped us along since it was so hot here in Marrakesh we just wanted to stay inside and chill but we got ourselves out to show you a glimpse of the city while we're here yeah welcome to the main square Marrakech it is crazy touristy look at this place there's people trying to sell about pretty much anything here and also trying yeah honestly we didn't like being here you constantly have to fend off salesmen and be aware of pickpockets but it's to be expected on the most touristy square of Morocco we were warned about Marrakech because they asked you for money wherever you
point your camera especially the guys with the snakes or the monkeys they keep on a chain this is really tourism in the bad sense of the word we had a stroll around town but haven't found any local life anymore all the houses in the medina are either shops hotels or restaurants and since there was not much else to do in this hot desert city we wanted to get ourselves a little treat okay for all the people that want to travel Morocco keep in mind that alcohol is forbidden and you can't find it anywhere in Morocco unless you go to a really fancy hotel where they have their own private bar anywhere else you can find it but we have heard you can buy it over here in the car food which is the
supermarket so we're gonna try and get some beers you know a budgeteers ship without beer wouldn't be really a budgeteers trip okay guys supermarkets look like supermarkets but this one is a bit different and it has its own separate of alcohol section with Heineken beer which is bad beer we're gonna get something better okay we've got some beers and we've got some wine the entrance wasn't actually in the shop it was like anything really like unique experience yeah call here then so our rear mission succeeded and with some effort we got an hour taxi to get us back into the medina and find a yacht in the maze of streets we set ourselves down and enjoyed our expensive beers in private where no one could see
us before heading to bed ready for another day of adventure today it was time to leave this big city and go to the Atlas Mountains but since there is no public transport that goes into the mountains we had arranged for tour and so we traveled in a van with a driver and had a feel from our traveling on a bigger budget that extra money wasn't wasted though because we saw some pretty sights on the many stops we made along the way it took us two hours to make it from the desert plains into the middle of the Atlas Mountains
and when we arrived in a little village a local guide had arranged for our baggage to be dropped off and he showed us around this beautiful track that went through a few this grace has really been kept well preserved in time and our guide Ibrahim told us about the area and the Berber people who lived there while we stopped for tea and had a chance to relax and enjoy the nice surroundings it felt great to be in nature again in a quiet peaceful and green environment
these villages were really cool to see and it was nice to be the only tourists there for once and after spotting some amazing views we stopped for lunch y'all are living life right now see look at where you are hashtag blessed hashtag YouTube has Jack Morocco what else you guys so we had riad dar of Rosa who s West Side West goo and we're about to have some tasty lunch I'm thinking I'm gonna get some Taji for sure nice to know this nice Terrace yeah this uh plus trip is turning out pretty well I don't know I didn't know what to expect I expected like nice rural Berber villages this is nice this is way more than I expected climates perfect there's sunshine also shade lots of green yeah we're Falls surrounded by mountains
I bet we're gonna stay here for a while guy pulling all the info down below if you want to know where we've been I will let you know what the food is like this guy we were served a giant kofte - she just minced meat with tomato sauce and lots of Moroccan herbs honestly really delicious and after that lunch our guide Ibrahim showed us the way to an accommodation and we said goodbye thank you and for the rest of the day we chilled and explored and enjoyed this little piece of paradise but we didn't come all
this way just to chill the next morning we were gonna start our big tract of mount up cull so let the challenge begin sleep well quite excited yeah we're a bit excited we've been looking forward to this climb this is lychee for an entire week so this is the moment we've all been sick haven't slept over in the last of all late in the first part of the trip and I hope we're better now I hope our bodies can handle it but yes we'll have to see how it goes we did have a good breakfast and soon we set out but we did have to make a detour because we were not all going to trek up the mountain okay we're now in the
yeah we're now in the little town of em lil we're just born in the family up in the mountains and unfortunately I'll have to say goodbye to this guy the prince he's going back to Marrakesh and afterwards there you go I'm gonna go to Marrakesh and then I'm gonna take a train of defense because that's where I've been volunteering so that's where my flight out of Morocco is out of and so I just got to go back in prep or leaving for seven weeks you're going back home yeah love it and this is definitely been with you guys like probably one of my hair parts of this whole trip but it's in heaven thank you to the budgeteers yeah thank you for coming along and oh man it's really cool these guys have put your tier as well he
travels on them very cheap yeah but it's yeah we're gonna try and find him a taxi now guiding us in a lot of different directions that's a good buy I'm Joel my bad on the cap don't make me sad good to meet both of you yeah man give me a hug to me been a real pleasure meeting you man yeah and having you along yeah good luck on your hike let me know when you're done let me know yep see ya any of the guys want to follow you where they can sweep light prints on Instagram and you can find my writing at PR sha K you are calm best experience while traveling is when you meet new people and travel with them and this guy is amazing most amazing guy we've met so far yeah and he just said oh you're doing something nice can I come along and
we're like sure even on that crazy train trip off ten hours but glad we had him with us kept our spirits up but for right now we're gonna go in happy and do some serious tracking yes it was time to get real and start trekking and because of our detour we needed to make up for lost time so we sorted our bags out as fast as possible and start walking up to try and find the right track that goes up the mountain thing is we're not doing this Trek with a guide apparently you can but we chose the bridge to your option and try to do it by ourselves people have said that it's doable because there's a-there berber villages along the way very small ones and there should be a track right now we're a bit confused
because there are a lot of tracks so could be that we end up lost it should be about a six-hour trek today up until we reach my refuge which is yeah shelter where we can sleep tonight although we haven't reserves anything we just hope that there are beds for us and a blanket where we can rest up for a couple of hours before we try to summit so that's the plan in theory we'll see how it goes in reality that's what this episode is about but it is stunning here these forests are so cool and as you can tell we were already out of breath at the start since limo is around 1700 meters high and ties and I aren't used to these high altitudes and Heath because an hour later we already drank one of our few water bottles
luckily there are some little shops where you can replenish yourself peanuts right yeah John Waters what is good to do that decline your from soon after the energy yeah perfect we're ready to go out all the way over here and then probably he'll have to descend that's the top little update these few hours later and we're still walking it's gotten a lot colder since this breeze is just freezing and we layer it up and they have no lot of fusing sites we have no sight on it so we don't know how far it
still is this is definitely a word the track not something you do in half a day wish I could go back in time and exercise more you know we're in our own donkey hopefully after that mountain there's our shelter woof lights going down as well Sun Goes honor like six seven here in the mountains and then it gets cold so we're kind of in a hurry to get there hi yeah by now we were walking much longer than expected so Damon asked some locals for directions yeah unfortunately those guys weren't much help but we were getting a little worried because we didn't want to end up sleeping outside in the freezing cold with sheep and donkeys but after another hour we finally saw lotta fish and we were really anxious to go inside and see if there were still
vacant beds turns out we were really lucky and we had some beds in the big dorm room upstairs and we were super happy to have a warm bed and a chance to rest we made it guys put it here at the base gamma base camp also known as la refuge which is that building that lightning well good news they have available sleeping spots there we have a bed meanwhile yeah ok so we're really happy that we made it here before dark we've eaten a meal crazy new most yeah like first day ever they were bringing us spaghetti with red and fries on top of it but since it getting dark now we're
gonna go to sleep for a couple of hours and then wake up and like about 1:30 but it's right off as of right now we're already freezing so imagine what its gonna be like in 8 hours when there's no sunlight at all respect all the clothes we could get I think it's not gonna be enough by the ways we have no clue which of these mountains is to call thank you see it's like some mountains we have no clue which one is to call no clue so we'll get up really early have our breakfast and then wait for two guides to go out with this group and I will just point so less I think I'm actually above the clouds we are so while there was a thunderstorm going on below us we went to bed excited and nervous for our final trek to summit tomorrow before sunrise
and so the next morning we woke up really early and got a quick breakfast downstairs although we still felt like crap but afterwards we headed out fully motivated into the freezing cold nights to start guys this is officially greatest night sky to have ever seen man it's just gets you a billion stars you can see all the little bear Big Bear Orion alright I'm check out Google it's amazing so guys we don't know which one of these mountains just to call and I don't want to end up on the wrong it's gonna really light now by in a minute okay we need to hurry we need to make it on the top before the Sun reaches over the horizon ah got a dig deep all right bringing a camera and stuff I want like straight but totally worth it to show you guys
okay the love date it's now light enough to not need a head torch anymore I think we're probably around three thousand seven hundred you're shy so hopefully over halfway that's where we need to go it's not much she didn't hear anymore so every breath take oh I just exhaust you it's at these moments of where you're thinking like I crazy our way to do this who climbs a mountain throw up purpose it's judge you can do it we're way hello sunshine yes sunrise you made it huh we're not at the top yet but it's very close and the Sun's up we're over the edge that's good whew what a feeling oh yeah I was out there for a while have to fight through the pain Uber's called her I think is slightly understa me in this
month oh I did a Malaya's thank you do this okay let's go to the top to get it over with guess if you stay here another hour we'll be frozen and they mean already got a nice cold like already as a souvenir I think me too just a few more steps until we reach the highest mountain in North Africa you this last step are just pure euphoria ahh there it is only 10 meters more chica I find me
yes we hadn't made it after that long and difficult journey to get here we are now on the top of the Atlas Mountains and at that moment that soda drink almost tasted as good as beer she's like her feels like the mountains over there that all the way down an email artist tiny hills of even mountains but when you're down there at our crazy high mountain we took some time to catch our breath and set down for a second to have a final look over the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara Desert in the distance before leaving something small behind on the summit it'll probably be gone in a few weeks due to harsh weather but if you're here send us a picture it's also because of this harsh weather we had to leave the
summit quickly it's freezing at night but burning hot during the day this day we were really lucky to have clear skies but since the weather can change quickly up here we didn't wanna wait around so we returned to the refuge Basecamp but didn't rest and decided to go all the way down in Quantico although we were incredibly tired and after five hours of walking down our luck ran out and the weather turned bad situation turned out to be getting worse going up and down to call was already more than five hours hike and now we want to hike back down which is at least another four hours and we're really tired star and now it's raining but after four hours we saw our first villages around in will appear on the mountains I still
have to walk to the other side of the valley but it gave us a nice view over the air and while the Sun went down we direct ourselves last mile to our so we could finally have a rest so guys thanks for watching this episode I hope you liked our track up to mountain to cult it was a crazy adventure it was exhausting it was painful but it was all worth it we've had an amazing experience here the views were amazing
it was crazy so if you like the episode give us a like subscribe and share it with your friends on the next episode we have different plans next up we're going to açaí - it's completely different it's a completely different place than this place it's it's nice looking nice little town nexus in that ocean it's served there it's a good fish so if you guys want to see more of that episode keep on watching in the next episode we finally see the Atlantic Ocean cool we're gonna surf tomorrow not his normal surfing camel surfing and even couch surfing too
