'Two minutes'

We have now arrived at our riad in Marrakech. A seemingly banal sentence, whose discussion is almost worth a separate post. The journey required one key virtue, unfortunately the one I possess the least: patience.

First, our flight was delayed by an hour - it happens, no problem. Instead of arriving at 6 PM, we land at 7 PM, then we should reach the riad by around 7:30 PM and can eat by 8 PM. That fits perfectly. Unfortunately, we did not factor in the Moroccan immigration controls into this calculation. A line stretching about a kilometer (no, I’m really not exaggerating, we calculated it) awaited us upon arrival. More or less patiently, we waited until it was our turn. Finally, an hour and a half after arrival, we joyfully stood in front of a policeman, ready to receive our eagerly awaited entry stamp, but he decided to take a coffee break at the sight of me. Okay, let's wait for the next one. Finally, we were waved through, but after the queue before us, there was another queue. Our luggage still needed to be scanned. Another round of waiting. Unfortunately, right in front of a policeman who also decided to take a break. Well, we finally made it and even found the sign with the name of our riad. We were ready to go. 'Deux minutes,' said the man with the sign. From 2 minutes, it became 25 minutes. Finally done! However, since the driver was new, he couldn't find the riad. Now, not being so patient anymore and pretty hungry, we waited again for the euphemistic 'Deux minutes'. When we were greeted by super nice staff, we were given a lovely tour of the historical and architectural background of the riad. Nice but poorly timed when one is incredibly hungry. We also managed that, now just 'deux minutes' to quickly download a navigation app (Google Maps doesn't work well enough here), where they would input the address of the riad so we could find our way back. We sat there for 25 minutes waiting for the app to finally load. Then came another 20 before the map on the app was downloaded. Comic-like, we thought. Now they just need to copy our passports, takes '2 minutes'. At this point, we had already resigned ourselves to going to bed with an Andi-Jost snack (about 2.5 almonds per person that we still had left from Migros). But after another 20 minutes, it finally happened, and we could finally look for a restaurant that would cook something for us at midnight. We found a street food corner and ordered an omelette. It's quick to make and then we can finally eat. This turned out to be the seemingly most elaborate omelette in the world. It seems likely that the young man had to gather the ingredients from the neighborhood since he didn't have much in stock at this late hour. But even this waiting had an end. Things just go a bit slower and more chill here. Now we try (especially I) to summon our inner Buddha for the rest of the trip and always have some reserve food with us.

Besides the completely normal travel complications, it is incredibly beautiful here, the riad looks authentic, is picturesque, and has a wonderful rooftop terrace. An oasis in contrast to the bustling street outside. Narrow alleys, motorcycles everywhere, vendors, tourists... The alleys are so narrow and winding that taxi drivers refuse to take us to the riad. My current mood is thus mainly characterized by panic when I think about having to pick up our car tomorrow. Wish us luck!

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Now we have arrived at our riad in Marrakech. A seemingly trivial sentence that is almost worth its own block. The journey required primarily one virtue, unfortunately the one I possess the least: patience.

At first, our flight was delayed by an hour - that can happen, no problem. Instead of arriving at 6 PM, we land at 7 PM, so at 7:30 PM we will be at the riad and we can eat at 8 PM. It fits perfectly. Unfortunately, we did not account for Moroccan immigration controls in this calculation. Upon arrival, we were faced with a line about a kilometer long (no, I’m really not exaggerating, we counted). More or less patiently, we waited until it was our turn. Finally, an hour and a half after arriving, we joyfully stood in front of a policeman, ready to receive our eagerly awaited entry stamp, but at the sight of me, he decided to take a coffee break. Well, we’ll wait for the next. Eventually, we were waved through, but after the queue is always another queue. Our luggage still had to be scanned. Another round of standing in line. Unfortunately right in front of a policeman, who decided to take a break as well. Well, we finally made it and even found the sign with the name of our riad. We were ready to go. 'Deux minutes,' said the man with the sign. What started as 2 minutes became 25. Finally made it! But since the driver was new, he couldn't find the riad. Now, not quite as patient anymore and quite hungry, we waited again for the euphemistic 'Deux minutes'. When we were greeted by super friendly staff, we were treated to a lovely tour about the historical and architectural background of the riad. Nice, but poorly timed when you're incredibly hungry. We managed that too, now just 'deux minutes' to download a navigation app (Google Maps doesn't work well here), where they give us the address of the riad to help us find our way back. We sat there for 25 minutes waiting for the app to finally load. Then another 20 until the map was downloaded to the app. Ridiculous, we thought. Now they just needed to copy our passports, takes '2 minutes'. At this point, we had already resigned ourselves to going to bed with a snack of 'Andi-Jost' (about 2.5 almonds per person, which we still had left from Migros). But after another 20 minutes, it finally came to pass, and we could finally look for a restaurant that would prepare us something to eat at midnight. We found a Street Food Corner and ordered an omelette. It’s quick to make and then we can finally eat. This eventually turned out to be the most intricate omelette in the world. It seems likely the young man had to gather the ingredients from the neighborhood since he didn't have much stored at such a late hour. But even this waiting came to an end. Things just go a bit slower and more laid back here. Now we’re trying to summon our inner Buddha for the rest of the journey (especially me) and always have some backup food on hand.

Apart from the usual travel complications, it is incredibly beautiful here; the riad looks authentic, is picturesque, and has a wonderful rooftop terrace. An oasis in contrast to the strong hustle and bustle on the street. Narrow alleys filled with motorcycles, vendors, tourists... The alleys are so narrow and winding that taxi drivers refuse to take us all the way to the riad. My current state of mind is mainly marked by panic when I think about picking up our car tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for us!