Saying goodbye to our girls

As Neve and the girls departed on their trip to Lisbon,   I took off from the airport with the boys and Adam in search of an apartment for tonight.   I was about 25 minutes away and I get a text from Neve that she does not have her debit card.   YIKES!   She had packed up and consolidated everything in the airport parking lot and must have left her bank card in her purse (in the back of the van!).  So she is panicking and already in the international terminal waiting to board to Lisbon! 

I tell the boys to try to reach back in the back to see if mom's card is there.   Since it was buried deep and wedged tightly in the back, they just couldn't access it unless we stopped (Did you see the pic from the previous post?).   I am looking at the afternoon traffic and trying to rush back ASAP.    So we get to the airport parking lot, literally throw out and unload the bags from the back and scramble through her briefcase & purse. 

I find it and run to the airport entrance.   At this point, the line to enter the building at all 4  entrances are backed up to the curb.   So I ran to the front of the line at the closest one near the international terminal and tried to relay that my wife is inside and I need to give her bank card.   He would not let me through since I had no ticket to fly out today and to top it off he spoke no English.   He pointed me to go to the next entrance about 100 feet to away and I ran and pleaded my case to another officer.  He said to go back and talk to the first guy....  great...

So I told him that my wife is at the other side of the international checkpoint and I need to meet her there, knowing I would not be able to get through to that terminal.   At the same time I was texting Neve what was happening.....  Mind you, her flight is about to board real soon.   Finally, I hear my name being called and as I look up I see  Neve waving with another police officer, who escorted her to where I was being blocked.   I handed her the card and kissed her goodbye.  Whew!


The boys and I then drove back to the Medina to pick up the items we bought from several vendors, who had packed them up for us knowing we will be back this weekend:
several berber rugs, beautiful leather topped aluminum engraved stools, beautiful made berber pillows, a Moroccon lamp, etc.   I also scooped up some authentic Taureg tea spoons Neve had eyed before...thanks again to Adam in his search!

Afterwards, we drove to a place north of Marrakech, between Sanaoubar and Dour Sraghna, where Adam had an apartment waiting for us for the night.   Also, when renting a car in Marrakech, unlike the USA, you have to return the car CLEAN or they charge you $150 USD cleaning fee.    So I asked Adam where do you wash cars here...   I may have not mentioned that Morocco is in the middle of dry climate with tons of sand EVERYWHERE.  He said that, "Of course, Steve, we can get it washed, no problem.."   He tells me that this van can be washed for like 70MAD ($7 - really?)..   So we go to the apartment which was a 1 bedroom, 1 bath, with kitchen and large living room.  We unloaded the entire van and then dropped off the van around the block to get cleaned.   We then took 2 taxis to the main street to find a place to buy plastic wrap and tape for all the souvenirs we bought...

We finally ate dinner at one of our favorite restaurants called Vert Medi.   Once we got back to the apartment, we stayed up past 1am with just consolidating and packing.