Sunday was going to be a day dedicated for transit. The Super Eagles play their last group game in Agadir, a whopping 900kms away from Tangier so it promised to be one helluva journey.
We set out of our Rania Hotel Appart around 7:10am and headed for the Train Station so as to meet up with the 8:15 train heading to Sidi Kacem en route to Marakech. The realisation of the day’s journey drove home when we saw that 6:30pm is the destination time to Marakech. It is expected that Agadir is some three hours more from Marakech. Do the Maths.
The train trip to Sidi Kacem was fun. Asides the ‘better’ quality of the train, a family of four met me in the cubicle. Their kids are extremely lovely – Ulyase and Asya Bne-mousa. The boy, Ulyase is the ‘ijogbon’ type, an extrovert while Asya is a more reserved girl who smiled and winked at me whenever our eyes met all through the three hours trip from Tangier to Sidi Kacem.
When we alighted at Sidi Kacem to wait for the next train heading to Marakech, myself and my friend Amos Joseph met a Moroccan lady Aida, a very brilliant girl I believe. We had an almost 30-minute conversation because the Tangier citizen speaks English fluently along with French and Arabic.
The next train came and we had to separate from this lovely lady because she is on First Class but CAF paid second class for us. I forgot to collect her number, by the way and she barely managed to take a picture with me because of Sharia. The journey to Marakech started at about 12:01pm and it was really a long one. Being a train journey, it was less stressful unlike the buses. We could walk freely inside the big train whenever we liked and we eventually got to Marakech at about 6:35pm.
We thought we could get a 7pm bus to Agadir but we learnt it was fully booked and then had to settle for the 9pm own. During that interval, we took our first meal of the day which was Potato chips and Chicken Sandwich. We’re getting home gradually.
Well, we were told it was a two and half hours journey but we left Marakech at 9:07pm and got to the Agadir Park at 12:45am. Mind you, we had no place at the back of our minds to stay because those in charge of our online bookings don’t even know what they’re doing.
In the end, Emmanuel Etim (Nigeria Info) brought out his own booking pad and was almost analysing when I insisted that we act. We sent three men (including our French-speaking Yoruba man) and they got the place – a very nice Ibis Budget Hotel.
Meanwhile, the day started for me with a credit alert from the company, covering second half of the coverage so while some people were grumbling about the length of the trip inside the train, I just had my earpiece in my ears putting Korede Bello’s ‘I don get alert, God-win’ on repeat mode.
We checked in tired and slept around 2:30-3:00am in Agadir. We are here and that’s all that matters for now.
See you tomorrow, Match Day.
