The trip that wasn't meant to be

Last week I excitedly told both friends and family about the long-weekend trip Othman and I were going to take to Ifrane, a lovely little town in the mountains about four hours away. It has spectacular scenery, being surrounded by woods and lakes, and the last time I was there was in February 2011, just after we moved to Morocco. 

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Once we were packed up and totally ready to go yesterday morning, we made our way down to the car parked on our quiet residential street. And found this:

The first words out of my mouth were understandably not blog-appropriate, but within five seconds my shock and anger turned into bitter disappointment. So much for our trip. I turned around and lugged everything back upstairs again.

It was immediately obvious that the perpetrators weren't thieves given that Othman's leather jacket, the only thing worth any money at all, albeit being worn and weathered, was still under the broken glass. So thankfully we still have that in addition to still having our car.

Othman spent a big chunk of yesterday talking to the police and the neighbors, and learned that our car was the casualty of a fight between some neighborhood drunks, and that it wasn't the first. Today he spent most of the day driving around a deserted Casablanca (the holiday that took place last Thursday is equivalent to Christmas, meaning everyone abandons this economic capital (just as we wanted to...) and rejoins their families in their hometowns) looking for a garage that could replace the back windshield. It took him a few hours, but he finally did, and luckily they did have the appropriate windshield given the popularity of our model of car. It cost rather more than we expected but the insurance should cover the cost 100%.

So instead of travelling I had a new maid come over, and my spirits lifted as she cleaned the apartment from top to bottom (the first good cleaning it's had since I've been back in Morocco). I painted some (more on that to follow), cooked a bit, and relaxed a lot. It has been a quiet day, and while it certainly can't compare with a Saturday wandering the forested mountains, it hasn't been too shabby either.