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Sunday, February 19, 2023

Another ATM problem

On Saturday, we drove further south along the coast, from Tifnit to Mirleft, with a stop in the larger town of Tiznit along the way.

The sky was still really hazy. The sun was shining, but the sky wasn't blue... it was kind of a hazy grey. Very strange.

It must be moving day!

Lots of water on the roads from the recent rains.

Found a full service gas station that also had AdBlue at the pumps. The low AdBlue warning light had come on the other day which means you still have about 2,000 kms to drive before it runs out. Filled it to the top, so we're good for another 6,000 kms or so.

Then it was into the town of Tiznit where there was an ATM that had no fees. Figured we might as well top up our cash while we had the opportunity in case there isn't another no fee machine along the way. 

Regular readers will remember when I had an issue with my ATM card in Mauritania. Then I had another problem when we arrived back in Morocco where it simply wouldn't give me any cash. I called my bank, and they said there was nothing wrong with the card on their end.

Well this time, I put the card in, and did the transaction. But then it sat there for like two or three minutes with the screen saying "processing transaction". Eventually, it changed to "there is an issue with your card, and it has been retained, please contact your bank". And with that, it shut down and wouldn't give me back my card.

So, I called the 24 hour line at the bank. It had debited my account, but then credited it back right away. So at least I don't have to fight for that. They still say there isn't anything wrong with the card, but obviously there is. This time, I'm not going to wait around until Monday to try to get the card back. They can keep it! My bank will send a new card to our daughter's place, and Lindsey can bring it with her when they come in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, we still have Ruth's card which is linked to the same account.

Not very scenic along the way.

Some kind of old ruins, but we couldn't see how to access it.







Nice mural in Mirleft.

We arrived at a small campground in Mirleft. It's really just a walled compound with room for maybe four or five vans. But it got good reviews due to the friendly local hosts with many people saying they had only planned on a night or two, and stayed for a week.

And, it's fairly cheap, at 100 dirhams ($13 CAD, $9.75 USD) per night with electric included.

Max, with his neighbors.

And in fact, the people right beside us are from England. So we actually have someone to talk to in English, which has been fairly rare here in Morocco.

There are quite a few walks we can do to different beaches, and even a nearby fortress. So we'll probably hang out here for at least three nights.

Aftass Beach is only a five minute walk.

You can see that the sun is shining, but the sky is not blue.

A couple of football (soccer) games going on on the beach.

Yesterday's drive 108 kms (67 miles).

It looks like the sky is a little more blue this morning, and it's supposed to be warming up as well with a high of 22C (72F) today, and 26C (79F) tomorrow. That's shorts and t-shirt weather!

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And in Canada...

2 comments:

  1. Smoke or pollution? Someone must know...that's odd. Hopefully nothing dangerous in the air. A bummer about your ATM card. I had a problem with mine in Mexico, and we had to use my husband's for a few months until I could get a new one when visiting the US. Somehow the chip had gotten corrupt, as I had problems using it in the US as well. So, I guess that happens from time to time. By the way, what is AdBlue?

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    Replies
    1. It is definitely not smoke and I doubt it is pollution because there really isn't much in the way of big industries in this area. We will try to ask around and find out why. The only other thing that we think it might be is from sand or from a sandstorm that maybe happened somewhere way off in the distance and slowly made it's way here but with the rain that we had, we would have thought that it would have pushed the sand down.

      It is a bit of a pain about the ATM card but at least Lindsey will be able to bring it with her when she comes, providing it gets to her before she leaves to come here. As Kevin mentioned, at least I still have mine and it worked the last time we used it when Kevin's wouldn't, so fingers crossed everything will work out.

      AdBlue is an additive that is used with the new diesel fuel, it is same thing as DEF in North America.

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