Sans Plomb
Here are a few stories/observations from Morocco that may make me appear to be an unsophisticated/unintelligent American. Nevertheless...
- In Morocco there are tons of cats but very few dogs, from what I've seen.
- Many Moroccans touch their hands to their hearts after shaking hands. I think that's pretty cool.
- Speed limit sign are spaced very far apart in Morocco and if you go 9km over you get a ticket. No fair.
- Apparently Sans Plomb means unleaded. Yesterday Kristina and I drove up the coast to Casablanca. When we neared the city center we stopped for gas and to try and ask for directions to our hotel (a difficult feat since hardly anyone speaks English - Only French and Arabic). We told the guy to fill it up with the cheapest one (our Hyundai rental doesn't exactly need the super premium stuff). The writing was in Arabic, so we didn't know what kind it was. We paid and drove off. Not two minutes later I tried stepping on the gas and the car didn't respond. I downshifted to second gear...still nothing. Eventually the car completely died. With some help from a group of passing boys, we were able to push the car off the highway. Wondering what could be wrong, I quickly came to the conclusion that we put in the wrong kind of gas...and the car was not happy. Kdub stayed with the car and I walked back to the gas station. Luckily we hadn't gotten very far. When I tried to explain to the attendant what happened I could hear him laughing with his colleague, "Ha, these Americans put diesel into their compact car that can only run on unleaded."
Well, yeah, I thought, but he's the one that put it in. I don't speak Arabic and this guy works with cars and gas for a living. You think he might know which ones typically get diesel (they call it Gas Oil) and which don't.
Anyway, after pleading my ignorance with his boss they rounded up a crew of people and we walked back to the car. Pushing the car back to the station wasn't very difficult, but getting all the bad gas out of the car was another story. The guy who filled it up in the first place began syphoning out the gas by sucking on a hose to get it flowing out. This didn't look like fun as he spit out the gas that went into his mouth. But it worked and the buckets began to fill up with gas oil.
Then the scary part. The attendant went inside to grab...a cigarette! This guy's clothing, hands and mouth were all full of gas and he was smoking. Not only that, but there were over 30 liters of gas in open containers right next to him. Kristina and I backed away slowly.
Luckily there were no explosions and after 2 hours, the tank was empty. We filled it up with unleaded, turned the key and....nothing. The car sputtered but never caught. We pushed it around the lot trying to kick start it into gear, to no avail.
Finally, after another half hour, the little Hyundai Accent that could, began coughing back to life. Even with our attempts to poison the little sucker, she still held strong and made a dramatic surge back to the world of the living. We were saved.
I have to mention how nice all the guys were to us...and so happy the whole time. Whenever I looked under the car to see them working, I would get a gas covered smile in my direction. I wish we spoke French, but we were able to gesticulate that we were all happy with the outcome.
A few hours after the whole thing began, we were on our way to the hotel. I won't soon forget the experience though...especially the words "Sans Plomb".
- In Morocco there are tons of cats but very few dogs, from what I've seen.
- Many Moroccans touch their hands to their hearts after shaking hands. I think that's pretty cool.
- Speed limit sign are spaced very far apart in Morocco and if you go 9km over you get a ticket. No fair.
- Apparently Sans Plomb means unleaded. Yesterday Kristina and I drove up the coast to Casablanca. When we neared the city center we stopped for gas and to try and ask for directions to our hotel (a difficult feat since hardly anyone speaks English - Only French and Arabic). We told the guy to fill it up with the cheapest one (our Hyundai rental doesn't exactly need the super premium stuff). The writing was in Arabic, so we didn't know what kind it was. We paid and drove off. Not two minutes later I tried stepping on the gas and the car didn't respond. I downshifted to second gear...still nothing. Eventually the car completely died. With some help from a group of passing boys, we were able to push the car off the highway. Wondering what could be wrong, I quickly came to the conclusion that we put in the wrong kind of gas...and the car was not happy. Kdub stayed with the car and I walked back to the gas station. Luckily we hadn't gotten very far. When I tried to explain to the attendant what happened I could hear him laughing with his colleague, "Ha, these Americans put diesel into their compact car that can only run on unleaded."
Well, yeah, I thought, but he's the one that put it in. I don't speak Arabic and this guy works with cars and gas for a living. You think he might know which ones typically get diesel (they call it Gas Oil) and which don't.
Anyway, after pleading my ignorance with his boss they rounded up a crew of people and we walked back to the car. Pushing the car back to the station wasn't very difficult, but getting all the bad gas out of the car was another story. The guy who filled it up in the first place began syphoning out the gas by sucking on a hose to get it flowing out. This didn't look like fun as he spit out the gas that went into his mouth. But it worked and the buckets began to fill up with gas oil.
Then the scary part. The attendant went inside to grab...a cigarette! This guy's clothing, hands and mouth were all full of gas and he was smoking. Not only that, but there were over 30 liters of gas in open containers right next to him. Kristina and I backed away slowly.
Luckily there were no explosions and after 2 hours, the tank was empty. We filled it up with unleaded, turned the key and....nothing. The car sputtered but never caught. We pushed it around the lot trying to kick start it into gear, to no avail.
Finally, after another half hour, the little Hyundai Accent that could, began coughing back to life. Even with our attempts to poison the little sucker, she still held strong and made a dramatic surge back to the world of the living. We were saved.
I have to mention how nice all the guys were to us...and so happy the whole time. Whenever I looked under the car to see them working, I would get a gas covered smile in my direction. I wish we spoke French, but we were able to gesticulate that we were all happy with the outcome.
A few hours after the whole thing began, we were on our way to the hotel. I won't soon forget the experience though...especially the words "Sans Plomb".
posted by Jordan at 7:11 AM
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