STATE of EMERGENCY EXTENDED (Still Stuck in Morocco) // S04E11

Join us as we enter week nine of super strict lockdown at the top of Africa in Morocco. We'll be talking about our attempts to escape and how lockdown life is affecting us and the wider community. We are attempting to drive around the world, you are invited too so subscribe and buckle up. It's one heck of a ride. After several weeks into the strict Moroccan lockdown we have found it hard to get used to but we have to say the results are positive and the rate of infection here has been slow. That is the good news but like we said it's been tough. The lockdown here has already been extended once and it is likely to be extended again so it doesn't look like it will be ending here anytime soon. So when news came in of a rescue ferry we were pretty ready to go. We can take people on a British camper van. I have one important question. My vehicle is registered in America, it is not a European vehicle. Okay, it's not a European vehicle and you are living in the UK? I am from the UK, yes. Okay, so I need to look for this. I will call you back. Yes, hello. So I need your registration please. So does this mean we can leave Morocco? Yes, if you book, I will see. Just now because you have this American plate I need to confirm. And you are a resident, you have a British passport? Yes, I have a British passport and Australian. American plate. Yes, Australian partner. All nationalities. Cool, so that means that we might be able to leave Morocco if I let Boomerang on the boat. Be nice to get out of here because things have started to open up in Europe and things are not really doing anything here. We're still not allowed outside so I'd be quite happy to get out of here and go somewhere else where there's more freedom. It's really, really good news that they're organising a ferry for us and that I'm allowed on. So that's really, really good news that we get to go out, get out soon. I'm happy. You ready to get out of here? Ready to get out of this house, yeah. So we've just heard back from our embassies and they've let us know that we are unable to get the ferry that is being offered to get people with camper vans out of the country because Boomerang, our vehicle, is registered in the US and they're only taking vehicles that are registered in Europe. What are we going to do then, Leah? Uh, there's not, I don't know. We don't have a choice really. We just need to wait until we're allowed to get on the ferry, all of us. So our embassies have told us that because we can't get on these ferries, the only option is for us to wait until the borders are open and the bans are lifted, but we do not know how long that will be. Morocco hasn't given any date when that might be. Australia has just announced that they are going to be closing their borders for a whole year, so people can't go in or out for a whole year. Obviously I can, being a resident, but if I go back to Australia I won't be able to leave again, which is a year is a very long time, so we don't know how long the border is going to be shut for in Morocco. With all this talk of countries shutting down borders and international travel looking extremely challenging in the coming year, our jobs of filming this docuseries looked very uncertain. However, it's not just our livelihood that's been affected. All around the world people have lost their income and that's particularly prominent in touristic locations like here in Tamara. I think it's time to get some supplies today. We've only got like a carrot and herbs. And a lemon. This is the first time that we're going to the major city or town that is next to us since the lockdown. Last week it's been mandatory, they've made it mandatory that we wear masks when we go out as well. Got a paperwork that we can get there, but this is only for me, so I don't know what they're going to be like when they see Leah in the car as well, but obviously I can't be trusted to go to Agadir on my own and do the shopping because I'll come back with just mostly junk food. Leah's with me to ensure that we get vegetables. So far in Tamara, a lot of people don't really wear masks, even though it's mandated that you have to wear masks out in public. I guess this is a small little community and it's not really enforced here, there's not really any police here, so it's a little bit more relaxed. We haven't ventured outside of this town since all of this pandemic stuff started, so it'd be interesting to see what kind of restrictions on movements there are and how many people are wearing masks outside of town. It'd be very interesting to see what happens now. I've been driving around Agadir trying to find a vet today. It's Alaska's vaccine day, so she needs her vaccines now, this time of year, which is obviously really important for a traveling dog. Unfortunately, all the vets are closed, but this one, there's people there and they have agreed, I think, to look at her, although we're not allowed in, so they may just come out and jab her. And job done. There's a bit of a translation problem. It's all very well social distancing, but having a dog running around, like Alaska runs up to everyone and everyone wants to pet her, it's just a natural reaction, I think, and it's hard to resist touching a dog when it comes up to you all friendly. But obviously, we have to not be touching dogs, because if someone pets Alaska and passes on COVID-19, and then I pet Alaska, then it's just an easy way for it to spread. Crazy times. Crazy. Hey, made it. Bloody mask, you just never get used to it, do you? Yeah, she got her vaccines, she's all good. It's very complicated, and once again, all the rules have changed. She says that we need to do all sorts of things before we can take her back to Europe. What do you mean? She said the blood test is not sufficient, you need to get it signed by something else, signed by another vet, and then take it to the official border control vet and get them to sign it with a special paperwork that's seven pages long, and then that lasts for five days, and then you can take her off. Yeah, I know, I was like... No one said anything about that. I said to her, it's extremely complicated for us to be able to leave Morocco right now, we have to wait for days in a queue to get out of Morocco. Yeah, we can't plan that far ahead, like five days. No, it's going to be almost impossible to do that. So what's like a... I don't understand. Yeah, we didn't hear that at all, did we, before. And we researched a lot, because we knew this might happen, and we didn't want to be underprepared. I really hope she's wrong, because it sounded weird to me to get her blood test... Again, she needs to get it again for rabies. Yeah, I don't want her to do that. It doesn't make sense. We've jumped through all those hoops before to avoid this. Yeah. Anyway, that sounds like it's a saga about to happen, we'll probably be finally about to leave Morocco, and then they'll be like, no, dog has to stay here, and then that'll be a little adventure, won't it, Alaska, eh? We need to speak to somebody that's gone out with the dog, because I have not heard that before. I know. Did she tell you where this bet was? Where we're going to do the special bet? Somewhere near the border. Mask on. All mask on, Alaska. All right, now what? Wine. Alcohol, before Ramadan starts. Okay, so it's Ramadan for the next month, starting tomorrow, and we haven't had alcohol since Amy and Bec left. It's time for a bottle of wine, isn't it? Yes, we need it. We can do this, because otherwise they're going to shut the... I'm sure they'll shut the alcohol shops. There is no alcohol in the town we're in, so we have to come to the city. Let's get it done. Emergency mission. I noticed something on Alaska's tick list here of all the vaccines that she's had. Do you notice one of those things that she has to get vaccinated against? I've never noticed it before. Coronavirus? Yeah. What? That's... That's weird. I know, apparently there's a vaccine for... a vaccine for dogs for coronavirus, which hadn't really occurred to me before. Which, apparently, she's had. So you're immune to the coronavirus. I never knew that dogs could get vaccinated against that. Apparently, dogs can get... dogs, cows, all sorts of animals can get coronavirus. Obviously, just to be clear, not to spread misinformation, this is not COVID-19. It's a different strain of coronavirus. So... So, we spent about 300 euros in the shop. You're not allowed to film anywhere near it, so we couldn't really bring you inside, but it wasn't that exciting anyway. There's lots of people with masks on, probably exactly like it is where you are, or has been where you are. It's nice for us to be able to get some kind of more, like, interesting feed, because whilst we can get food in town here, we can't get the kind of variety of things that we can get in the main shops in the city. So, this should make eating a little bit more interesting, and to be perfectly honest with you, when you can't go outside, eating's about the only thing you can look forward to, isn't it? Soy sauce, thank you very much. My jigger looks yum. Good cheese. Yeah, that's good cheese. How do we explain this? What's that about, Leah? You got this, too. I got it for you, because it's your weakness. That's a nice snack. That's Leah's idea of snacks. She just eats these triangles of the laughing cow cheese. Hashtag sponsored. Eat yourself a laughing cow snack today. It seems absolutely mental that we're washing, disinfecting our produce when we buy it, like, from the shop. I'm sure lots of other people are doing that, but am I being crazy? Is this a good thing to do? Does it make any difference? It seems absolutely mental. I really can't be bothered to do it. I certainly don't want to be bringing, like, all of this, you know, any coronavirus back to the house. Weird. I know I'm probably getting ahead of myself, but with all these talks of, like, a ferry coming, may come, may not come, I just want to get the... Can't be prepared and do a bit of spring cleaning, just in case we have to, like, go. We've only got, like, 24 hours to go and get up there, so I want to make sure that the combi's a bit clean, and it's also keeping me a bit sane because being stuck in the house has been driving me a bit insane. We've been doing a lot of watching Netflix and binge-watching Netflix, which has been a treat. We've been using the apartment's internet, which is unlimited internet, which has been nice, but we have been using our VPN from Surfshark just to keep our data safe because it's an unsecured network. Surfshark has been sponsoring quite a lot of our videos throughout the series, and we have been using them since we started this expedition. Other than keeping our internet secure, we've also obviously been using it to get to watch Netflix in all the different countries because when you watch Netflix in a certain country, they only show you certain shows, so we've been able to, like, with the stuck in quarantine, it's been nice to be seeing lots of different shows from around the world, so that's been really handy and nice. The VPN service is really easy to use. You can use it on all your devices, and at the moment, Surfshark is giving our community an 85% off discount. You get three months free, and it's only $1.99 a month, so if you would like to check that out, go to the link below and check that out. One of the first steps the Moroccan government took during this state of emergency was to close the mosques nationwide. This is particularly hard during the holy month of Ramadan. Normally, families and friends would unite in their communities in public spaces during the evenings, but now, during the pandemic, they are upholding traditions at home. The imam calls for the meal, for the people to eat. We eat, and then we pray. The third meal, at the end, at 4 a.m., at 4 a.m., after that, the meal is over. We finish eating until 7.30 p.m. We do Ramadan for two hours. We do Ramadan, we don't eat, we don't drink. We don't sleep. If someone is married, we don't touch anything during Ramadan. Ramadan is for prayers, to call upon God, and that's it. It got to a point where we really did need to get outside and stretch our legs. If we walked through and out the back of town, through the rubbish tip, there would be open desert, so we could go for a socially responsible walk with zero risk of contracting or spreading any disease. At the top of the town here, this is pretty much where all of the houses come to throw their rubbish, because as far as I know, there's no central rubbish disposal place in Tamrat. The apartment where we're staying does have rubbish disposal. I'm not sure who collects that. It's just organized by our landlord. But it's a bit of a shame to see that there's no convenient alternative for the town to manage the rubbish here. Hopefully that will change in the future because I think there's room for improvement here. I think even a lot of the local people feel the same way. It will only get better. This is a pretty sweet cave. Nice size. Hang standing room. I wonder what the history of this place is. There's a couple of different fires. Locals probably come up here for a camp out. I don't blame them either. It's just such an awesome view from up here. What a spot. Just on the outside of town. Just on the outside of the chaos. Complete serenity. This would be my spot too if I was growing up here. At this point, we were entering our ninth consecutive week of lockdown. This half an hour of stolen freedom was desperately needed and only made us yearn for the lost freedom of pre-pandemic days. It seemed like time was passing so slowly and quickly at the same time with new events unfolding daily. In the coming days, everything would change for us and the flimsy hope of a rescue would take a huge step forward into becoming a reality. Our challenge now is to cross the entire country under lockdown. This could be the great escape. But that is a story for next time.