Van Life so far…

Living in a van definitely has its ups and downs but I am loving it so far. Will and I have created a home that is comfortable, cozy, clean, functional and very inviting. At first we kept bumping into each other, hitting our heads and elbows on cabinets (and sometimes still do even after 4 months in) and had so much stuff we didn’t have a place for in the van that kept getting in the way. It has now been officially over 4 months since we have lived in it and for the most part I think we have a system down. Since our kitchen table converts into our bed, it was a task to make the bed at night and in the morning. Imagine having to take all the sheets off, folding them to store, breaking down the table and putting away various pieces that made up the bed every night and every morning. While it is still a task in itself, we created a system that made it much faster and simple. With the bed completely made, we take the fitted sheet and roll it like an eggroll placing it on top of the pillows while it sits on the backbench of the van. We don’t have a lot of storage but we bought some bins and hooks from Ikea to organize and store items.

Edit

A view from the front of the van and the back doors open. In this picture the bed is made and the dining room table is up.

The most guests Mac has had all at once.

Awning out, chillin by the beach at Ocean L’Bleu with Martin.

Water has been a bit of a challenge for us. We estimated that we use about 6 to 7 liters a day in water and this includes drinking, teeth brushing and washing dishes. We have been using the water source everywhere for washing dishes but purchasing water for drinking. The water connected to our sink only holds 15 liters. This is not a lot. We go through that in a day and a half. We have saved all the water bottles we have purchased and have been reusing them to store water that we can fill up whenever a water source is available. We have resorted to storing water in various places in the van, mostly under the bed and when the water bottles are empty, we clamp them to the back of Mac. We went into the town of Agadir in Morocco to try and get some bigger water tanks and have them possibly attach it to the bottom of Mac. They told us we had to get custom steel water tanks that would cost $270 per tank – one for drinking water and one for the garbage water. And that was just the price for the tanks and not for a new water pump, piping and installation we needed. We passed. As of now, we are looking at other cost efficient alternatives. Surprisingly enough, the water from the faucet here in Morocco has been fine to drink. Neither of us has gotten sick yet – knock on wood. As much as this whole water thing has been a nuisance, it’s not the most urgent.

What was important to us was getting a stereo system with an audio port to plug in our phones so we could listen to music and audio books on the road. Mac came with a CD player and a TOP 40s From All Over the World CD Collection. We listened to all 5 CD’s in a matter of 2 days and made the decision pretty quickly that we can’t torture ourselves any longer and need access to better music. Although we did grow fondly of one song called Follow the Leader that we couldn’t get enough of. It’s a song so horrible that it was amazing. We have had most of our guest listen to the song, and they too fell in love with it and couldn’t get it out of their heads. We bought some blank CDs and downloaded a couple playlists, one being a festive Christmas collection that we bumped during the holidays for a week straight. The CD player was crap as it was scratching every cd we made, forcing us to toss them out. Eventually we got one installed in Agadir for $61 and are now set for the road.

Now to answer the number one question that we have been getting from friends and family: Where do we go to the bathroom? I have been lucky enough that I have not had to use our portable emergency toilet. We purchased one on Amazon before we left and brought it with us. It’s basically a toilet seat with the legs that fold out with a plastic bag you attach that simply can be disposed after use. Will has used it a couple times already. We also bought a foldable pop up cover that comfortably fits around you, providing privacy while you are doing your “business”. One time, Will was in such a rush that he didn’t have time to anchor the privacy cover down. The wind was strong that day. Realizing it moments later that he forgot; I could just hear him struggling to keep a tight grip on the cover as well as trying to do other business. I just picture him sitting on the toilet and that cover just flying away. Whoops!

Will being the experienced outdoorsman that he is had the brilliant idea of bringing a portable/foldable/collapsible shovel to dig holes for going potty. You dig a hole 6 inches deep and at least 200 feet away from any water source to keep from any contamination or spread of disease and such. We soon discovered that most people didn’t care. Feces, toilet paper and diapers were plentiful. Toilet paper is very sparse so we have to supply our own toilet paper everywhere we go. I will admit I have used the shovel a handful of times and it has worked wonderfully. If I have to pee, most of the time there is a bathroom available but there have been times there hasn’t and that is when the Go Girl comes in handy. Will bought me one for my birthday last year (How romantic huh?). I won’t go into too much detail but it essentially gives me the ability to pee standing up. I had a bladder infection for 8 days and had to go about every 20 minutes. During this time we were camping in parking lots with no bathrooms and on the road where I didn’t want to stop every 20 minutes. I had to use the Go Girl in my own personal toilet aka water bottle. Fun stuff!

Where do we shower?! We briefly mentioned in a couple posts ago that we had not showered in 8 days since we left Ana’s in Bilbao, Spain. I wanted to share that for me, as a girl, not showering for 8 days was not only a record, but quite difficult to endure because my hair got so greasy that it was starting to itch and become very uncomfortable. While the dip in the hot spring helped my body feel a little cleaner, my hair was still feeling disgusting. I was very excited to hear that we were headed to El Chorro because I was promised a hot shower. We stayed at the Olive Branch, which was a cute little hostel/camping spot. This was our first big splurge as we have been wild camping (free) the whole time. We paid 7 euros per person for hot showers, access to the kitchen, and wifi. They were serving dinner that evening and we were delighted to have a nice meal where we didn’t have to prepare or clean the dishes afterwards. We used our solar shower bag once when we were camping out on the river. We filled it with river water, let it sit out for a couple hours and tied it to a tree. I washed my hair and Will washed his hair and armpits. The water felt much warmer than expected so it was nice.

Will and I have been making some amazing home cooked meals. Groceries have been outrageously cheap so we have been spoiling ourselves with pretty lavish feasts. For example one night we had steak with oyster mushrooms in a garlic and shallots wine sauce with beets and goat cheese salad paired with a bottle of Reserve wine from the vineyard we stayed at – Domain de Cadables. We saw kangaroo meat being sold at the market and Will really wanted it but I just couldn’t do it. We both realized that we have been eating better traveling and living in a van than we do at home. I personally thought I was going to lose weight on this trip but I have definitely gained weight from all the good food out here. In Cordoba and Baena, both cities in Spain, we tried to buy ground beef for spaghetti and cheeseburgers, and realized when we ate it that they only sold ground beef mixed with pork. It was very interesting to bite into a beef/pork burger. In Morocco we purchased a tajine and have been making tajine almost every night.

Look at how excited he was to have our very own tajine?! 25 dirham = $3 What a steal!
Crepes in the van. Will took his obsession with Oreos to a whole new level and made Oreo crepes.

Our German friends told us that propane tanks would be very cheap in Morocco so then we spared no expense and started to turn our refrigerator on. We did a huge shopping trip and splurged on yogurt, meat, milk that was refrigerated, and even ICE CREAM! Most of Europe and Morocco do not refrigerate eggs or milk here at the supermarkets. We have had our refrigerator on for over 2 month now and have still not run out of propane. The same propane tank we have is connected to our stove as well. We cook two meals a day and have the fridge constantly running and it was going strong until somehow now we have a propane leak. With 3 weeks left in Morocco we have managed to burn our table, almost burned our van down by leaving a tajine cooking while we went to look at the stars on the beach, broke our awning, discovered a leak in our window after an afternoon of rain, and broken our stove cover trying to fix one of the burners. As they say in Morocco “Inshallah!”

In Morocco, every town or village has a market with fresh produce, which is called a souk. Since here our meals have consisted of a lot of vegetables such as pasta with veggies, veggie soup, veggie mush with couscous, veggies with rice, etc. Occasionally we would get some meat like lamb and chicken. Of course they don’t sell pork here but we’ve seen a lot of lamb, goat, beef and even camel. As much as I am a meat eater, it was really hard to see the cow heads and skinned goats hanging at the markets. The image of a hanging camel head is forever imbedded in my mind.

Spices at the souk.

The campsites in Morocco have some wonderful amenities including pools, mini golf, darts, and cooking lessons. We learned how to make a traditional Moroccan dish called tajine and have made it a couple times on our own since we have arrived in the beach town of Tamaraght. Lynne, who we met in Utrecht while buying our van, graciously hosted us for over a week in her apartment she was renting out for the 6 weeks. She also bought a van from Donna and parked in Donna’s lot for a couple days. We kept in contact with her via email and she invited us to stay with her. She was an incredibly fun and kind host. Together we experimented with the tajine cooking, drinking Moroccan wine, and watching some epic movies.