(As in the previous post, if you haven`t read any posts after Wednesday of last week, please scroll down to the Flamenco entry to start at the beginning-the last couple of days have been broken into seperate entries!)
Sunday morning was actually a day to sleep in a bit, as Moroccan time is an hour behind Spain, so I didn`t have to crawl out of bed until at least 8 am Spain time. As there was only one sketchy looking shower, my morning bathe consisted of rubbing my face and arms multiple times with the baby wipes my mom and I had purchased so long ago at Target. I was very happy I had packed them, since I`d thought I`d never need to use them in Spain- I definately didn`t count on Morocco!
Afterwards, I decided to brave the bathroom once again. As is very common in many countries, (but definately not the US) the toilet isn`t your nice porcelain rimmed utility. Nope, it pretty much looks like this everywhere in Morocco and elsewhere:
(a bit dirty this one is, so a slight warning if that might bother you at all)
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll32/natalia_en_espana/IMGP4233.jpg
As my brother would say.. shennanigans!
Walking out of my room, I immediately noticed one of the ¨hotel´s¨ owners had placed a small mat in front of a tiled wall, the wall itself having a posted litany in Arabic. I was confused to why that mat was there, but my confusion lead to realization as one of the men walked over, and immediately knelt down on the rug and began bowing multiple times, off and on rising to his feet, then returning to the bowed position. He was doing the daily ritual of prayer in the Muslim fashion, and I took a snapshot of the area a while after he had left:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll32/natalia_en_espana/IMGP4229.jpg
Soon, everyone was waking up and preparing themselves for the day, as the opening and closing of doors indicated. We all met at 8:3o Spain time in the main room (near the prayer mat) to discuss breakfast plans. We ultimately decided to wander a bit around the hotel area, and we weren`t without success. Our group found a small little breakfast bar, and as always, the friendly locals were more than happy to take our orders and our dirham-(though in Euros, dirhams are very cheap! .09 Euros=1 Dirham) We all ordered some breakfast breads, much like a pastry, which contained honey and a kind of cream cheese on top. I was very fond of the tasty meal, and of course, I had my favorite traditional mint tea with it!
We climbed up the restaurant`s narrow staircase to fit all of us in seats. Then came the discussion of what the day`s plan was- apparently, Chechouan was about an hour away from Tetouan. The problem arose was this- the direct bus from Algeciras to Granada was at 5:45 Spain time. It was coming on 10 AM Spain time, and we still had to get to the port Tangier, buy tickets, and get on a ship to get to Tarifa, and Tarifa to Algeciras! Needless to say, the 1 hour ride to Chechouan, and then approximately 2 hour return trip wasn`t going to let us view Chechouan, nor get home on time.
Me and Jamie discussed this for a few minutes, and we decided our plan of action was thus: The `Granada´ gang would go straight from Tetouan to Tangier, and have a bit of time to at least explore the port town. The rest of the group would continue on to Chechouan as planned. I was slightly disappointed in not making it to Chechouan, but the cost and time wouldn`t be worth the hassle. I guess I`ll have to just stop there first next time!
Soon we were back outside, and heading to the hotel to grab our things- packing away all of our stuff for our seperate adventures:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll32/natalia_en_espana/IMGP4232.jpg
Jamie had enquired to some locals at the restaurant about taking buses to get our seperate ways. He explained to us taking a taxi would cost nearly 100 Euros- we definately were not interested in the option. However, there was a bus system slightly akin to the Spain version, (and when I mean slightly.. slightly!) in where the cost would only be about 5 Euros, and we would head straight to Tangier. We ultimately decided that would be our best way of getting home.
After checking out of the hotel, we walked over to a long line of waiting taxis camped nearby, and hired two to take us to the bus station. Once again, it was pretty packed tight, but luckily it wasn´t for too long. Granted, the taxis are pretty old, so the room inside made for 3 had to suit 4-5.
We arrived at the bus station, and quickly hopped out to see what time the buses might finally take off. We arrived just in the nick of time- ten minutes later, after a bit of help from a tipped guide, and we were on the 10:45 AM bus. We also had to sprint to catch the bus as we had minutes to spare, but we managed a hasty wave of goodbye to our other travelers.
We all sat in different seats, as the bus was pretty full, but I did manage to snag a row by myself. I leaned against the window, and peered through to watch the route to Tangier. I took a lot of pictures on the way from Tetuoan to Tangier, and here are some I shot on the way, more to be found on on my photobucket:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll32/natalia_en_espana/IMGP4234.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll32/natalia_en_espana/IMGP4234.jpg
(A person herding sheep on foot! Man, I really felt like I was thousands of years in the past!)
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll32/natalia_en_espana/IMGP4234.jpg
http://s284.photobucket.com/albums/ll32/natalia_en_espana/?action=view¤t=IMGP4245.flv
The bus took about 2 hours to get from Teoutan to Tangier, and we did make several stops along the way. The interesting part was, that every time we stopped, the local people didn´t get on to the bus, they went under it. I`m pretty sure they were riding in the luggage compartment... boy, I felt like I was in first class riding up in a seat!
Finally, we made it to Tangier, all of us loading off in a quick fashion. Tangier has a bad rap for not representing Morocco very well, and I could see why: high apartment buildings and busy roads made me feel more like in a minor city than actually in Morocco. We wandered from the bus station, trying to hail a taxi to take us to the port, but every time we were rejectd- four was too many to seat. We ultimately decided to walk to the port as we had a bit of time to kill, and we weren`t about to get a taxi anytime soon.
I remembered seeing a sign as we had pulled into the bus station, and we walked over to it, it`s black letters proclaiming: LE PORT, with an arrow pointing up the road. I began to walk straight along the road, the rest of the group coming behind to make a single file. As we´d been walking single file all weekend, it would only make sense to start again!
We did have to walk for about 20 minutes through the city of Tangier, but it was mostly just apartment-like buildings and restaurants all around-not much the hustle and bustle of the old Morocco from the previous day. But suddenly the road ended, and before us laid a most beautiful looking ocean:
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll32/natalia_en_espana/IMGP4253.jpg
But I did a double take while staring at the ocean, beacause in my most recent memory there usually aren`t camels on the beach...
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll32/natalia_en_espana/IMGP4253.jpg
We of course, had to investigate exactly why there were a group of camels chilling out on the beach. I was guessing they weren`t there to soak up some rays, and when we walked up to them, a Moroccan quickly walked over to make sure we weren`t up to anything. I am not sure if they were for tourists or for some other event: we decided to ultimately go inspect the ocean. Scott took his shoes off and promptly stepped into the water, and remarked that it wasn`t as cold as Màlaga, and not as dirty either.
We only stayed on the beach for about a half an hour, and then we decided to head to the port that was right next to the beach. The Granada group all paired up and we walked over, it taking about 20 minutes to reach the entrance. Lots of cars were travelling into the port, and we weren`t sure if we were in the right place at first, but after walking for 10 minutes found ourselves at the port for travelling across the strait to Spain. We were finally on our way back home! But, our troubles from the day before were soon to come up again.
We bought our tickets from the boat line FRS as Jamie recommended, a 35 minute cruise to the city of Tarifa. From Tarifa, the attendant informed us, we would get a free bus ride all the way to Algeciras, and from there we could get on the 5:45 PM bus headed to Granada. We paid our fares, and as it was only coming on 1 PM, we wanted to scope the outdoor shops that were littered around the entrance. The boys decided to grab some food and sit down, me and Stephanie went to go do some quick shopping. I haggled with two sellers, and managed to spend the rest of my Dirhams on a few souvenirs, Stephanie likewise. 2òclock was coming up, and we decided we had better get aboard.
To leave Morocco, we once again had to pass through customs. I followed behind Scott, and we easily walked through in a matter of minutes. We went to wait on the other side for Zach and Stephanie, but imagine our surprise and growing dread when only Stephanie came through.
¨Where´s Zach?¨
¨I don´t know, the customs officials looked at his passport, and one of them took Zach away.¨
¨You´re kidding me.¨
Frustration permeated the group, as we had had trouble with Zach`s passport the day before-now the same issue rose again! We were beginning to grow worried: 2:15 was approaching, and were not sure if the boat left at 2:30, 3, or 3:30- the attendant had told us 3:30, another offical 3, and the pamphlet handed to us 2:30. The time we worried was 2:30, as that was the one in print.
We waited for about 20 plus minutes, then me and Stephanie had Scott watch our bags. We walked back through the small customs line, determined to explain to the officials that Zach was coming with us. But Zach was back in line again, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. But suddenly, Zach was talking with an official with help from a woman in line, and he then turned around and went out of sight again.
¨ZACH!!!¨
Hopping around with anxiety, we managed to flag the woman down who had helped Zach to tell us exactly what was going on. She then explained (in her English accent) that Zach had started questioning the officials why he was being told to go downstairs, and she had jumped in to help explain to Zach (and do a bit of translating) that you don`t really question customs officials, let alone in Morocco.
We talked a bit with her and her Californian husband as we waited for Zach, finding out that they lived most of the time in Morocco. Apparently, each summer they left Morocco to visit England for 10 weeks to get out of the scorching summer heat-a great idea in our minds. Finally, Zach appeared and went through customs, and our group breathed a sigh of relief. We walked with the couple and chatted a bit about ourselves with them, and soon found ourselves at our departure point. (The couple was going on another line) We thanked them for their help, and ran down the steps to get on the boat, that was thankfully still there.
We showed our tickets and our passports, and the three of us got through.. but when Zach came through, no stamp was to be found on his passport. The officials hadn`t stamped his passport, and the ticketer wouldn`t let him through. We about died right there at the news! Poor Zach!! The ticketer informed us the boat would be leaving at 3, and the time was now 2:45. Zach sprinted back to customs, as the three of us waited by the ticketer for his return, growing more nervous that we would not make the 3PM boat. But suddenly, Zach again appeared in our view, running like a madman. We eagerly cheered as he hastily sprinted over, the ticketer now letting him through with his stamp.
Needless to say, we finally got on the boat, and didn`t leave till about 3:30, but all the same enjoyed the hum of the engine as the ship soon began it`s fast pace towards Tarifa. Zach was a bit stressed from the ordeal, but we all assured him it wasn`t his fault, rather the confusion that was warranted from a Hong Kong passport. I took time to walk around the ship as Stephanie and Scott grabbed lunch, inspecting the duty free shop, and trading a Euro in for a 10 Dirham coin to have to bring home.
Finally, the boat made it to Tarifa, and we quickly got off the boat to head to our free bus. But as luck would have it, another pass through Spanish customs had us waiting for Zach`s return from a locked off room. However, the Spanish officials were pretty friendly, and had Stephanie go with Zach to help him out, as she would help Zach translate and explain to the Spanish customs the situation with Hong Kong passports. (She had studied abroad in China)
30 minutes later, we finally entered Spain.. but a few enquiries later, we discovered the free bus had already left. Zach suggested that we go speak to the company and get a free ride for ourselves from all the time we had spent waiting in customs, but by that point we just wanted to get to Algeciras. We hired a taxi for a total of 28 Euros, which really wasn`t a bad deal at all. The driver was very friendly with us, asking us about our trip and where we were headed. The trip to Algeciras was a scenic one along the oceanside, lots of high rises of cliff and rock.
We made it to Algeciras at about 5 PM, 45 minutes before our departure. Thankfully, we got our tickets and only had to wait a while to get on our bus, no issues whatsover. By 6 PM we were on our way home, me happy as can be that it somehow had all worked out.
It took us about 2 hours to get home, as we made 1 stop before heading to Granada. We listened to the Spain/Italy game, but by the time we disembarked the score was still 0-0. The Granada gang then spilt up to go our seperate ways, all of us tired from a long, fun, hectic, and all-around enjoyable weekend. Stepanie and I caught the number 33 bus, and a little under an hour found us back in our homestay. The house was empty, the family had gone out to watch the game. I made a quick call home to say I had gotten back to Granada a-ok, and despite the loud cheering from the city, I managed to finally fall asleep.
Monday morning was back to school, and at the breakfast table I found out that Spain had triumphed over Italy-hurrah! Also of interest was the last time Spain beat Italy in a sport apparently was 88 years ago- needless to say, the atmosphere was of excitement. I discussed my Morocco adventure with my family, then headed off for 9 AM class. 4 hours of class, a quick lunch and a call home later, I headed back to the computer lab to write all of what has transpired these several days! It took me a very long time, to say the least, but I am quite happy I got it all down! After stopping with part 2, I met up with Stephanie and our English buddies at about 9 to go out for some tapas for dinner. After about two hours of chatting, we headed straight home to nab some sleep after a very busy weekend.
Today was class again, and at 5 PM me and Stephanie are going to walk down and explore the giant science park in Granada- and of course, I am way excited!
http://www.parqueciencias.com/
It looks to be a lot of fun, and I`m taking my camera to take lots of pictures! So next update shall cover this fun excursion we`re going on today!
As always, (and if you`ve read all of these past entries, I salute you!)
Until next time!
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