Umm....

On Saturday, I woke up excited thinking it was possible to go from Seville to Algeciras to Tangier and back in a day. Umm...so it didn't exactly happen that way, hence the late blog post. I left Seville at 9:00 am got to Algeciras at 4:00 pm, boarded a ferry to Tangier at 4:30 pm and arrived in Tangier at 6:00 pm (one hour behind Seville). While exiting the ferry, I found that I failed to listen to low talker who called for all passports be stamped before docking. I sat on the boat for an hour before obtaining my stamp.

By the time I got off the boat, denial went straight to acceptance. I knew I couldn't make it back in time for my hostel's curfew. As I walked out of the port, a man, who called himself "Abdul" stopped me and asked where my tour group was and who was picking me up. Once he found that neither was my option, he invited himself to be my guide. He displayed a poor excuse for a government-issued ID, and thought I actually bought it. At this point in the day, I was running on an orange I ate on the boat and hope. I figured, if I made it this far, at least I succeeded in the itinerary I established. That in and of itself left me pretty content with my trip thus far, so thinking negatively didn't really enter into my thoughts at that point.

The guide and I chit-chatted and boarded a taxi for Tangier's Medina or Kasbah. The drive was steep and I was pretty confident that the taxi didn't have ABS, but still... I didn't freak. We got to the top and "Abdul" explained that we'd walk down the Kasbah (fortress), talk history, and visit the bazaar. I think I had better free tours, but I settled. It would have been impossible for me to go up the Medina and navigate the narrow streets alone. After a while we "encountered" a store. The salesman pulled out fine hand rugs, even a "magic carpet", and brought me mint tea (yum!). After the grand display I explained that my budget nor my bag would suffice. I looked at some shirts and carvings, and did a little bargaining on those items. I'm pretty positive it was poor bargaining, and I wouldn't be surprised if "Abdul" got a share either. I then visited an herbal shop and had creams, oils, herbs and spices shoved up my nose. Afterward, I did a little more shopping and found that the sun had set.

From what I had read on Tangier, night time is seedy, but there was little I could do. "Abdul" led me to a hotel and restaurant for the night and said his goodbye. At that point, it was the first time in my trip that I felt kind of uncomfortable being alone. Not even walking with a perfect stranger bothered me (which I've done since I've been on this trip), but being alone, yes. My hotel bill was due up front and bargaining drew the most of what I had budgeted, so another "Abdul" guided me up the Medina and we hunted for working ATMs. At this point it was 10:30 pm. While annoying to move from shop to shop, the experience overall was kind of fun. Everyone was out and about with Ramadan nearing. "Abdul" with a cigarette in hand had the best Harvey Fierstein w/ Moroccan accent impression ever. Actually it wasn't an impression, but his voice was memorable. He also shared much, although incorrectly, about his knowledge of America (e.g. Dallas is the capitol of Texas- we nearly fought that one). After nearly an hour we found an ATM that worked and headed back down to the hotel. I spent the rest of the night watching Spanish television, and went to sleep after being assured that I killed or at least swatted away every mosquito in my room. Moroccan mosquitoes are no joke. I've see the bites other hostelmates..yikes

I'll finish the entry and post pictures of my trip tomorrow, as it is late, and I head back to Madrid tomorrow in the morning. 6 days down and four left...ahh!

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Part of trip: Off to Guillermo's I Go!

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