WorldVoyageur

A lot of banter in several languages was going on between the six of us. Two of the three Moroccan women were in the back with Gianni, Julian, Brendan and myself. Having been firmly shut in by a bar across the back door of the van we couldn't see much at all and were trying to talk above the noise level of the engine. Occasionally Gianni would peer out of the dirty rear windows and tell us that there were camels out there .. I started reading my first guide book on Mauritania which Brendan had thoughtfully brought along. First things first; the import of alcohol was strictly prohibited into the Islamic Republic of Mauritania - did that include Bombay Sapphire? Would anyone take away my prized possession that I bought on the Algeciras-Tangiers ferry?? Secondly, ... read more

Leaving Tan Tan was a bit difficult, I was torn, such a scruffy little town but everyone we met had a heart of gold, I really wanted to stay on but was also concerned that 'wasting' time in Morocco would leave less time to see Mauritania! Getting a SATAS bus to Dahkla for 320Dh was a good move. Clean, heated and more spacious I knew this wasn't going to be the same journey from hell as we had had with the other bus from Casablanca! The journey was relatively uneventful apart from the odd police posts where yet again I had to interpret no less than 7 times for him, what his job was, not once did he ask me how to say it or practice it in case we hit another police post! We reached ... read more

Well the call at the bus station all day that I could hear from the room of our hotel was 'Agadir, agadir, agadir, agadir' so after organising for us both to do some washing on the roof top of the hotel I went down to the bus station to organise our tickets southbound. I had no idea when the next bus south would go or when it indeed where it was going to go. I walked into the bus station area with everyone continuing to shriek town names and then they all piled on me asking me if I wanted to go to Agadir, Marrakesh or anything else (except a southern destination) so I just walked through them all pointing at the ground and saying 'Tan tan, Tan Tan, Tan tan' which had most of the ... read more

I looked around the bus station, he was nowhere to be seen, I went off and got a coffee and thought if he's not here by the time I finish this then I'm going! Sure enough he turned up as I was finishing it. Unfortunately the hint to go our separate ways wasn't taken so we continued on ... On the most awful bus! Packed full with bad seats, a normality in Morocco BUT the worst was to come as we headed SE towards Marrakesh en route to Tan Tan, the rear door wasn't firmly shut so a billowing gale of freezing wind came through all night, to the point that I could feel my toes for the cold! I hardly slept, the cold just went through me. Arriving somewhere in the lower Atlas between Casa ... read more

The day came, Wednesday 14th December, I met with my new travel partner a day or so before and he spent some time seeing Carcassonne & it's historic Cite. Sitting in a bar in central Carcassonne across the road from the Eurolines bus stop for the bus to Granada ... wine was sipped for several hours amongst a few friends of mine. Phone call after phone call it turned out the bus was running an hour, then 2 hours and then 3hrs late, after being kicked out of the bar at closing time, my friends having left, we took shelter in the station until 1am! Finally on board the bus, I caught a few winks as far as Valencia, we were transferred to another bus where I caught up on a bit more sleep and enjoyed ... read more