Day 27: Traveling from Morocco to Seville, Spain

We survived the night in our hotel. No one came by to bug us. We did hear some ruckus in the night, but not nearly as bad as earlier in the evening. We got up around 11:00am Spain time (9:00 am Moroccan Time). We ate breakfast which was very yummy. It was baked goods, hard boiled eggs, and tea. Our waiters had us sit in the room with the oceanview. It was a nice start to our day. We got ready and finished packing since we had to be in the lobby to wait for our minibus by 11:30 local time (1:30 Spain time).

We were ready in time and waited. We waited and waited. About 20 minutes went by. The hotel lobby boy kept asking if we wanted a taxi, we explained no, we have a minibus coming to pick us up. The hotel owner came out and said he was going into town and offered us a ride. We declined graciously and explained that we were waiting for our minibus. Our waiters came out, shook our hands, and wished us happy travels as they left for day. Our ferry was to leave at 1:30. So by noon, we decided that our bus was not coming for us. We went in and talked to the hotel manager. He explained that the road was closed along the coast and we would be better to take a taxi. He gave us a price in local currency, which converted to only 5 Euros. We hopped in a tiny taxi and rode to the port listening to local music. The Moroccans have been very hospitable toward us.

When we arrived at the port, a man was eager to help us. He was hinting toward payment for his "help" however we had the situation under control and did not need his help. So we refused to pay him and he left. We got through customs and waited for the ferry. Another man tried to "help us" with the same tactic. We refused his help and refused paying him as well. We did indeed ride the ferry that once went between Rochester and Toronto. The ferry was an hour late departing, which meant we had to take later buses to get to Seville. When we arrived in Tarifa, we made the local bus to Algerciras with about 7 minutes to spare. We were walking fast to try to catch it. On the way, a car stopped and a young guy offered us a ride. He asked us where we came from, where we were going, etc. Kim thought he was creepy, Christine thought it was a nice gesture. But either way, we are smarter than to take a ride from a stranger. Once we got to Algerciras, we got a bus ticket for Seville. We had about 45 minutes before it departed, so we ate a quick meal and waited for the bus. We were unfortunate to sit behind a woman who had her seat reclined, making for a very congested space. We sat there for about 15 minutes debating on whether to say something and practicing how to say it in Spanish. We did prevail in the end by asking her in conherent enough Spanish and she raised her seat up.

The bus ride was about 2 hours long. It took us through the beautiful countryside of Spain. There was lots of rolling hills, farms, and windmills. There were also gigantic bulls. Christine has seen them before in other parts of Spain. They are made out of wood and are about the size of a billboard. We are not sure what they are for. Perhaps they are markers for entering a different province. We stayed awake the whole time. Christine listened to Don Quixote on her Ipod and Kim listened to music. We also listened to the soccer game that was on the radio for a bit since it is fun to hear the excitement and passion in their voices as they announce the play by plays.

When we got to Seville, we took awhile to find the correct bus. Christine´s Spanglish helped and we got off at the right place. Kim followed her intuition and went where she thought the river was since that is all the directions said. We stopped, confused as to whether or not we had gone the right way. Christine looked to the right and there was an alley and lo and behold there was the street through the alley that we needed. We had stopped at the perfect place. We found our hostel. It is very nice and clean. We are sharing a room with 3 guys that we have not met or talked to yet.

After we dropped off our stuff, we went in search of water and a snack. Sundays are the worst day to do this since everything is closed minus a few overcrowded bars filled with soccer fans. We walked long and far. We almost gave up, then Christine saw a little shop with the doors open but the lights very dim. She asked if they were open they said yes. We got some water, juice, pop, and fresh pastries. We were so happy. We brought them back to the hostel, cooked some dinner that we had carried with us from Tarifa (pasta and soup) and hung out at the hostel. We took some time to update our blog.

We have been thinking a lot about our classrooms that we left to go on this trip. We have been wondering how things are going. We have not gotten any updates, but we would surely appreciate some. We see some many cute kids here and it is a constant reminder of the kids we worked with at home. It is funny how BOCES has impacted our everyday communication. We sign to each other and when we are trying to get our point across to people who do not know English, we find ourselves doing American Sign Language and finger spelling. We realize this really doesn´t help, but it comes natural when trying to communicate in multiple ways.

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