4 Continents down...3 to go!

---

March 14, 2008

This morning came very quickly as Julie and I had to leave home at 5:00 am (4:30 wake-up for me!) to catch the bus around 5:45 for out 6:00 departure. Bus ride #1 was a little over 2 hours and took us to Algeciras, Spain, to catch the ferry across the Mediterranean Sea. That was the first time I have been on a ship that big, but due to the little sleep I had had, I slept most of the hour ride.

We finally made it to AFRICA! We arrived in Ceuta which is still a Spanish territory. We got on our second bus and made our way to the Moroccan border. Our tour guide, Mohammad, collected all of our passports so we didn’t have to do that. However, one girl who lives in the US via her green card, and who was born in Congo, was unable to pass through. In order to return to her native continent, she needed a visa. How ironic! So we ended up waiting a couple hours til she could get her visa. Then it was off to Chefchaouen where we are lunch at Barcelona Hostal. The food was pretty good- a mixture of various vegetable dishes (I only liked two) and a stew of sorts. Then we had bananas, apples, and strawberries with a sweet tea for dessert- very good!

We walked around the area for about a half hour. It was time for bus ride #3. This bus trip was about 4 hours, so we made a pit stop halfway there. The bathrooms consisted of a hole in the ground since they don’t have running water. It was quite the experience! Back on the bus for our last couple hours to Fès. We arrived at our hotel, Hotel Mounia Fès, and they had a beauty/massage place called “Institut de Beauté Laurent”. I had to take a picture of my last name! We ate dinner- a pastry, bread, soup, chicken/creamy pastry, more stew, and fruit salad. It was very good, but too much food! It’s bed time since it’s been a long day, and we have another early morning tomorrow!

---