Tangier

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I have discovered that waking up at 6 AM is always a mistake. The idea, originally suggested by Abdullah of Auberge de Jeunesse, was to catch the 6:50 train to Tangier so that we could arrive by midday. This turned out to be foolish, as even though we managed to catch the train we were so exhausted by the time we reached Tangier that after finding a hotel, the "Promenade Palace," we turned in until 6 pm. The one good thing that came out of the whole affair was the sight of Venus in the morning sky, closely conjuncted with another planet (Saturn?) near the crescent Moon. If the moon were only on the other side of these two stars, I would have had a very nice approximation of the symbol of Islam, on a Friday no less.

Our hotel (note, not hostel) was 100 Dirham for the both of us per night. Remember, 8 Dirham per doller. It ended up being about 6 dollars each per night, a very good deal. However, we had a bit of a shock when we arrived. Finding no one in reception, we spent 5 minutes looking about nervously until without warning a man came in the front door. Smiling at us, he picked up our luggage and started taking it outside, whereas Yohei and I shared a brief look and then in unison grabbed him before he could get further than the door. He laughed and told us he was kidding, and that this was his house. Yohei and I shared several more looks, and we regarded this man with suspicion as he led us to our room. It turned out he did work there, and was indeed making a joke. He became moody and quiet when it turned out that we weren't amused. However, after we woke we asked him for a good restaurant, and he brought us to a really local place nearby that served us a good, cheap meal of soup, couscous, and chicken Tajine.

Walking around Tanger, it was immediately obvious that it was very different from the rest of Morocco. Of course, it was the first smaller city we were in, but more than that was its European atmosphere. Despite its size, it was the first place in Morocco that we saw shiny, tall building of a more modern style. In addition, things were quite a bit more expensive and there were tourists everywhere. Its location at the other side of the Straits of Gibraltar no doubt accounts for this, and dimly, across the water, one can vaguely make out Spain and Europe. From Morocco, even the geography of the different continents looks different. Spain seems rocky and mountainous, whereas Morocco had been almost entirely flat and green.

We went to bed early the first day, but got up bright and early the next to have a full day to walk around. The medina in Tangier is small, with wide streets and a much richer feel to it. However, it is still a medina, with all that that entails. We enjoyed it until around 2, at which point we set off for the beach. The first thing we saw as we approached it were a swarm of children, perhaps 30 in all, playing by a dip in the sand. They were, in fact, all doing acrobatics. Several older men, around our age our younger, were doing incredible flips and twists in the air. The rest, mostly younger kids, all were attempting to imitate them, mostly without success. We watched for a while, and then moved on further down the beach. We stopped eventually to sit for an hour or so, just enjoying the weather and the several games of soccer going on within sight and then moved on once again. This time we came across a group of camels, huddling on the beach. After taking a good deal of pictures, we eventually let ourselves be convinced by their caretaker to take a short ride around on them, bargaining him down to 20 dirham for 5 minutes (we could have gone farther, but shrug.( I am glad we did it, because it was quite an experience. The most incredible part was simply sitting on it as it got up. Holding on to a handle in front of and back of me, it stood up in such a complex manner that I can not find words to describe it. Let it be sufficient to say that it consisted of three steps, all swaying the rider in different directions, and that without holding on tightly I could have been thrown in any possible direction.

We spent the rest of the day just enjoying the sights and sounds of Tangier, and went to bed once again fairly early. Unfortunately, I found it impossible to sleep, as either bed bugs or the one, malicious mosquito in the room bit me again and again and again. By the time I dozed off, an hour at least must have passed and I had been bitten innumerable times. When I woke up the next day, it was even worse. The mosquito had bitten me directly in the center of my forehead and left a mark the size of an English Muffin. When I went up to wash my face, I heard a buzzing and with the speed of a snake and the fury of an avenging god smashed the offending bug down in one swift strike. It struggled in the sink, and I viciously turned on the water and watched as it swirled down to its watery death.

We had decided to catch a ferry around midday to Spain, and so after a breakfast of bread and fruit bought ourselves tickets and went to work spending the last of our dirham. I also, before I left the room, tried out my pump water filter for the first time. Drinking a bunch of the water, I found out later that it had been a mistake as my stomach was unsteady for several days thereafter. Probably it is designed to kill anything dangerous, but not stop the stomach-upsetting varieties of bacteria. Stocking up on cheap bread and oranges, we managed to make it to the port with only about 20 dirham left in our pockets. We did get to use it though. Approaching the ferry, we were stopped by what appeared to be a worker of the docks, dressed in the appropriate uniform and asking us for our passports. We showed them to him, whereas he grabbed them and took them inside to an official station and started filling out some simple forms. Keeping an eye on him and our passports, he was eventually done and, coming outside, handed us back our passports and the form with a smile. "That will be 10 Euros." he said. Yohei and I looked at each other, turned back to him and told him that we had none. "Alright, 100 Dirham each then." he replied. We told him once again we had no money (both Yohei and I had about 200 in Euros in our pocket) until eventually he began to get angry and just demanded anything we had. We threw our remaining 20 dirham at this man, obviously a bribe just to let us past, and continued on our way.

Getting on the ferry had been even more of a hassle. In the bag check, we showed our passports. When the guards saw that I was an American, they requested a bag search, I had nothing to hide, and so let them. After going through it for a good 5 minutes, they demanded I wait while they got their manager, who showed up 5 minutes later just to say "Ok," barely looking at me. My feeling is this is probably a retaliation for the U.S.'s now incredibly strict and unforgiving entrance requirements.

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