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Entry 64 of 89 | show all | print this entry |
June 17 - Africa
Continents that is, coz today I went to Africa! (That leaves only South America and Antartica left on my list). I caught a lift to the town with 2 other guys who were also going across to Morocco, except they weren't doing the tour they were going it solo. We were on the 11.30 ferry and it's supposed to take 35 mins from Tarifa except it took 55 mins plus we were 10 mins late leaving. We had to do the immigration bit on the ferry but they DIDN'T stamp my passport! I've got a stamp saying I left Tarifa by boat but nothing saying I arrived in Africa as they stamp your ferry ticket instead of your passport! Ripped off!
When we arrived in Morocco we had to wait around a bit for our tour group to get organised as no one really knew where to go or what to do. I wasn't too impressed by this stage as our ticket to return said we were on the 5pm ferry and by this stage it was almost 1pm.
Except the tour finally started the guide informed us that Morocco was 2 hours behind Spain and that is was actually only 11am. The 5pm referred to Moroccan time. Phew! Our guide spoke 5 languages (Arabic, English, Spanish, French and German) but they divided the group up into language groups... English/German on one bus and French/Spanish on another. We then did a superfast driving tour, past the king's palace and some other famous people's big palacial houses (the only one I can remember is the Forbes guy... you know the Forbes 500 richest people list... well he lived in Morocco until he died). We didn't stop at all and it was pretty hard to get photos as your zooming past houses... oh well.
Outside the city (it was bigger than I imagined it would be) we stopped at some Berger camel guys whose sole source of income is grabbing tourists and putting them on their camels. It was free to take photos of the camels but if you wanted to sit on one, then it cost a whole Euro... I figured I could afford it. It was fun.. even if it was short as it was jump on, hold on while the camel got to it's feet (you almost go head over turkey...or camel in this case), have a quick walk around, get off and it's the next person's turn. I had somehow teamed up with this old English guy named Wilf who I had started talking to in the Marina and stuck with the whole day. He took my photo on the camel.
Wilf was about 70 and travels for 2 months every year in a camper van, staying in camping grounds and using a bike to get around the shorter distances. His wife is in England, she has arthritis and doesn`t want to travel anymore but won't hear of Wilf staying home... she's probably living it up back in Manchester!
Next stop was a snake charmer. He used a drum not a flute and it wasn't like in the story books... the snake didn't rise out of a woven basket and sw3ay back and forth, but rather the guy picked it up out of a wooden box, placed it on the ground and it swayed around a bit. Then he picked it up and put it around him, and antagonized it a bit so that it's neck flared out. Then he got another harmless snake and we all had the chance to 'wear' it around our necks. Wilf took my photo again and I paid another Euro. The snake was about as thick as a recorder... it felt more like a piece of rope. Still some people were too scared.
After this, we walked in the Medina (old section) and found our restaurant where we had a 4-course lunch included in the price. We only had to pay for drinks and Euro was accepted. Actually the entire day I didn't see any Moroccan currency at all as all the vendors accept Eruo - it's probably their No.1 source of income. Lunch was traditional Moroccan fare, the first of which was this delicious spicey, tomatoey, chickeny, noodley soup, followed by beef kebabs which half way through Wilf told me was camel. He almost had me too, until I remembered teh guide saying they were beef kebabs. Next was chicken and vegetables on a bed of couscous and finally a honeyed kind of waffle thing. It was very similar in flavour and texture to baklava (Turkish sweet which is so so so sweet). It was nice but like baklava, so sweet that one was more than enough. Several people couldn't eat theirs as it was too sweet.
After lunch we spent time walking through the souk (market place) watching various demonstrations and being hassled no end by the street sellers. We saw a carpet demo (I saw the same think in Turkey) and even though the carpets are absolutely beautiful and stunning quality... the starting price for large rug was E850. Of course you can bargain, but still way out of my price range. My excuse to the sellers was that I don't have a house so how would I know what colour to get.
Next was a herb or medicine demo, where we heard how different herbs will help different ailments. Our skin was rubbed with samples of everything under the sun, so for 24 hours from now, I shouldn't snore, have allergies, attract mosquitoes, have dermatitis, get stressed out or be sea/air sick... Then, of course, we had the opportunity to purchase these herbs at startlingly cheap prices. I bought the snoring one... LOL!
The street sellers were shocking. They just wouldn't stop. Shoving bags, jewellery, clothes, plates, silver teapots, anything and everything in front of your face and saying 'how much lady? how much?' 'very cheap for you lady' 'good souvenir lady'. I tried everything, from just saying no, to ignoring them to telling them that whatever they had was ugly... they still didn't get the picture. I have no room for any more souvenirs and I'm on a strict budget!
We had one final stop but I can't remember where now, because I was so sick of being hassled that I just wanted to find the damn ferry and leave. So when we stopped at this place, I didn't want to go in (we weren't under any obligation to watch any of the demos) but the street vendors were so bad that I stepped inside the lobby and found about 8 other people in there as well. It was safer in there. One lady said 'They are wose than flies, at least you can kill flies!'
We had a chance to get a cup of coffee at the hotel that was used in the beginning of the movie 'Casablanca' - can't remember the name - which had a nice view of the bay before heading back to the ferry at about 4.30pm. Again the ferry was late leaving and again it took 55 mins. I think need to change their advertising.
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