We booked passage on the noon ferry bound for Tangier. In my
mind taking the ferry from Spain into Morocco seemed so exotic and daring.
Truth be told, it was confusing and expensive. Thirty-five euro for an hour
voyage seems a bit high. I don’t think all of the transportation throughout my
entire stay in Morocco will total 35 euro. The ship was very nice but the
directions from the staff were very poor. For example, no one told us we needed
to clear customs and get our passports stamped ON the ship prior to landing (an
omission that would prove problematic).
Despite its docile appearance from the coastline of Tarifa
the night before, it should also be noted that the sea between Tarifa and Tangier
is pretty rough. We weren’t 15 minutes into the voyage before the first people
starting throwing up. By the end, nearly everywhere you looked someone’s head
was in a plastic bag. My companions Vera and Laura (who decided to accompany
us) were similarly ill, however, like the champions they are they held it
together.
When we landed in Tangier it was just as we had left Spain-
cold and rainy. Are you noticing a theme here? We attempted to leave the boat
but were lambasted for not having our passports stamped. Luckly the man at the
customs back aboard the boat was nice enough to stamp them for us but not
before administering a lecture on our timeliness. Such is life traveling in
foreign lands.
Outside the port we took a taxi up to the bus station and
the driver tried everything short of actually kidnapping us to get us to agree
to pay him to drive us to our next destination: Chefchaouen. The girls were
persistent though and we made it to the bus station to discover it would only
cost around 50 dirham (less than 5 euro) each to get there by bus. By contrast
the driver wanted 45 euro. Score one for public transit.
The only downside was that we had to stop over in Tetouan
for two hours. Which actually wasn’t so bad as we were hoping to get lunch
anyway. The most notable thing to me about our brief time in Tangier was the
sheer amount of vegetation in/around the city. It was especially noticeable on
the drive out of the city where there was lush vegetation and even pine forests
covering the landscape. I guess I had just always assumed from the films that Morocco was cities in a giant dusty desert. This is why you shouldn't assume things:
Along the way I kept noticing what appeared to be Jawas from the Star Wars films roaming around. Upon closer inspection it turned out that these were no mere Jawas, these were bonafide Obi-Wan Kenobis! Apparently when it rains in Morocco the men don these full length cloaks reminiscent of the ones worn in the classic sci-fi films, and when aggregated form a- dare I say- flock of Obi-Wan Kenobis! Morocco: highest per-capita rate of Jedi Knights on Earth.
In Tetouan our primary objective was to acquire dirham
(Moroccan currency). We finally located the one working ATM in all of Morocco,
but when Laura put in her card the machine rudely decided to eat it. Obviously
it would have been a fool’s errand for me to attempt the same so we were now
stuck with the little dirham Vera had plus our leftover euros from Tarifa.
A very nice Moroccan guy witnessed our plight and invited us
to his gym (yes there is a gym in Tetouan and a nice one to boot) for a free
coffee. We had our excellent coffee and
he showed us around the gym which gave us a chance to collect ourselves. He
also gave us a tip for where to grab a good snack for lunch. Vera ordered a tea
and the silver teapot came out with this cute little guy to protect your hand
from being burned by the handle. We were fascinated by it.
Finally it was time to board the bus to Chefchaouen but not
before discovering that the bathrooms in Morocco are like… Japan?? Just the hole
in the ground (see flickr). Our bus ride up the mountain was a little over an
hour and provided us with some outstanding views. I must say I am stunned by
the landscape of Morocco.
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