Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Tangier, Morocco
We started off for Morocco early Tuesday morning (9:00am) and missed the 11:00 ferry even though Mark made his best attempts to make it. We ended up spending the next few hours in Tarifa having a leisurely breakfast and exploring the town. We then boarded the 1:00pm ferry to Tanger, Morocco. They called it a 35 minute trip but it took the boat at least double that time.
"Fast" Ferry
Tarifa, Spain to Tangier, Morocco
We got off the boat on African soil and encountered our first of many mosquitoes. Apparently we forgot to wash the dumb tourist stamp off our foreheads that morning (oops) and the tour guides were absolutely convinced that we needed their help to find our way around their city. They tried to convince us that we would get lost in the somewhere between 500-2500 roads as well as convincing us that we needed them for safety and direction. It took roughly 1,000 "no!s" to get one tour guide to go away, then another one would come and take his place. All in all we spent about half a day fighting off 19 unwanted advances- all from tour guides mind you.
Mosquito
Tangier, Morocco
We proceeded to the town square where we got our bearings and explored the town. We shopped and purchased fresh baked bread. Some shop keepers have open bins of many different spices and the butchers will cut meat for you while you wait. As a consequence the chickens still had heads on their plucked bodies which was quite unnerving. After some people watching in the town square we walked back down to the boat and had a leisurely trip back to Spain.
Old Town
Tangier, Morocco
When we got back we had dinner in the town we were staying in. Mark ordered pork, Jen ordered a red pasta dish and Alex ordered a ham plate. What actually came out was exactly what Mark had ordered, a seafood stew for Jenny and a whole fish stuffed with ham (scales, tail, head and all) for Alex. Needless to say neither Jen or Alex eat seafood, so it was an entertaining evening to cap off an entertaining day.
Mark & Jen
Tangier, Morocco
Oh, and by the way, if anyone plans to go to Morocco please talk to us first.
