Aug 14-15 The Long Journey Down. Part IV - Tangier

We arrive, bracing for the hordes of hustlers - and – nothing. Apparently the police crackdown on this has been quite effective. Only taxi drivers, tourists and travelers are within the port area. Even outside at the CTM (gov’t run bus system) station, we are not accosted. We discover that their daily bus to Chefchaouen (3 hrs drive) has already left, so we decide to try the independent bus companies, which run out of another station. This was our first introduction to Moroccan taxi drivers – he offered to take the 3 of us there for 700Dh. We say no, just take us to the bus station. He says, looks, he’s paying for gas, it is 3 hours there, 3 hours back, over mountains, there are only 3 of us, we would be sitting comfortably, on the bus, it is so cramped. We stick to our plan. At the bus station, we are offered the same trip for 400Dh. We still don’t trust them. Final price for 3 bus tickets was somewhere about 100Dh.

There were several hours before the bus left so we went in search of phone cards and food – 3 suitcases in tow. Intro to Moroccan traffic – Mein Got. The bus station was located in the center of a roundabout, pedestrian signals are nonexistent and sidewalks are pot-holey and often disappear into stretches of rubble (BAD for suitcases). So, we half-rolled, half-carried our suitcases around and around the roundabout, trying to cross when the locals did. We see card payphones, but no one sells the cards. Not gas stations nor these strange stores filled with coin-op telephone boxes (teleboutiques – we learn how to use these later). We did end up finding dinner at a very clean very quiet Middle Eastern-type food place. First vegetable dilemma though – the sandwich comes with raw lettuce and tomatoes. Are they washed? Even if they are, it’s not going to be done with bottled water. Which is worse? Do you pick it out? Or has it already touched everything else in the salad anyways? It does no good to dwell on these things, I just ate it as-is.

Next - Aug 14-15 The Long Journey Down. Part V – Bus to Chefchaouen