المغرب/maroc vi

Last one, I swear...So we managed to get rid of the guy who seemed to be scamming us, and went in to catch the ferry. There were a ton of people still waiting, even though we were if anything, late. We ended up waiting in the terminal for about a half hour before they let us line up. We then waited in the line for another half hour to forty-five minutes before actually getting on the ferry. And then once on the ferry we didn't actually leave until an hour and a half later. So the ferry left Tangier really late. It was supposed to be about a 45 minute ferry ride, but after probably an hour and a half into it (yes, after having departed from the port), we overheard some other Americans lamenting the fact that even once we docked in two and half more hours, we still wouldn't be where we supposed to be. WHAT??! Turns out because of BAD CONDITIONS (haha. hah. Oh wait, NOT funny) the ferry actually wasn't supposed to go at all, and the only reason we were on a ferry was because this was the biggest one - the ONLY one they thought was big enough to make it through the swells, and furthermore, this ferry was NOT going to Tarifa, but to Algeciras, where there would supposedly be a bus to take us to Tarifa. Of COURSE this would happen to us on our way back to Spain - I think Spain really just doesn't want us to be here... Good thing we're all leaving so soon, I guess. 

I have NEVER been on a rockier boat. Ever. It was terrifying. You could hear the the doors to the bathroom stalls slamming as we rocked from side to side and throughout the entire trip there were people running to the bathrooms, where you could hear them pucking. For about 3 hours. If you wanted to walk around you couldn't without bouncing back and forth like a ping-pong ball or something between the walls. And I swear I could hear dishes and bottles falling off shelves. When I looked out the window (bear in mind that this was at about 2 or 3 in the morning) everything was black. Except for when a swell would break on the windows (EVEN THOUGH WE WERE ON THE THIRD DECK) and everything would go completely white for a few seconds. I was convinced we were going to make like the Titanic and go down. 

But we survived. We finally got in to Algeciras at about 5 in the morning, went through the passport check, and made our way out to the bus. Which was full. They told us we would have to wait for this bus to drive to Tarifa and come back for us. So we went back into teh building and sat on the floor. And waited. And waited. There was a gigantic group of Koreans who were all clearly dressed for the beach, sandals, visors and all. Finally we overheard someone saying they had found a taxi and that it would cost 20 euros or so to drive to Tarifa. Which, split between 4 of us was nothing. Or close to it. 

We arrived in Tarifa at 7:30 in the morning and upon finding that the (sketchy) hotel was locked up, we buzzed the manager. A head poked out of a barred window part way down the side of the building, and he called us over. We gave him the money, he gave us the keys to two double rooms. Inside, Sarah and David went to their room and Michelle and I went to ours. But when Michelle opened the door, she screamed, yanked the keys out, and ran down the hall away from the room. There was someone IN our room. Our tired minds might have blown the situation a little out of proportion, but it seemed like it could quickly turn into a horror movie. The hotel was NOT nice. We had looked in the bathroom on the way to our room and seen that the showers were dirty and seemed kind of concentration-camp-like. We ran back down the stairs and outside and buzzed the manager again. After explaining 3 times what had happened, he told us apologetically that he had given us the wrong key and that we should come back to the window. This time the room he gave us was empty. Thank goodness.

After a kind of short night's sleep, we got up in the morning to look around the town. Tarifa's nice - a little surf town - but I wouldn't want to spend more than maybe 2 days there unless I knew how to surf. Correction: windsurf. It must be the windiest town I have EVER been in. We found a little café that served delicious smoothies... I got one with plums, almonds, honey, cinnamon, orange juice, and yogurt. It was unbelieveable. We went back later that day for an early dinner (by Spanish standards) before catching the bus from Tarifa to Cádiz (which went well, surprisingly). 

And THAT is the end of my Moroccan adventure. Finally.