Spain - 20/10/2006

O Espania! How I love thee.
I don't even know where to start. the begining it typically a good place, but it's so bland compared to the rest of the week. Of course I am tainted by having the actual experience and most of you have no idea what I've been doing for the past 9 days, so it's only fair to get you caught up. So here it, the begining:

No trip is worth the time if one doesn't encounter obstacles and problems along the way. These normal occurances make the good times so much better and help one to keep perspective. We encountered a few problems. Some small, some big, but none were impossible to overcome.

20/10/2006 - The trip began slowly. I got done with class at 1pm and went to my dorm to pack. I never pack before the day of travel. The orginal plan was for Brittany and I to go it alone, but we picked up Peter and Christoph along the way. We met up at the cafeteria around 3:30 and took off. We had to switch trains in Sidi Kacem (which will come into play again later, so remember that name) and had some time to kill while waiting for the train which continues on to Tangier.
Here's us...waiting for the train to show up.
Peter showing Brittany some love.

We got to Tangier around 11pm and found a room for the night. The hotel we stayed at was called the Hotel Gibraltor, which was more of a Hostel than a Hotel.

This is the man who ran the hostel that night. I can't remember his name, but he was really nice...much like most Moroccans.
Here is a view of Tangier from our balcony the next morning.

I went to bed early, but Peter, Christoph (aka "Germany"), and Brittany went out to see if they could find food and beer. From what I gathered, they were able to find food, but didn't have any luck with the beer, which could have something to with the fact that they were in a Muslim country, looking for beer, during Ramadan.

The next day we went to the ferries. Brittany, Germany and I took the same ferry to Algeceras and Peter got on a ferry to Tarifa.
Tangier

This is also where we encounter our first problem. None of us had eaten, and I hadn't had any food since the previous afternoon. We simply figured that we would get food on the ferry. Luckily there was a cafe on the ferry. Un-luckily they didn't take Dirhams...of which we had plenty, and only took Euros, of which Germany had 6. We were so hungry and disappointed but Germany was gracious enough to share his wealth. So, after much discussion we made a decision to spend our precious euros as wisely as possible:
3 beers = 6 Euros...perfect! (Brittany packed the crackers before we left Ifrane)
Germany caught doing some air-guitar.

The ferry ride was amazing. My whole experience here being one of many firsts (flying, seeing the ocean, leaving the continent, etc...) it is only appropriate that this be the first time that I ride a boat of this size across the first sea I've ever crossed into Spain (a country and continent that I have never visited). I spent a lot of time on the deck watching the deep blue water and the many frieghter ships in the strait. I honestly cannot describe what it felt like to be on that boat.
After about an hour, we got to Algeceras


Once in Algeceras, Germany got on a bus to Portugal and Brittany and I found a cab to the train station. This is where we encounter problem #2.

I am a little better than Brittany when speaking the Arabic language. This is only due to the fact that I have had one more year of the language than she has. She took 3 or 4 years of French in high school, and I took a year or two of Spanish. We figured that between the between the two of us, we should be able to muster up enough foreign languages to get about anywhere. We were wrong. First of all, our combined skills in French and Arabic did absolutely no good in Spain. Second of all, you'd be amazed at how many people in Spain DON'T speak English. Third, I suck at Spanish. We waltzed up to the ticket counter to get tickets to Madrid, which was easy enough. The man at the counter understood the word "Madrid", and due to the fact that we were in a train station he was able to assume that we wanted tickets for a train to Madrid. We were able to understand what he said as well: "9:45, Madrid 9:15", which we took to mean that the train left Algeceras at 9:45 that night, and go to Madrid at 9:15 the next morning. However, the time was only 4pm and we didn't feel like waiting 5 hours. We tried to find out if we could catch an earlier train, or a train "rapido" (rapid train). He knew that we wouldn't understand the reasoning, so he simply shook his head and said "no". Meanwhile, a French who was going the same direction as us was trying to tell us something in French, which is also when Brittany realized that she had forgotten almost all the French she had learned in high school.

We came to terms with the fact that we weren't going anywhere until 9:45 that night, and decided to get settled in. We found a locker to put our bag in and figured we'd go out to see the town. Before we left though, I went outside of the station and found an "official" looking man ("official" because he was wearing a neon yellow vest with a word similar to the english word "security" on the back), and attempted to get more travel information from him. He spoke a little more english, and was more than happy to tell us why we couldn't catch an earlier train, or a train "rapido". He said: "Yes, there is a rapid train, but there's one problem". He had my full attention. He decided that body language told the story better, put his arm out in front of him, with his fingers together and his hand perpendicular to the ground, moved it forward a few inches as if it is a moving train, and then flopped his hand over so his palm was parallel to the ground. I immediately knew what he was telling me...the train crashed, and there was no way we were going to be able to get on that train tonight, or anyday soon. He was also able to tell me that we had to take a bus to a town two hours away from Algeceras, and take a train the rest of the night to Madrid. With this information, Brittany and I decided it would be best to get a meal, maybe a couple of cervesas, and do a little exploring. So, we did.

We made our way back to the train station, boarded the bus that was waiting for us outside the depot, and left Algeceras. We sat in the back and had some great conversation. We got to the town we were going to. We boarded the train around 11pm, found our car, and slept until Madrid.