Phase III: España!
I am safely (and peacefully) in España. Ole! I had a bit of a rough start yesterday, though. As I mentioned in my last post, I stayed up late trying to figure out my itinerary and was greatly frustrated. Although I felt better after writing and showering, I still went to bed around 2 am, and set my alarm to wake up at 6:30 am so I could pack, eat breakfast, and book a hostel before leaving at 8 am for my 8:42 am train to Tanger. HOWEVER, I slept through my alarm, accidentally turned it off, and woke up naturally at 7:39. In a feat of astounding haste (for me...) I was able to pack my belongings, wash up, and be down for breakfast by 7:59 (ok seeing it typed out makes it feel like a long time, but believe me, I was rushing around!). I grabbed some food to go, said goodbye to the current volunteers, and ran out to catch a taxi by 8:10, 8:15ish. Again, it seems like it shouldn´t take that long to prepare brekkie to go, but it was fast for me!! Was worried about getting a taxi on Sunday, but it all worked out, I made my train, and met some nice people in my compartment. One woman had the CUTEST toddler who played footsie with me for half the trip. Zween! Another man was from Oman and highly recommended I go visit sometime. He said it was a beautiful country, mountains, beaches, everything. I definitely want to go to the Peninsula, so maybe it´ll be Oman! Inshallah! They were both nice, spoke a little English, and indulged my attempts to speak Arabic. I found that all of a sudden the heavy doors to the Arabic part of my brain eased open on the train ride out of the country -- all of a sudden I was recognizing and remembering words that had eluded me for the last two weeks. Of course.
I had to take a cab from the train station in Tanger to my ferry. There are two ports in Tanger, and mine was the furthest away. It was an expensive cab ride (250 Dh) and I´m pretty sure I got way ripped off. I tried halfheartedly to bargain, but was so exhausted I didn´t care. Plus I´d rather use my Dirham than lose them in a currency exchange, so I figured whatever. The cab driver was nice, and gave me a mini tour of the town while we chatted in Español. Despite the extra cost, I´m actually glad I left from the further port, because I got to see more of the city, including absolutely stunning vistas over the Strait. España looked ridiculously beautiful from far away! I also got to see Gibraltar from afar -- I wanted to wander up close (would have brought this trip´s country count to 4, since Gibraltar is UK), but alas that wasn´t in the cards for this trip. No worries! I´ll post a photo of my last meal in Morocco soon; it was decidedly NOT Moroccan food. Oops!
My ferry experience was a total nightmare. It really shouldn´t have been, but I think I was just so emotionally spent from the last two weeks, and tired from lack of sleep, that I totally melted down. My ferry was supposed to leave at 4, so I went through customs around 3:15, just to be safe. I waited outside where all these buses were picking up & dropping off people, assumedly shuttling them to and from the nearby port. The worker there assured me that I should wait, but as 4 came and went I started panicking. I was so worried that I had missed the ferry, that he had thought I was on the 5 pm instead of the 4 pm, now I would get in late at night, I still didn´t have any accommodations booked, etc. I just broke down. I definitely cried a lot (I cry went I´m overwhelmed). I kept calming myself down and trying to reassure myself that it would be okay, but I couldn´t stop feeling panicked about everything. I think it was just the exhaustion of the entire trip building up in one epic meltdown. Plus, it was my first day by myself and I felt deeply the language barrier (what if the man had misunderstood me??) and I felt lonely and doubted my capabilities if a late ferry put me into a tailspin. I tried to tell myself that I´d known solo travel would be a challenge, and it was okay if I was having some difficulties with it. Around 4:30 or 4:45, they finally loaded us into a bus and I started to feel better. At that point I think I had exhausted all of my emotional energy and was able to just let go and roll with it, especially once I was on the ferry.
The ferry was NICE! It was like something in between the Gateway Clipper and a cruise ship. It had a bar, restaurants, a casino, etc. I sat near a TV that was playing Downton Abbey in Español. At least, I assumed it was Español until the Italian news came on after. I was so tired by that point that I couldn´t tell if we were watching an Italian station dubbed in Spanish, or vice versa. I mostly napped. Watched a GORGEOUS sunset from the boat in port, then saw the Moroccan & Spanish coastlines glittering from the strait after we left.
When I got into Algeciras, I got a map from the helpdesk and asked for directions to an internet cafe (my phone had died). The lady was helpful and I was able to communicate in Español. woo! While I was walking, I met a Spaniard who offered to let me stay with him at his brother´s apartment in Algeciras. It was a sign of how tired I was, I think, that I actually considered it. He didn´t seem creepy, and no red flags went up, but dude, I´ve seen Taken. Instead I went to an internet cafe to check my email, because I´d emailed 2 hostels in Marbella to see if I could check in last minute. One had responded in the affirmative, so I booked the next bus out of Algeciras and felt greatly relieved that I had a plan that didn´t involve sleeping on the floor of a stranger´s brother´s apartment. I was at the internet cafe for about 25 minutes and printed my ticket, and it only cost me about $1. Haven´t been interent cafe-ing in a while, but seems like a good price to me.
Grabbed falafel at a restaurant near the bus station recommended to me by the internet cafe guy, then took the bus to Marbella. Asleep most of the time. Got in to Marbella, took a cab to my hostel, unpacked all my crap, and went to bed. Woo! My cab driver had a really strong Spanish accent -- like, Shhhhpanish. I had to laugh to myself because that´s how my FluentCity Spanish prof, Eduardo, would talk when he made fun of Spaniards. Some stereotypes are true?
Today I slept in til 9 or so, came down for breakfast. Definitely not in Morocco anymore because Laughing Cow cheese has been replaced with jam, jam, and more jam for breakfast. My healthy (ha!) brekkie included 2 each of croissants, toast, and muffins. NOM NOM. Delicioso. I tried getting ready to take the 11:30 bus to Ronda, but I was cutting it close and decided to stay until the 2 pm bus. So here I am! Sad I´ll have less time in Ronda, but glad to have the opportunity to relax (and blog!).
I am SO excited about Ronda. It´s like Rivendell, and the hostel I want to stay at is like, right in the rock face of the gorge with terraces looking out at one of 3 picturesque bridges. Can´t freaking WAIT to see it all!! Really glad I decided to stay in Ronda tonight instead of doing a brief day trip (with the bus schedule, I´d have only had 1.5 hours there) and heading to Granada tonight. I´ll go to Granada tomorrow, but I´m not sure if I´ll spend just one night or two there. We shall see! Then, Inshallah, I´ll head to Portugal to Lagos/Sagres for those coves and rock faces, and maybe a bit of irresponsibility. After that, I´ll head to Madrid, staying over in Cordova or Sevilla, depending. Right now, I don´t feel a great need to spend much time in Cordova, Seville, and Madrid. It seems to me that Seville and Madrid especially are pretty accessible, so if I ever did another trip to Spain, it´d be easier to hit those cities. However, these smaller cities seem more accessible coming from the south as I did, so might as well take advantage now.
Going to go check the bus schedule and get some sunshine, maybe walk around Marbella a little bit. I repacked my bags today (busted out my duffel bag) and O.M.G. has it made a difference. Having 3 light bags instead of 2 heavy ones is AH-MAZ-ING. love love love.
Hasta luego!
