Spanish roadtrip, Morocco part 1

(disclaimer: french keyboards lead to frustration and typos)

Guess what? Im in Africa! (with a big f'in grin on my face). Jake and I rented a car a few days ago and did the 7 hour drive from Alicante to Algeciras. Southern Spain is unreal - i think the pics speak for themselves. this process involved me having to learn how to drive stick. in summary, the gears were mislabeled and i was starting in 3rd gear for the first 10 minutes. the white smoke coming from the hood was comical... i have never heard of anyone driving 700 km with 2 engine lights flashing but apparently its not impossible. to complete this adventure i was forced to parallel park on an upslope. yes, i smacked a parked car pretty hard. remarkably no damage but we still decided to get the hell out of there before the engine light inquiries began. regardless, im pretty proud of myself for getting us there alive haha.

So we crossed the strait of gibraltar (we saw the rock of gibraltar by the way) from Algeciras to Tangier, Morocco and spent two nights there. without a doubt it is the most alien place i have ever set foot. we walked to our hotel around midnight (after almost not being let off the ferry), through the medina (old/medieval city). what an experience that was... Miles and miles of winding narrow, claustrophobic alleys. The night watchman, wearing his Jellaba, or hooded robe, thankfully stirred long enough to open the gate for us and sign us in. I cant say how helpful my little bit of French has been already.

We were woken up the next day by some exceedingly bizarre 5, 6 and 7am prayers. Now I have heard many of these in my lifetime, having lived in Malaysia for 2 years, and i have great respect for Islam, but the sound of this particular prayer was very out of the ordinary and terribly disturbing. Jake got a good recording. Our explorations deeper into the medina and kasbah (castle) later in the day ramped our culture shock up to full throttle. We were adopted by an illegal tour guide, Moon, who showed us some very cool spots. but invariable we ended up in his good friend's carpet shop and why were we so stubbornly refusing his efforts to get us a great deal?? When he tried to collect 40 euro from us for his trouble (without having mentioned money until now), of course we refused and he got pissed off with 5 euro. Hey, what can you do?

So now in Fes, the 'cultural capital' of Morocco, after a stunning 6 hour bus ride, Im feeling a lot better. The tour guides are still annoying but the city is far more cosmopolitan than shady Tangier. Im looking forward to exploring this medina tomorrow, which is the largest in the world. Until then, enjoy the pictures (if i can get 'em up) and i'll talk to you in a few days. Peace...

the plan

Until recently, my naivety led me to believe I could travel entirely overland from country to county during this journey. I planned to start in Morocco, generally following the west coast down to South Africa, then up the opposite coast to Egypt. I was never deluded that it would be easy, considering the brutal shape of transportation down there, but I assumed I could draw a solid (if zig-zagging) line from point A to B, hiring drivers, jumping on trains, buses, or in desperation, camels (No camel jokes please, who knows just HOW desperate things will actually get).

A few days ago, I sat down with photoshop, a map of the continent, and the Foreign Affairs Canada travel warning website open. I drew fake borders in red indicating which areas I absolutely have to avoid unless I want to get kidnapped or end up in the middle of a civil war. As this map has demonstrated in its uniquely mocking way, the areas I need to avoid account for more than half of the continent. This wouldn't be a problem if those areas didn't cut several solid swaths across my now impossible route.

Thankfully, I also have good news to share. As fate would have it, there is now a very good chance that I will have a travel partner for the majority of the trip. Her name is Lesley. We met at a lunch not even two months ago and have really hit it off. Turns out that dropping everything to travel Africa is a ludicrous idea that we've both had on our list for a long time. For now all I will say is she's fucking amazing.

As the plan continues to take shape, I get a growing sense of how truly amazing, exciting and terrifying this journey is going to be. Shit is getting real. We fly into Madrid, Spain the first week of January. From there we meet up with Jake, another old soul I'm lucky to know, in the Mediterranean sea-side town of Denia. Denia is a little piece of paradise Jake picked out for himself as a new home base, just because he can. It may have something to do with the weather, or perhaps the tendency of Swedish university girls to vacation in the region. Check out his adventures here.

I plan to spend a week in Spain, learning about Siestas and Cervezas, before the 3 of us get on a boat in Algericas and cross over to Tangier, Morocco, a place my travel guide describes with phrases such as 'gritty charm', 'the inspiration for a generation of beat writers' and a 'host for every power who ever dreamed of conquering the Mediterranean.' From Tangier we're off to Fes, the cultural capital of the country, before making a quick stop in Meknes, the Versailles of Morocco and on to the actual Capital, Rabat. Moving west we'll hit Casablanca, then Marrakesh. The latter gets my adrenaline going, and here's why:

"The name Marrakesh conjures up images of medieval bazaars, labyrinths filled with exotic smells and the cries of hawkers, sunlit squares hidden from the outside world and a musical accompaniment to a way of life little changed in centuries. Marrakesh is all that and more."

This point will likely see Jake returning home, with Lesley and I embarking on a fairly brisk dash south through the Sahara desert, following the coast into Mauritania, and specifically Zouerat. This is the starting point of the longest (and unfortunately) slowest train in the world. Only time will tell whether I have the guts to ride for free in the back of one of the open top wagons carrying whatever black-soot like material they mine there. Halfway thru the trip I plan to get off and head toward Chinguetti, the 7th holiest city of Islam. By road we'll head to the coast again, spending some time in Nouakchott, the capital.

I expect little to see or do in Mauritania, so we'll make our way to St-Louis, Senegal, before making it all the way to Dahkar, the capital. A day trip to Kaolack and it's off to Banjul, the capital of The Gambia. Regrettably, travelling any further south at this point is too dangerous, so the compass will shift east into the heart of the continent: Bamako (Mali), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Naimey (Niger), Benin, Togo, and Ghana. This is where I have currently hit a road block, as Nigeria and Northern Niger are too dangerous to travel through. For the past few days I have been attempting to secure sea-travel into Cameroon, a futile endeavor so far. It's looking like our only option here will be to fly all the way into Namibia, which may be pricey.

The planning continues...