The next morning, we got up early so that we could pick Uncle Seth up from his hotel and get to Algeciras and turn in our rental car. Going through the border check point was interesting, but we made it fine. I had woken up with a fever. Evelyn's sore throat had made its way to me. Unfortunately, it was supposed to be my turn to drive... more on that later. Then we caught a taxi ride to where the ferry leaves from. The taxi driver was so helpful and kind. The ferry was neat. I liked the ferry from England to Ireland better, but this one was efficient and set up like an airplane. You had to go through customs while on board.... and then again when you got to Morocco. We got to Tangiers, got turned around by our GPS and ended up walking about a mile to our rental car. All the taxi drivers kept trying to stop and get our attention. We struggled getting to an ATM, so we had to use the little money that we'd been about to exchange at the money exchange to get some lovely lunch and buy toilet paper and hand sanitizer. The menu was in French and Arabic. I only recognize about 5 or 6 Arabic letters so far and I don't really know how to translate the word even if I recognize a letter. I do recognize a bit of French, but I don't pronounce it very well. I could tell what about half the menu was and tried to help a little bit, but the majority of everything fell on Seth to read, explain and order. The olives and honey were really good. My kids realized that 'shake' does not mean ice cream. It's more of a natural fruit smoothie. Ada LOVED it. The other kids weren't so keen. I got an avocado smoothie and omelet for lunch. There were cats EVERYWHERE. No one seemed to own them, but no one shooed them off either. The kids were very excited about seeing them on every corner. After we finished, a beggar came and ate ALL of the food left on the table. That was interesting and if I had known he would do that, I would have bought him a meal. Then we walked to the rental place where the worker told us off for not being there at 9 am. Everything was done with paper, not computers. I felt like I was in Ecuador or Kenya again. All the neat handwriting on all the papers that we had to try to keep track of. Everyone took a potty break and we were glad that we'd bought toilet paper and sanitizer. We needed both. Then the excitement really started. They had parked our rental van (which was bigger than we realized) on an uphill. I was sick as a dog and my fevery self kept falling asleep and having nausea on the ferry. I had been taking lessons on how to drive stick shift and had gotten more practice in than Jer had. He was stuck in bed unable to walk for about a month before our trip. Jer ended up being the driver, and I think that was safest for all of us. I saw the van on the hill and almost abandoned it. Getting going on a hill in a stick shift in an African city... you get the idea. It took a couple of tries, but Jer was marvelous and not only did he get us off the hill, he also got us through one of the three biggest cities and to a gas station quickly and without incident. I think he might have aged 20 years, but he's, my hero! We bought about $80 of gas, but with the exchange rate it said 980.00. The kids about had a heart attack. Seth made every single exchange so much better with his stellar willingness and ability to understand people, no matter what language they're speaking. The drive from Tangiers to Casablanca was interesting. Parts reminded me of my time in Kenya. The boys playing soccer on the rock fields and the plastic garbage bags collecting all over the place. The banana fields were interesting. The ones I've seen in the past were all open and a little random. These ones were deliberately planted in rows and covered with large plastic tarps. I noticed that there were dogs, but they were kicked and pushed aside where cats were fed and watered in the street. We tried to pass through several toll booths. The first time was successful, we only stalled once. The next one was hard. Our ticket flew away and the attendant went to catch it. The third one was after the signs had changed into languages and symbols that we hadn't learned yet. We got stuck in the wrong lane and the asked us to back up and go through a different lane. We hadn't been able to find the reverse lever in the van yet and it was a little intimidating. Jer still came out perfectly in the end and we were able to make it to Casablanca well. There were a lot of round abouts, and the drivers think that driving laws are suggestions. We didn't get into any accidents and only stalled a few times. The roads are wider and lots more parking than in Europe. But you have to find a parking spot that has a parking attendant to protect your car from problems. Seth and I both noticed that Casablanca had a large police force, and we didn't come across people begging/robbing/following us at all. You have to tip EVERYONE though, so you need to carry a lot of small bills with you. We checked into our place, left our stuff and left to find some dinner. We walked towards the main street that we'd been driving in on and found a couple promising places. One looked so fun. It was pricier, but they were basically setting up a feast for the people finishing their Ramadhan fast. It was called The Gatsby. It had live music and they got us sitting up on the balcony. I was done walking at that point and Ada said she'd grab me a plate from the banquet table. She chose a really yummy variety of foods. There was only one food that was very vinegary that I didn't like. One of the waiters saw Ada bring me food and decided to bring me a plate of his choosing, including desserts. It was a very fun experience.
As a side note, Ada had been so busy getting work and school things done to get ready for our trip that she missed the fact that Morocco was in Africa. When I started telling the kids tips on staying safe in Africa her jaw dropped.
