i'm in AFRICA!!!

woohoo!!!

so i headed for the 3pm boat across the strait of gibraltar, and for some reason, the security guards never showed up to let us thru security. at about 4pm, the ferry crew was like, just get on the boat. so we left an hour late, and apparently the winds were stronger than usual cos it took 3hrs to cross, which put us in morocco about 5pm (2hr time change). and i do mean "us": i met 2 girls and a guy that are studying in florence, italy, and weree on the same ferry as me. so i hung out with them and it was so great. it turned out they, too, were taking the overnight train from tangier to marrakesh, so we all had to get to the train station together. it was so great to not be on my own for all that!! we also met a group of 19 from london, and their leader is a great guy. he has been to morocco 14 times, so he knows all teh inside scoop and totally helped us out (where to get/change money, how much a taxi should cost, how the system works in general). their whole group was also taking the overnight train to marrakesh! fortunately for them, they reserved couchettes on the train in advance. by the time we got tehre, only seats were available. on this train, there was one car of couchettes (beds), one car of first class seeats (6 to a cabin) and 7 or so of 2nd class seaats (8 to a cabin). so the 4 of us made it to the train station, bought our tickets, had some dinner, played some cards, and made teh mad dash for the train 45 min before it was supposed to leave! i still haven't figured out why everyone wanted to get on the train so early... to get a seat in a compartment with their friends? i dunno.

so anyway, it was a looong night on the train. just about every stop the train made, teh conductor would turn the light on and ask to see our tickets. again. which are on the heat-sensitive paper that receipts are printed on, folded up in my pocket. that thing was pretty trasshed by the end of the night! toward dawn, enough people had gotten on and off the train that i had a little more room to myself, so i was able to sleep better. i do think i slept better than i think i did. when we arrived in marrakesh, the brit leader was so great and told us about the hotel his group is staying at, and even had his guy call and make a reservattion there for the other 3. (i am meeting my tour group this afternoon aat our hotel, elsewhere). so he has been so kind and good to us! so i immediately bought my ticket back to tangier for next weekend, to ensure that i get a couchette! good times. we took a taxi to the hotel, left our bags in their room, and headed out for the souks, the different markets, basically.

we were walking around, wanting generally to see the tanneries, when this guy says, "you want to see the tanneries?" so gordon is like, yeah! and starts following him. all 3 of us girls are giving each other looks like, what the heck is he getting us into? one girl was really pretty worried, one pretty blase about everything, and i'm trying to be wise, but just go with the flow. he leads us very far away and then knocks on a door ina very foul smellling neighborhood. another guy greets us and hands us several stalks of mint. he shows us around teh tannery, to the differnt very foul smelling vats of pidgeon poo, flour mixtures, and all sorts of things that i can't begin to recall or describe. he says that this is an arabic tannery, and they don't like thier picture being taken, and that they only work with goats hides, of which there is a nice big pile by the gate. yum.

so then he leads us around the corner of the neighborhood to another house, leads us up to the roof, and tells us all the same things, just pointing at the differnt vats from above. he says this is a berber tannery, so they don't mind their photo being taken, and they work with camels hids and cows hides. then he leadds us downstairs to a small little shop where another guy starts to work his magic in selling us his leather goods. he said during the day he worked at teh tannery, at night he made the shoes and purses we saw there in teh shop. so gordon buys a pair of shoes, and one of the girls gets a tiny little pair for her cousin. he then is a little upset that we don't buy anything else, and wants teh girl's watch in exchange for the little shoes, "for his wife, up in the mounttains". he then sees teh 2 caribiners on my bag and wants one. well, one is just about to break and i was just thinking this morning that it probably won't see american soil again (like a lot of my stuff), so i was happy to give it to him. the other caribiner is actually a lock, so there is no way i was gonna take that off to even show him!

after we leave his shop, the first "guide" corners us and demands money. we knew he was going to, barter with him a little, and then finally pay him 20 dirhams each, about 2.20 american. not too bad for 45 min of entertainment.

after we got back to the hotel, i pulled out the lonely planet and started reading about teh tanneries here. it says exactly what we just experienced... the tanneries here in marrakesh are hard to get to, so find a "guide" and tip him when his tour is over, especially if you don't buy anything in the shops that he might ge t acommission on. and the mint is for the weak foreigners to smell as they walk by the acrid vats, as kind of an air freshener. which is exactly what i did. good times.

so that is my first morning in africa. woohoo!!