the long trip down

The trip down was pretty uneventful, though long. The overnight bus was actually 50+ seats, not 30 as I had somehow thought (I was IN seat 30...). I got myself a seat w/a barrier in front of it--great not to have a guy lean into my face, not so great to not be able to move my legs under the seat in front of me. I tried to recline, and got a tap tap from the guy in back of me. Alas, the sleeping pill got me 6 hours. Got on the slow ferry, and finally to Tangiers where there were lots of taxi drivers waiting to ask me if I needed a taxi. All I wanted was to get some cash out and hit the road for the train station. Finally found the ATM, had a couple of arguments w/a taxi driver--he wanted 6 euros for a 10 minute ride. I got one down to 2, but I think that was still on the high side (probably should have been around 1 in retrospect). I talked to a couple of Americans (see below for the simple version), and they somehow paid their driver 20 euros for the 5 minute ride from hotel to train station. Alas. Was nice that the 1st class (see 2nd class Amtrak for details) train ticket was all of $20. Finally got to Fez where EB was waiting, showered, ate, rested, ate, slept... etc etc.