04/02/2026
Morocco was not on my initial itinerary, but when I realized that it was just a short ferry across from Tarifa, I felt like I had to add it. Unfortunately, the week I planned to spend there was full of misadventure. I almost missed my first ferry because I didn't realize until 30 minutes before it left that you can't bring drones into the country. After scrambling around and being assured repeatedly that no one in Tarifa would store it for me, I finally found a place. This did mean, however, that I'd lose my nonrefundable plane ticket from Tangier to Barcelona. Then I had to come back two days early to avoid an incoming storm that I correctly guessed would cancel the ferry service over the weekend. But I did enjoy my five day stint.
After traveling for a month in a place where I speak the language poorly, it was something of a relief to be somewhere that I could barely speak a word. Returning to hand-gesture-based interactions was a break for my mind. As is always the case, hand gestures, smiles, and the few basic words I googled before arriving were plenty to get by. And being incapable of recognizing even a single character of the language gave a certain charm to everything from signs outside shops to the graffiti scrawled on the bricks.
The food in Tangier was excellent: fragrant tagines still bubbling when they arrived at the table and tiny cups of the ubiquitous sweet mint tea. The old town, too, had a particular charm. Walking through the steep, narrow streets of the kasbah, I felt like I'd been there before. On the third or fourth day I connected that this was the city described in The Alchemist. It is strange magic to first recognize a place from a novel.
Five days was far too short a time, but despite all of the minor difficulties with that particular leg, I am glad I was able to stop in for a moment.
