November 3, 2007 (cont)

Eventually, we figure it out, with some help from a touristy ‘You are here’ map in French and Arabic. During this time, we all discussed our looming departure-time crisis. I proposed the alternative of catching the train to Tangier at the ungodly hour of 1:50. We made it back to the hostel in time to eat a traditional Moroccan couscous meal at the cafe attached to the hostel. There was a televised futbol game in a room that opened out onto the sidewalk café while we were eating. It was packed with about 100 boisterous fans, all drinking tea. I was amazed that there could be a sporting event and a room full of rowdy futbol fans and not a drop of alcohol anywhere! We went to our room, got about 1 hour of sleep … and we were off. This time I did not mind tipping the hostel guy for making our arrangements. The train was old, but functional, we each slept 2-3 hours, arriving a little after dawn.