Going Morocco during Ramadan

Early morning at a rock bottom hotel, I was hearing "Adhan" (the voice which let people know the time for pray) from the speaker of mosque. It's in Tanger of Morocco.

Whether in good meaning or bad, Morocco was the first real foreign country to me. Because I had never got strong culture shock so far, for instance, in America or Europe.
The day before, I crossed the strait of Gibraltar from Argeciras of Spain. It's in Ramadan period. I got to Morocco at Ramadan break time. So I had to wait in the ferry for more than an hour until an immigration officer finishes diner.
After landing, I got "The cross fire of Tanger". It's being under fire of aggressive guides and barkers which all the people who enter Morocco by the sea must experience. For having a meal or shopping, I had to discount all the time, and rejected excessively aggressive offer. As a matter of facts, I was too exhausted to enjoy the exotic mood when I came back to the hotel.

However, in the morning, when I heard the voice of Adhan in the bed with sleepy eyes, something in my mind was changed. Maybe I made my mind to dip myself into the stream of the country. I put on clothes and took a train for Casa Blanca.
I had believed I could see the Sahara Desert in Morocco since I saw the sands which were blown from Africa at the Canary Island. But the landscape out side of the window was all grass land. There was no difference from Iberian peninsula side.

Later, I was told by a Japanese college student who had spent the childhood in Alger. "If you wanna see the real Sahara, you should go to Algeria or Mauritania" The words stuck in mind all the time . And 10 years later, I visited Mauritania. My travels are connected each other like this. Talking about Sahara, I give it way to another issue.

However, the scenery that a child take a donkey or shepherd was so fascinating to me. To the contrary, old women in the same box seat just slept after they enjoyed chatting. They didn't eat at all because of Ramadan. "You are not a Muslim. So you can eat as you like" They told me. However I'm not so dull to eat snacks in front of the fasting persons.

I got off at Casa Voyage station in the twilight time. As you can imagine, I was almost starving.

Drunken Gypsy King