Tan Tan ...

I looked around the bus station, he was nowhere to be seen, I went off and got a coffee and thought if he's not here by the time I finish this then I'm going! Sure enough he turned up as I was finishing it. Unfortunately the hint to go our separate ways wasn't taken so we continued on ...

On the most awful bus! Packed full with bad seats, a normality in Morocco BUT the worst was to come as we headed SE towards Marrakesh en route to Tan Tan, the rear door wasn't firmly shut so a billowing gale of freezing wind came through all night, to the point that I could feel my toes for the cold! I hardly slept, the cold just went through me. Arriving somewhere in the lower Atlas between Casa & Marrakesh we got off the bus for supper, the normal Moroccan situation where there's a few cafes on the roadside, usually one of the cheapest but best Moroccan meals are to be found in places like this. Jumping off I said I'd go and find some food for us both and asked him to go and order 'the' Moroccan drink, mint tea, for the two of us; I needed something to warm me up! My companion turned around and asked 'well where am I meant to get tea from'??? - I'm not a sarcastic person but in the middle of the night in the freezing cold in a place that I don't know any better than he does - I could have made some flippant comment, but I bit my tongue and said not to worry I'll do it! The tea & food made a bit of a difference for a while, I was warmer until just after Marrkesh, but from there on, into the early hours it remained very cold on board that bus!

Arriving in Tan Tan at 6am or so, I blearly staggered off the bus into a muddy bus station looking for a hotel & something hot, I'd slept the last two hours or so since somewhere between Tiznit & Goulmime when the sun came up - I'd also managed to get two seats as the bus was emptying out the further south we went. There was a cafe directly in front of me the 'Anaj Mat' - we made a beeline for it, the female owner was a little suprised to see two Westerners at that hour of the morning but made the best cafe au lait that I'd ever tasted!