January 7, 2004



Tangier, Morocco

Today was filled with interesting encounters with people on the street. Walking around, even in small groups, we are terribly conspicuous. Lots of people in the shops we walked past would come out and greet us in Arabic, then they would try English, then French if we still didn't respond. One of my favorites was "hey, sweet cheeks!" We walked about half a mile through a marketplace and into a square just in time to

hear the chant of the Imam from the mosque calling Muslims to pray. There was a light streaming from the top of the tile tower through the hazy dusk. We walked back to the hotel through the Berber (tribal groups) market and along the beach, which was unfortunately quite garbage-ridden.

Dinner this evening was a classy affair in the hotel restaurant with amazing and somewhat spicy food. Dessert was an array of surprisingly French pastries. Still recovering from jet lag, we played a few vigorous rounds of cards and went to sleep easily.