Caption: Ann, Bill and Geoff filleting fish.
Woke before dawn feeling far better than I had any right to. Quick cold wash, two aspirin and ready to go. But I couldn’t face boiled eggs or muesli for breakfast so Vicki and I ate bread and Vegemite. Our early morning start reminded me of similar journeys when I was younger, but a very different adventure lies ahead now.
The ferry ticket Kel bought yesterday was the wrong one, so we had to get off the truck, go to the ticket office as a group, pay more money for different tickets, and board the ferry as pedestrians. And there we stood, watching our immobile truck, wondering if we might be Ceuta-bound without wheels, but finally we were all aboard and Africa bound!
The crossing was dead calm. Suddenly we saw land through the fog and excitement was a fizzing mass in my stomach. But I saw no adventure-novel black Africans when we landed in the Spanish city of Ceuta. We wandered around for a couple of hours before driving to the Moroccan border. Lunched in the back of the truck, passing around yoghurt, fresh peaches and ham, though, perhaps not surprisingly, my stomach didn't fancy ham for lunch.
Bad news: our trip confirmation hadn’t arrived so we couldn’t proceed. Back to lovely Ceuta!
Ventured into town to make phone calls and then followed road signs to the campsite: sloping gravel overlooking the Mediterranean, bordering a huge junk yard guarded by big dogs that barked loudly most of the night. Roosters crowed and pigs squealed too. Lots of Spanish conversation. And an out of tune bugle – or a bugle being played badly - every few hours.
Anne and Geoff put on an unintended cooking show. Geoff used so much oil the fish were almost swimming out of the pan; he burnt his knees turning the fillets. Ann was in charge of the of meat for our two non-pescatarians. She overcooked them and then knocked the pan, draining the fat into the fire and the meat in the dirt. The fish was oily but tasty.
Stayed up late around a campfire listening to squealing pigs and band practice.
Add comment
Comments