Warmer night. Didn’t want to get up.
Stopped a short distance along the road at a huge concrete water tank where we formed another bucket chain and filled the truck tank.
Saw a few camels on the road but not much else of note as we neared Oujda. Got visa extension in minutes, with no hassles, and managed a long shopping stop before we dashed to the border.
Hassle-free, quick exit from Morocco. Then began the farce of entering Algeria: inefficient, slow officials who looked like they’d been brought in off the streets to fill in from usual staff. Three men apparently needed to hand out the countless forms we had to fill in, and lots of uniformed officials standing around watching other uniformed officials working. More like a cafe than an official post.
Panic set in when officials confiscated whiskey from the vehicle ahead of us and enforced an allowance of only 1l per person - because we've got much more than that allowance of Johnny Walker Red (to sell) hidden under our floor. I got through as a student (cheaper) thanks to my fake Studenty Card from London, but with Nikki’s warning that she got through and was caught out leaving the country on a previous trip.
Finally got to the front of the queue and all Kelvin’s hiding places found but nothing confiscated, all of us heaving sighs of relief. The guard checked the truck exterior, our jerry cans, and searched several lockers. Went through mine, delving into the depths and coming up with a black sock around something suspicious - Vegemite! Kelvin explained it was “manger” (to eat). I reckon he should have offered him some - but then he might have declared it dangerous. It was a cursory search really, and once the guard got his way he was reasonably friendly and didn’t cause us any problems in addition to the "normal" bureaucracy. Smiled when he finally lifted the barrier for us. We got about 1km up the road and let out a cheer in the darkness of the back of the truck.
First night drive since Paris but for only 1km up the road, where we pulled off behind some trees and set up. Everyone weary and hungry after only yoghurt and bit of bread on the truck during our four hours at the border.
Algeria!
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