"yovo - yovo bon soir ca vas bien - merciiee"

The next morning, I slept in, and when I woke up my friend had left. I spent most of the day cleaning, rearranging my stuff, so I'd me prepared for the ferry. Then I checked out and rode down to the port.

After I bought my tickets for the Transmediterranea ferry to Melilla, I hung out at the Almeria harbor. Eventually it was time to board, and I carefully rode my bike between the cars and trucks up a ramp and onto the boat. The guys who direct the traffic looked at me like I was crazy, but then they pointed me to a corner where I could stow away the bike. I unloaded most of the baggage from the bike and shoved it under some tarps and junk, hoping that it would comouflage my stuff. These ferries have a bad reputation for thieves, and they don't allow anyone below, so I couldn't just stay with my stuff.

Evenyually I climbed up the iron stairs to the passenger decks and installed myself in a chair. It took about eight hours to cross the Mediterranean, so many passengers had cabins. Still, many passengers just hang around on the decks, in the arcades or the restaurant, or sleep on the chairs. They sit around, smoking cigarettes, drinking beers or sodas and chat. I started talking with a fellow German, decked out in the finest ballonsilk sweatsuit, golden Rolex and chain. He bought me a couple of beers and wanted to know all I knew about Melilla - which was not much, really.

Morocco.