Return to THE ROCK

Gibraltar - We have spent the last 4 days back in Gibraltar for an unplanned repair after having been in North Africa prior.  More money!  Why didn't we listen when people told us having a boat was a money pit!?  ; )

Ceuta, North Africa - New, old.  Modern, Ancient.  Traditional, non-traditional.   However you want to say it, North of Africa is  an exercise in contrasts. 

Melilla is located on Africa's northern coast east in the Mediterranean Sea.  Because it actually is a Spanish enclave within Morocco, Melilla seemed like a good first step for Begonia to gets its feet wet in, since we have had mixed reactions about us travelling to this area of the world.  While we personally believe in the good of all people, there are those who are suspicious of all things that are different, be it language, culture or religion.  Many of the critics of this region we found, have been sailors who never even have come here, so we decided to go on the word of those who we've met who have come and have found the region completely enchanting and educational and do the 24-hour sail from Almeria, Spain, cross the Med.

Like the British control over Gibraltar in La Linea, Spain, it is not clear what the current reason is for Spain to continue to maintain Melilla, as well as Ceuta, another North African Spanish territory.  I guess the Spaniards figure if territories have been taken from them, they too can take territories from others.   Spanish is most widely spoken and tapas can be found just as readily, if not more so, as falafel and shewarma.  The people are a melange of Spaniards, Moroccans, East Indians, and other Arab cultures.

The city center is small but beautiful with palm date trees lining medium-sized avenues, and a large fort high on the cliff overlooking the beautiful water, like many other Med pictures we have seen.  October is already the off-season, but still it is is warm, about 75 degrees, although not warm enough to enjoy the water, and you can actually see some people walking around in fleece and one guy even had a jacket on!  Obviously this is much cooler than the normal temps in the heat of summer, and of course how someone feels the temperature is all relative.

Nador is a Moroccan city located just about 2 miles southeast of Melilla that we were recommended to visit, and here you see the contrast between Spanish Melilla and the true Moroccan city.  The local bus ride to the border was an experience in itself since most of the passengers were Moroccan going back home after a day of shopping in Melilla.  Riding a bus is aways a great way to see the local color in a foreign country and it always seems like you, the tourist, is the only one who does not know how to play the rules of the game.  Funnily, many of the passengers had clear plastic packages with blankets in them, as it does get cold in desert climates at night.

Now the border itself was quite spectacular... organized chaos?  Or just chaos? There were hundreds of people at the "bus stop," comprising of street vendors selling delicious looking fruit, toys, candies, watches, etc.  Some of the vendors are roaming, some have stands, but they all are pretty aggressive in their sales tactics.... lots of loud voices, gesticulating and bargaining.  It was not clear exactly where or how we had to pass through the border, but we followed the crowd of people and eventually tried to stand in a line, which we then kind of got pushed out of since there is not a culture of waiting for one's turn.  Tourists/foreigner have to fill out some paperwork and naturally we had forgotten to bring a pen.  The officials do not lend their pens out... we were denied when we asked them... instead there are a few enterprising individuals who are not government officials, but simply citizen entrepreneurs who have a pen and a couple of the papers on the side and will charge you 4 euros for this service!  I had wanted to take a picture of this whole scenario, but it did not feel right.

Once in Nador we went to the main square and street.  Vendors here sold beautifully decorated women's chadors, handmade leather unisex pointy flats, and plastic toys from China!  Again there was tantalizing fruit, but since we were hungry for lunch we went in a different direction.  Finding a place to eat was difficult.  There were no women seated at the cafes we saw, and it wasn't clear why.  Was it forbidden?  Were these private members-only men's clubs?  Again, we did not know the rules and we did not want to offend anyone but having me sit down in the middles of everyone, so we kept walking.  Finally we came across a place that had one woman so we sat down there.  But the next obstacle was that it was too early for lunch and there was not much food to order.  There was also a language barrier, and the only food we could seem to get across was "one fried egg and Coca Cola."  So that's what we ate!  I don't even like Coca-Cola, but it was really the only thing we could communicate.  I am ashamed to say that since that "one fried egg and a Coca-Cola" was not enough food for us, we ended up stopping at a McDonald's we found on a street heading back to the border.

Ceuta was our next stop and the first one for the Portuguese Henry the Navigator when he first started his sailing campaigns in the 1400s.  Somewhere throughout history the Portuguese lost this territory to the Spaniards so as mentioned above, it is part of Spain.  Another ancient fort up on a cliff and beautiful date palms lining the streets.  Another McDonald's with free wi-fi, food the kids will eat and a playground for them to play while we are on the internet.  Their marketing strategy really works for us on this trip, even though back home we rarely eat there!

In Ceuta Sebastian went up the mast( regular procedure before long passages) and  discovered a problem with one of the shrouds.  There is one wire broekn (out of 19) and it must be fixed befroe doing a major passage.  So, back to Gibraltar where we know they have cost-effective materils and labor for sailors.  Like back in the Azores, where we had 6 out of the 19 wires of the forestay, it is important to fix as soon as possible, or it jeopardizes the stability fo the mast.  Thus our trip back to the monkeys and back to the Rock.

NEXT STOP:  Rabbat, Morrocco - leaving tomorrow.

Typical Mediterranean terrace.

Scene from Southern Spain

Melilla downtown

The boys in Melilla before taking the bus to Nador

Chicaken market in Nador... pick your own live chicken!

Our delicious Nador lunch

Posing along the waterfront

North Africa of old and new.... that's McD's there in the background!

Uncle "Cork" and Karla

Nador street scene

The kids play with a local little guy

More Nador street scenes

Crossing back into "Spain" to Melilla from Nador... much more organized than in the way in!

More dolphins on the way to Ceuta.

"Red skies at night: Sailors delight... red skies in the morning, sailor's warning" Thank goodness this was in the evening!

Arrival in Ceuta

Captain, Cork, Benj, Sof and Barbie in Ceuta downtown

More Ceuta scenes

Going back in time...

three of the four Koziuras...

Nice Ceuta plaza

Tile depicting Ceuta centuries ago

Market Street in downtown Gibraltar

It almost looks like London!



On the Rock contemplating life and watching planes landing and taking off at the airport below.



Corcho and a monkey

On the Rock contemplating life and watching planes landing and taking off at the airport below.

On the bus to cross the border back into Spain.

The Puerto Madryn contingent... Patagonian friends, Maria Ema and Jose happened to be in Spain for a business trip and stopped by to visit

How many Patagonians does it take to haul a Captain up a mast?

Taking turns cranking Sebas up there....

Corcho helping to fix the shroud... he shall be missed once he leaves us in the Canaries.  He has been great company and a great help.

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FOUNTAINE PAJOT ATHENA 38 CATAMARAN FOR SALE – After our wonderful experience, BEGONIA is ready for its next sailing family – with or without children!  Please contact sebastiankoziura@hotmail.com for more information.