Visa Issues and BBQ Sheep Heads

We only have 1 week left in Africa before we visit friends and family in England and we are looking forward that.

Luckily I made it to Morocco, after some minor visa issues in Tunisia. About the time of my last blog, Nick was reading through my passport and realised that I had only been given a 7 day visa and it had already expired...oops! All the info we had about Tunisian visa's had suggested Australians are granted a 3 month tourist visa on entry, so I didn't think to check it at the airport when we arrived. We travelled by louage (a form of public transport in Tunisia, which are minivans) the whole way around Tunisia and every now and then we were stopped at police checks where everyone on the louage had to had over their ID. At one of these stops, before we found the problem in my passport, we were questioned by one of the policemen about where we were going and how long we were staying. We were wondering why they were so interested, but it all became clear when Nick read my passport a few days later. Anyway, they let us go without too much concern at the time. So after some calling around and getting the run around, I got some info by emailing the Canadian embassy. As suggested I visited the police station in Jerba to arrange a visa extension, but I couldn't sort this out as they couldn't process it until the day before we were to fly to Morocco. The laid back policeman said I could just sort it out in Tunis when I arrived there. When I did arrive a few days before we were to fly, we went straight to the police station to sort it out and they weren't concerned at all and told me it would be fine. So I just rocked up to the airport immigration with my out of date visa. The immigration official noticed and after some questioning and agreeing to pay for an extension they took Nick off to pay for it, while I waited off to the side. Soon after they returned with the extension in my passport and through we went. No problems, I'm glad it wasn't like Australian immigration!

Between visiting the various police stations of Tunisia we also managed to fit a bit more sight seeing. We stopped at an old Colosseum from the days of Roman occupation during the Roman Empire times, in a place called El Jem. It was cool, you could explore up into the stands and under the false floor where all the gladiators, wild animals etc were kept before the performances and executions took place.

Tunisia was great and the culture is an interesting mix of Traditional Berber, Arab and French etc from years of various occupation while various empires rose and fell and other countries invaded and left. Islam took a strong hold on the people and still does today across all northern Africa. We got to witness the lead up to an important Muslim event, which involves the sacrifice of a sheep. We saw a huge weekly animal market in the town of Douz where men traded their sheep, horses, donkeys, chickens, goats, camels etc. It was quite a sight and I was glad we had just bumped into a French Canadian girl we had met in Tozeur, so I wasn't the only female weaving our way through the mayhem. On this occasion sheep were the main item of trade.

When we arrived in Casablanca, Morocco, we decided to head straight to Marrakesh as there wasn't much of interest to us in Casablanca. Unfortunately, we travelled on the day before the Muslim sheep sacrifice day and this meant we were crammed onto the train with all the people needing to head home to be with their families for the day. We didn't manage a seat on the train for most of the 3 hour trip, so we had to stand in the vestibule area, me right next to the toilet. Nice! At one point I nearly ended up in the toilet as I lent on the door handle and opened the door suddenly. I think some of the men here have ants in their pants and can't sit still, some spent much of the time wandering around the train...to the toilet and the next carriage etc..which was fun on a packed train. I think all the stimulants in their system could be the reason, with all the smoking and tea and coffee they drink. Some tried to smoke in the vestibule area, but not for long, as Nick pointed to the non smoking area sign and told them off. Our new found vestibule buddies were a bit shocked at first, but glad he had.

Marrakesh was very quiet for us, as the Muslim event took place the first day we were there, but it was nice to wander through the souks without any of the normal hassle as everything was shut. We did get to see some woollie heads being BBQ-ed. I think the head must be the pick of the sheep to eat. The following day we walked past an elderly couple struggling to lift the left over sheep into their cart, to take to the butcher, so Nick gave them a hand. The head was missing. You can actually buy them to eat in the main square where there are numerous food stands. One night Nick and I tried some yummy chocolate looking treats from a tea stand, except they weren't so yummy. I couldn't even give it away to the lady begging near us.

After visiting Marrakesh we spent a few days in Essaouira, a fishing town on the Atlantic coast. This was a nice relaxed place. Then we came back via Marrakesh before heading to the High Atlas Mountains, which were stunning! I have written enough for now though, so I'll write more about that later.

It's 5 days till Christmas now, so I hope everyone has a good Christmas day, for those that celebrate it. Nick and I will probably be spending it in the Rif Mountains.