Thoughts

After a staggeringly wet day riding up to Tanger Med port, I'm now sat in the queue for the ferry. Unfortunately my phone is probably dead from the rain today, which is super annoying. Also - I had a weird experience at customs. I got held for a very long time. They let maybe 2 dozen cars through as they kept me waiting. I just smiled when anyone official passed by. Smiles seem to help everything. I also shivered a lot. This was not an affectation as my boots were full of rainwater. Occasionally a cluster of uniformed officials came out to look at my bike with the papers. They would point. One even took photos. After an hour or so, the man came back with my papers. He said "we had problems because your vehicle was a car when it came in, but it's ok. you can go"

I'm now dashing northeast to get to Tangier for the ferry (either to Barcelona or Algeciras). I went to go and get my bike this morning and bring it to the hotel to load up. There were four other adventure bikes apparently on the same mission. I followed three local bikes into the medina. And was loosely aware of a whistling behind me. I rode to my hotel and there was a cop outside. I signalled ✌️and said "deux minutes". He nodded and said "D'accord" (ok). I got my bags and came out to find another cop outside. He started shouting at me quickly in French. Far above my rate of words or vocab. The security guy and original cop came over. And the owner of the hotel came out. Eventually it was explained to me that I was not allowed to ride in the medina. This, as multiple local motorcycles whizzed by. He says I have to pay a big fine. Next a french woman came over and got in his face. I could understand her. She was telling him to leave me alone and was gesturing at the other motos. They got into a heated argument. I started to worry that what might have been a fine and go, might escalate. I thank the woman and encourage her to move on. She begins to move away, then reengages with the cop. I'm starting to find the shouting very distressing, so... I burst into tears. This was not deliberate, but helped to diffuse the situation a little. The original cop is trying to calm me down a little. And the angry cop is now back in my face and realises I'm crying. He fills out a form, takes my papers and demands the fine. He rides off on his motorcycle. Original cop then says to me "I'm sorry about him. He is a racist. He is a famous racist. He hates the white people. Because of the french colonization. I'm sorry. We're not like him. He is a racist". Then he shows me his police bike on his phone - basically the more road focused version of my bike. I am just packing to leave and motorcycle/fine-me-cop whizzes back on his little bike. And *Plot Twist*... gives me a necklace. He says "This is a gift for you. I want you to have a good time in Morocco".... I then ask if I am ok to ride through the medina to leave. He says "yes" and rides away. Original Cop, then asks for my phone number "to check on me". I didn't feel able to refuse, so gave it to him. Then as I was leaving the gate to the medina, Cop 2 (who fined me) starts following me. I'm dreading another shakedown. And as we approach the edge of the city, he blows me a kiss and rides away. As I fly up the motorway, Cop 1 calls my phone every 15-20 minutes. I haven't answered. The whole thing was utterly bizarre.