Nada más que Nador

I moved bedroom yesterday so got up this morning and cleaned up Davids, did household stuff and then started loading my stuff into my new room. It's so nice and fresh and I have a base for the next 10 months! (and a desk!) :-)

This is the view from my room/balcony - I can see Morocco....

 Mount Gourogou (to the far left - don't think it fitted in the picture!) and all across Melilla...

I spent the morning getting more and more bored, getting more and more annoyed that I don't know that many people. Then Brain came in and told me he was bored and that we were getting out and going for a walk. I went downstairs and waited for him as he got a call and when he came down he told me we were going to Nador! He'd spoken to his friend and we were picking her up and going.

When we got to the border gate there was a big traffic jam. I assumed it was because there were a lot of people trying to get out of Melilla where there's a bank holiday and to Morocco, where shops are open, etc. but Brain's friend explained that it's normally busier than that at about 8pm when all the shops in Morocco close and the Melillenses head back over this way.

Brain and I got out of the car and walked to border control so as to sort out all the forms, etc. This is the form I had to fill out - nowhere near half as bureaucratic as my NIE is!

Then I got one of these...

My first ever stamp in my passport! Woo hoo!!!

We waited for Brain's friend on the other side of the border and got hassled by an absolutely relentless kid that wouldn't stop harassing Brain for money. Each time Brain would say no but he kept coming back and I began to realise why people say it's not the best idea to come alone!

We drove through Beni Enzar and headed for Nador. The scenery didn't seem too much different from Melilla. There were a lot more cars and lots of donkeys pulling wooden trailers filled with fresh fruit!

We had to change our money up as soon as we got there (it didn't even cross my mind that they might not use the Euro!). I changed €20 and got 220 dhirma.
We went to a nice restaurant that seemed to be full of Melillenses and whilst Brain and his friend had fresh fish, I had a big, fat, genuine Moroccan couscous. Mmmm! 80 dhirma later (cheap as chips) we headed back to the car and Brain gave some guy that came up to the window some change. I noticed that Alberto did the same the other night. It seems that the poor ask for money for any kind of service, even if it means they just watch the car park. I didn't quite understand because this guy (presumably the keeper on the pavement?!) was stood with a drink in his hand from the bar opposite which indicated to me that he had money to spend... I don't know - there's a lot about the culture I'm yet to understand that Brain said he would explain later.

We drove around the rich part of down where the houses were ridiculously mahousive. Crazy to see how one area is so poor, yet the other is so wealthy. I suppose that's everywhere... Then we stopped off for a coffee in a really funky bar. They had a pet monkey....

He was a big fat poser and liked to play with things outside of his cage (naturally!). There was a boy standing nearby peering in his cage and Zizo decided to tug at his short strings. He was naughty! There was another guy that put his head upside down near the cage and Zizo looked through his hair for nits!
I was watching for a while and Brain decided to step outside and a have a play. He must have been scared of touching poor old Zizo and so used his lovely sunglasses as a hand... Bad move! He teased and teased and Zizo swiped! He bent them to and fro and then decided to wear them as some sort of belt (they were still intact!). We had to call the barmen to come and entice the playful monkey with nuts, it took a while as he wasn't quite as stupid as Brain and held on to the glasses pretty hard. We managed to get them back but Zizo wasn't happy and screamed and screamed (I think he may have bitten the barman too!). A cracking moment that I unfortunately didn't capture on film, nor camera!

We drove up to the Moroccan side of the border to look across Melilla and we could see our house!

We headed back to the dirty, overpopulated border in Beni Enzar...

...Got our passports stamped again and headed back to Melilla.

A lovely day had by all and I still have 100 dhirma!