Voyage to Morocco

A fight broke out in the crowded waiting room of the ferry from Tarifa to Tangier. The 11 o'clock had been cancelled and the 1 o'clock was now 40 mins late to board. With passangers shuffling towards the Customs desk, a sideshow was cast as two women began arguing in Arabic. One, tall and light with curly hair had her firey family acting as entourage, while the other, shorter woman, shrouded in black over her tank top was backe by her elderly equally-shrouded mother and father shouting and pointing in the faces of the lanky offenders.

Surrounded by Spanish and French-speakers, we couldn't decipher the dialogue. As the heat rose, the taller woman's daughter (curly, red hair and lip piercing) yelled an unmistakable insult to the elderly mother which resulted in more furious guesturing. There was a short pause and then the shorter woman hit the taller in the nose. Now, both on the verge of tears, the taller woman's teenage son starts after the hitter who scampers away through the crowd, chest heaving. Security arrives and the fair woman's family begins explaining what had happened with the same level of animation and volume they used during the dispute.

Later, on the ferry, we discover the hitter and her mother confined to the upper deck, while the other family stomped around the lower levels.

Four beers later (drunk like they were our last) and we are safely in the Muslim countryside... They are playing 'no woman, no cry' in the internet cafe.