January 25, 2012
by Stephen Jan in Daklha, Morocco
This morning, a man from Casablanca phoned Freya with news that the package was at the CTM bus station in Dakhla. Amazing! I could hardly believe it. Would it really be that simple? Would the package arrive on Wednesday when they said they would?
In a word, “ no ”
At the package desk in the CTM bus station (pictured above)
Freya: “Hi my name is Freya McCall, I’m here to pick up a package”
Man: “We don’t have a package for you”
Freya: “It was put on a bus this Monday, it should be here”
Man: “We don’t have it, it’s still in Casablanca.”
Freya: “Impossible I received a phone call from Casablanca 3 minutes ago. They told me it’s here.”
Man: “it’s not here”
We turn around, Freya phones Casablanca.
Casa Man: “Hello?”
Freya: “Hi. My name is Freya McCall. We just got a phone call from you informing us that our package has arrived. We’re at the bus station and —”
[on hold]
Man: “Hello?”
Freya: “Hi. My name is Freya McCall. I’m in Dakhla, and am expecting a package to arrive today. We got a phone call from you informing us that our package has arrived.”
Man: “Where are you from?”
Freya: “The package was supposed to arrive here in Dakhla today”
Man: “Dakar?”
Freya: “No Dakhla”
Man: “Dakar?”
Freya: “Dakhla, Daklha”
Man: “Dakar?”
Freya: “DAKHLA!”
Man: “Um…Dakar?”
[heated exchange]
Freya hands the phone to the package man.
Package man and Casablanca Man go back and forth in French Arabic.
Package Man: The package is in Casablanca. They’ll put it on today’s bus and it’ll get here in 2 days, Friday.
So there you have it folks. Friday. Thanks Morocco.