Where the Last Type of Transportation System Fails

Well, since I've already talked about my problems with planes, buses, and cars, I guess it was only a matter of time before I had a problem with the Moroccan rail system. Namely, on the way back from Casa yesterday, 1km outside of the Rabat-Agdal train station, our train... stopped. Of course, this wasn't some sort of casual, "ok folks, we've got another five minutes because the train in front of us is behind schedule," kind of stop. Instead, it was a rail-screeching, lights going out, things falling out of the overhead bins kind of stop.

After the confusion died down, a moderate chaos settled in, as some people ran for the exits, while I just sat there dumbfounded. Soon, from the windows we could see a slow and steady exodus of passengers from other cars making their way to the upcoming train station (shining like some sort of electrified Oasis, 1km away). So, we all got off the train and began the march to the station. Of course, the tracks and area were littered with sharp rocks, glass, etc, so it was kind of like being in a minefield of sharp pointy things. In the dark.

Anyways, we eventually reached the train station, a bedraggled and much more humble crowd than when we started our return to Casa. Luckily there was some Tajine waiting at the apartment, so we got to eat, etc.

PS- I'll try to get some pictures online at some point. I don't have a digital camera, but some other people around do, so at some point I'll get them online and hosted on Flickr so I can make them viewable on the blog. Cheers.