Casablanca - Wednesday, 17th January 2007

Back in 'Casa' for one night, I decided to go into 'Bounty Hunter' mode and did an afternoon stakeout for 'Mustapha' who 'conned' me out of 300Dh (about 18 quid) back on Boxing Day. I'm still not 100 per cent sure it was a con. It was all so feasible and yet maybe something unexplained happened that forced him to miss me when he was supposed to pick me up for his friend's daughter's wedding. I just hope I wasn't supposed to be the groom!

I gathered that assuming it was a con, he either followed me to his chosen 'con-spot', or saw me walking up the street with my map from the nearby Place Mohommed V square. I decided that being a sunny day (as usual) I would walk around the square and infiltrate it from the back and then do a stakeout from one of the benches. I lasted about 2 hours. I sat around in different vantage points but I didn't see him or his friend. The park was nice, but in the shade it felt a bit chilly.

It was a shot in the dark and the only lead I had. I'm glad I'm not a cop. Doing stakeouts is the most boring thing one can do after watching paint dry. However, given I'd seen everything 'Casa' had to offer; it was worth a try.

Staying at the youth hostel tonight. It's the plushest youth hostel I've stayed in in Morocco. There's even a fairly recent photo of Sophia Loren having visited the place! My Dad would have been happy here!

Tomorrow, Marrakech; then Friday back to 'Blighty' and the British winter. Can't wait!