The Blue City

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For Meg's last weekend in Morocco we headed to Chefchaouen, a quaint mountain town just five hours outside of Fes, known for its brightly painted blue buildings and its drugs. Despite its reputation as a mecca for drug-tourists in Morocco--and the constant pestering that it brings from local youth trying to make their share of profit--the town is actually quite charming. The medina is small and the lanes wind up and down the mountain, past houses that have been whitewashed and painted in varying shades of Smurf blue. There isn't much to do in Chaouen (as it is called by the locals) other than stroll through the medina or head up the mountain for a hike. Having done both and discovered that the food was not very good, we were content to leave after two days. The morning we left we went into a small store that sold goods from two local co-operatives. Meg bought some woven cloth of the local style (wrapped around the behinds of old women and tied in the front, kind of like a backwards apron) and I bought prune jam, and we chatted with the man who worked the store. We talked about the impact of drug tourism: the way it detracted from the beauty of the natural setting, the unfortunate effect it had on the minds and pastimes of almost every male between the ages of 15 and 30, its monopoly on the economy. He seemed truly upset that this was what had happened to his town, but also hopeful that tourists could see another side. He showed us pamphlets that offered cooking lessons in small villages outside of Chaouen, or treakking tours for people who had a few days to explore. Meg and I both agreed that were we ever to find ourselves in Morocco again, we would came back to Chaouen and take the time to appreciate the less-seen side of the town.

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Photos

View from our hike
This photo was taken after we had discovered we had taken a wrong turn and were heading down the road into the Chaouen land fill. We cut our own path straight up the mountain to get out of the stench, but we always seemed to be downwind from the rot.

Land ho
The vast majority of our hike was spent trying to trace goat trails up and across the mountain. Thankfully we were all wearing pants because the terrain was 90% thorn bushes. But we bravely soldiered on.

At last
We walked the edge of the mountain long enough that we could finally glimpse the wall of the medina. All we had to do was make our way through this forest, and hope that it wasn't private property or full of wild animals.

Fish face
It should be noted that the people at the table behind us had ordered "special" pizza. Yep, that's the kind of place that they're making Chaouen into.