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Published: July 21st 2013
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The blue city, Chefchaouen
There are incredible advantages to being in the northeast of Morocco. It is hot, but not nearly as hot as the south. We are near both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. We are close to the Tangier ferry which can take us to Spain (in 35 minutes) and Italy. We are close to the capital of Morocco, Rabat. We have a huge supply of produce at our fingertips daily and fresh fish 30 minutes away. We have a fantastic PCV couple nearby in Larache, and one of the most beautiful beaches, Asilah, is only 45 minutes away by train. Our region for work purposes spans all the way across the country to the border of Algeria, so we have many opportunities to visit other PCVs in all kinds of climates and geographies.
For the first couple of days in July, we headed out to see one of the well-known places in northern Morocco, the city of Chefchaouen (Moroccans call it simply, “chaouen” or phonetically, sh - ow -in. Before leaving, Clay wanted to visit his barber for a haircut, so early in the morning we walked the mile or so to his shop,
but found it closed. Hungry and thinking that we would want to have food before we left, we decided to stop to pick up some breakfast food at a place that makes the “best chicken in Morocco” (more on that in a later blog).
Typical breakfast food in Morocco is Malawi (flat, pan fried dough) with cheese or butter on it or Harcha (a kind of flat cornbread) with jam or honey. We ordered some Malawi with cheese and Kasher (sort of like Spam, but not pork – who knows what’s in it, but it is protein). As we waited, the owner of the restaurant appeared. We previously met this outgoing Moroccan (Achraf) who speaks English well, as result of living in England for years. He introduced us to his twin brother (who does not speak English) and then another man appeared. This new addition was a man who we did not know, but Achraf said that his daughter was our student. After looking at her picture on his phone, we recognized her and told her father how wonderful his daughter was in class. She truly is amazing and a joy to have as a student. Upon hearing our
accolades, his eyes beamed and after a few more comments, he teared-up (seriously). Apparently, he worries about her because he has very little money but is a devoted father, doing what he is able to make sure she has every opportunity to succeed. Now let us stop to make these observations. Clay was disappointed by the failed trip to barber. But, that failed trip led us to the restaurant where we had this random encounter that made a good man feel really good. This father, in turn, told us how his daughter raves about us, and we felt good too. We observed, later to each other, that it is so random how the good feelings of life so easily present themselves when we least expect them.
We were about to leave with our bagged breakfast to the unknown and possibly frustrating adventure of finding our way to Chefchaouen. There are no marked trails or breadcrumbs to follow! J From the best we could glean from several people we had asked (in Arabic so we are never sure if we truly understood), we should be able to get a grand taxi (the one that fits two in the front passenger
seat and four in the back) at the station in the seedy part of town for a two and ½ hour ride. It was only going to be 98 degrees that day, too! But from our English speaking friend Achraf, we learned that the taxis did not go directly to Chaouen, and that we would need to first get to the city of Ouzzen (“waaaa-zen”) and then get a different taxi to our final destination. BUMMER!!!
However, Achraf and his brother were worried about us and sweetly offered to find us a grand taxi at the “right price.” For the next 45 minutes, we rode around town in their car to various taxi stations, trying to find the “right” taxi. They were not going to be satisfied with a taxi that looked unsafe or a driver that looked crazy and they were intent on finding us a taxi that would go all the way to Chaouen with no stops. It did take a long time, but sure enough, they negotiated a ride for us, in a taxi by ourselves for $45. Not a bad deal, considering the guy has to drive 2 ½ hours out and the same back!
As an interesting aside, Achraf and his brother made us stay in the car while they did their negotiations so that the taxi drivers would not see we were Americans - we were told that if potential drivers saw us, the price would go up. How we were going to get back from Chaouen on our own was unknown, but that challenge would not be created for several days, so we would just smell the roses available for now.
So we started our journey and felt blessed to have the true bonus taxi because the back seat windows actually rolled down (many taxis do not have the cranks for the windows for what reason we have never ascertained. Oh yeah, and we have never seen or heard of any taxi, grand or otherwise, that has automatic windows). We ate our Malawi and enjoyed the beautiful scenery which changed from flat to mountainous and from straight roads, to slightly terrifying windy ones, to just not really roads at all. (See photos). And just remember… the driver ended up driving these horrible roads for over 5 hours for $45, including gas!
We arrived in Chaouen at the grand taxi station
which was very busy. We got a small taxi to take us to our hotel, and to make a long story short, he took us to a completely wrong area of town and after calling the hotel, we had to walk a really long way up a very steep hill. We had packed light, as we have learned to do now, but Clay is unable to live without his 50 lb. Alienware laptop and assorted controllers and headphones, so he suffered considerably anyway.
The photos will tell our story, except for a couple of notes. First, we were in a town used to tourists and we much enjoyed surprising people with our Arabic. Secondly, we were approached at least ten times in 2 days and asked if we wanted to buy some hash. We were in the biggest region for that kind of thing after all and many, many people, from all over the world, go there just for it. Third, we met a very interesting guy from Greece that we hung out with for a few hours and hope to use that connection for a future trip. Lastly, Clay did get that haircut he had missed in our
town and we met this great old man who spoke 5 languages (a little English). We entertained each other for about an hour. He was an unexpected and wonderful treasure on this journey.
Our “ah-ha” thought from this trip is that random cause and effect are awesome. There was a book we used to read the kids called “Because a little bug went ka-choo” which gives a great explanation of cause and effect. This story is about a bug who sneezes and that one sneeze causes a chain reaction of things, starting with a seed that drops from a flower which then affects cows, turtles, policemen and a circus parade. Our kachoo - Clay went to the barber in our town and found it closed. The effect was a completely unanticipated series of events.
PS. We were so proud of ourselves for commandeering a non-stop grand taxi from Chaouen to Ksar, all by our lonesomes, for only $5 more than our Moroccan friends had bargained for from the other side and it only took ten minutes! Not bad, eh?
Pss. We traveled to Chaouen via a southern route, we returned on a far less traveled northern route.
The pictures of our return should explain why it is less traveled… look closely at the fields – no wonder they sell those pipes all over the medina! J
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Sandra
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Thank you
Thank you for the post. Very nice writeup and pretty pictures. Keep posting when you can!