Morocco…FINALLY!
First off, before I start, it is amazing to me that the Moroccan people speak so many languages. That really stuck out. They speak Arab, both the Moroccan dialect and the traditional dialect of Islam. Then there are 3 dialects of the Berber people (the indigenous people), and then French is the next most popular language and following close behind are Spanish and English, but many people speak all of them!
A little lesson for you: Na’am = yes; La = no, Afak= please; Shukran= thank you.
Chefchaouen is a small village in the northern Rif Mountains. It was also the first city we visited (Where we saw the King Mohammed VI!!!).
Some of this might be a bit repetitive, so please bear with me…
We left Friday September 29th at 5:00 am and took a bus to the border and then got on a ferry going to Ceuta, Africa and then we bussed across the border to Chefchouen. Some girl on our trip missed the bus this morning and had to take a taxi to the border. She then missed the ferry, so she had to take a different ferry a bit later. She missed us again when we crossed the border, so she also had to take a taxi into Chefchouen and meet us at lunch! What a mess!!...not to mention a lot of extra money!! Luckily she made it safely.
Here is an interesting lesson for any of you that are familiar with the term “reefer.” On the tour through Chefchouen, we learned that the term comes from the Rif (pronounced “reef”) Mountains. Rif is one of the leading exporters of Hashish and it is their #1 import. They supply 90% of Europe’s hash. This is a problem though because Morocco wants to become part of the U.N. but nobody wants to let them in because of their part in the importing of hash to Europe. But, the government doesn’t want to regulate this issue and ruin the economy in Chefchouen (mostly just Chefchouen). They would be greatly hurting their people if they were to do that, so instead of taking away lots of jobs, they simply regulate the people that come to Morocco and take hash and other drugs out, so that it looks like something is being done to regulate the problem. Anyways, I thought that was interesting.
The city was pretty much shut down for the king. Most of the streets, at least the main ones were blocked off. There were billboards and posters with the king’s face all over buildings, cars, everything. Flags were also everywhere- on the side of every road and people were out in the streets all day, waiting!
When we finally got to the restaurant, we had tagine (more or less a slow-cooked stew of meats with vegetables. Often nuts and raisins are added for flavor) and couscous cooked with meats or veggies. It was a really cool little restaurant with little nooks with large couch-like seats and tons of pillows. For appetizer we had feta, olives, and Moroccan bread with olive oil. We then had Moroccan salad, which is cooked peppers and onions with spices. I had the veggie tagine and then dessert was flan.
After lunch, we walked around the town. The shops were all pretty small and dimly lit but full of hand-crafted arts and crafts, as well as clothes, hookahs, and many other things. The little streets smelled of cinnamon and nutmeg, and other spices- it smelled really good! We then left around 4:00 to take the bus to Fez, but we got delayed because that was the time that the king came through! So, I guess I couldn’t really complain…he was standing up in a limo of sorts and cruised by at like 20 miles an hour, but the people loved it!! They screamed and shouted, and waved, throwing flowers and other (nice) things towards the vehicle as it passed.
One thing I noticed about Morocco is the cats!! There are stray cats all over the place!
We left around 4:00 and headed to Fez...(next story...)
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