Two Weeks, Two Continets Part II: Chefchaouen

Alternate Title: Embracing My Aesthetic

My friends have a running joke that the color blue is my aesthetic. Why? Because it really is, about 85% of my possessions are blue. It’s not my fault that I like blue, okay? It’s pretty. So in order to uphold my blue reputation I had to go visit the blue city of Morocco: Chefchaouen, or just Chaouen if you are lazy.

We were greeted in Chefchaouen by an enormous hill we had to climb. The city is built on the side of a mountain which means beautiful views and all of the climbing.

By the time we made it to our hostel I was dying from the heat. See despite it being February, the weather here has been beautiful. About 70ish degrees Fahrenheit everyday. But since Moroccan culture is more conservative clothing wise, I am less likely to take off my coat. Not that my shirts are risqué just not super conservative. This has been the first place where I have felt that pressure to conform, although a few hot spells have seen me tying my jacket around my waist.

After de-sweating at the hostel we set off a wandering. Most of our time in Chaouen was spent aimlessly wandering. Unlike most of blog entries where I give you a great play by play of events this will be more about my musings and random stuff that we saw around.

One special event that did happen was my first successful bargaining! I like to buy art from the different places I go, just little cheap scenes to remind me of my travels. Moroccan culture says that instead of pricing objects you must bargain for absolutely everything. I had never tried bargaining before, but turns out I’m not half bad at it. If you are cheap as hell and willing to leave the shopkeeper will give you the price you want. I was literally outside the shop and partway down the street when he agreed to the price I wanted. Instead of his original price of one painting for 200DH I got two for 130, not bad at all.

The best thing about wandering Chaouen is seeing the multitudes of blue everywhere. Deep indigos, sky blues, periwinkles, name it and it’s in the walls if Chaouen. It also works well at keeping the Medina cool. I imagine in the summer it makes the Medina even more of a haven from the heat.

We ended our first day by wandering partway up a nearby mountain to look out over the city. From there you could see all the hues of the city as well as the valley and other mountains beyond, absolutely gorgeous. You also got to see people selling their wares right on the mountainside. One man was selling small metal tiles and also carving more while awaiting customers. Another guy was making daisy chains and another had his art hung right on the side of the mountain. I suppose on a mountain trail you don’t need a stall.

That was pretty much the end of our day and we headed back to our hostel. It did take a bit of trial and error to make it home, as google maps refuses to give walking directions through the Medina when you are offline. I got spoiled in Europe with my French data plan, here in Africa it’s up to me and my map reading skills. Luckily, we made it to bed in the end.

 

Day 2

Our hostel sadly did not come with breakfast so we had to wander out an find a nearby cafe. I ended up getting Raghid which was sort of like a stiff crepe, it was very good and I left a happy camper.

From there we left with the possible intention of visiting the Kasbah. The reviews online weren’t great and we weren’t sure in the price was 10 Durham or 60. Turns out if you are Moroccan it’s 10 if you are anything else it’s 60. Since we were not Moroccan but still cheap, we gave the Kasbah a pass. 60DH isn’t especially expensive, but we didn’t think it was worth it to look at some gardens and see a nice view.

We then tried to return to the mountain from the day before and the creek at its base to hang by the water. This ended with us getting real lost and seeing lots more of the west of Chaouen than we had before. This was a more residential area, but still beautiful. In the end we made it to the water, but not before we saw all the animals.

Morocco as a whole seems to be filled to the brim with stray cats, and stray dogs are common enough. But near the river in Chaouen everyone brings their weird animals for tourists to pay to take pictures with, the first we saw were a pair of gorgeous peacocks then we saw a donkey, although he was more for hauling than amusing tourists and then we saw the weirdest one, the ostrich. Ostriches look pretty tall in zoos but even taller when they are stand8ng next to you on the side of the road.

Our next bout of aimless wandering brought us up above the city. We somehow got behind the wall that for some rain exists on the mountain behind the city. Not sure what that wall keeps out, but it wasn’t very good at keeping us in. Looking down on Chaouen was one of those stupid petty moments. Where everythng is just too beautiful and you can’t quite fathom how it all works.

At the top of the city we got not only to see the beauty of Chefchaouen, but hear it as well when the call to prayer sounded. Everyday 5 times a day the mosques in the city call out to bring the followers in the pray. Unlike the Christians bells, the Muslims have people yell out the masses and bring them in. From above we could hear at least a dozen voices calling over each other welcoming in their people. It was surreal to hear the voices overlap and meld together. Although I did not understand the Arabic words the message was still there and absolutely beautiful.

We then had a late lunch/dinner at the most stereotypically Moroccan restaurant we could find. There were rugs on all the walls and cushions aplenty. Despite the tourist trappings, it was still very cheap and very good. I greatly enjoyed my meal.

From there it was more wandering and then off to the bus station to take the late bus to Fez. Although I didn’t “do” much in Chefchaouen I did like the city. It is definitely a great instagram spot, and a better day trip than a destination, but nonetheless beautiful.

 

 

Two Weeks, Two Continents, Part I: Tangers

Alternate title: Three Continents Duke

I was talking with a friend recently about how, the more you travel, the more jaded you get. You realize that no matter where you go people are people and cities are cities. Not that I don’t want to keep traveling everywhere I can, but I realize that not every location will send shivers down my spine in awe of my new locale.

And then I set foot in Africa. I felt my smile growing wider and wider as I walked across the tarmac and it hit me that this was not only a new country, but a new continent. Forget Kansas, Toto, we’re not even in Europe anymore. The last time I felt this wonderment was in Venice, when I span around in front of the grand canal. This time I settled for grinning like a fool in the airport of Tangers.

After getting through customs and exchanging some euro for dirhams, we had to face our first hurdle, getting into the city. The only way to get out of the airport is via taxi. I generally don’t like taxis. I don’t like negotiating fares and I feel awkward in the back of a stranger’s car, but we had no choice.

For a while we suffered near the taxi stand wondering how to get a taxi and trying to pluck up our courage when a very nice girl stopped and asked if we were confused and where we were trying to go. She took a look at our map with where our hostel was and called over a taxi driver and talked to him rapidly in Arabic. She tried to get us a ride for 100 Dirhams (about $10) but the driver would only do it for 150. We were fine with that and thanked the girl for saving us from struggling for another 15 minutes.

Although we arrived early our hostel was happy to check us in and let us put our bags into our room despite the fact that the cleaning lady was in there at the time. I love when a hostel bends the rules a bit like that. Unlike a French hostel where the people will always speak to you in English no matter what you do, the Moroccan hostel workers were thrilled to learn we spoke French and immediately switched into French over English. It was nice to be valued for our language skills,.

We then headed to lunch. We tried to follow directions given by our hostel to a good lunch spot but quickly ended up turned around in the twists and turns of the medina. Only after sitting down and looking at the restaurant’s name in the menu did I realize we had accidentally made it to our recommended lunch spot. I had myself a mountain of couscous for only about 60DH ( that’s the sign for the Moroccan dirham) and then we tried to leave.

I say tried because upon signaling the waiter to get out check, instead of a check he brought over a pot of mint tea on the house. Moroccan mint tea is very, very sweet. At least half a dose of your daily sugar. It was good though I couldn’t imagine drinking more than s a small glass. Before we could have to check we were once again offered a free desert. Not one to say no, I accepted. And only then did we finally get to actually pay for our meal.

Then we started wandering, very quickly we seemed to acquire a man trying to lead us to what he called the Berber market and what I think were just some of his friends’ shops. He was hard to shake off because even if we tried to stop or go into a random store, he would stick around outside. My friend was no help as she kept talking to him as her midwestern sensibilities said it was rude to ignore people. Finally, I was able to get her to stop talking and adamantly tell him to leave us alone.

We then started wandering. We somehow found a gorgeous view of the water and then found the musée de Kasbah. I was happy enough to pay 20 DH to see the beautiful architecture and artifacts inside. It was an archaeology museum, that although it didn’t have much, did have some cool stuff.

The museum presented the exciting challenge of having no English descriptions, on French and Arabic. I was able to read the French, but it did take me a bit longer to understand what everything was. I have on idea how foreigners get by in American all English museums. Props that them for being good enough at English to understand everything that is going on.

The coolest thing was an old world map. Which from my western viewpoint was upside down and from any viewpoint was not very accurate. But it did show the gist of the Eurasian continent and Northern Africa. It was neat to see what people knew of geography in ancient times.

The museum also had a beautiful garden full of what felt like very exotic plants. It had this enormous palm tree that looked nothing like any other palm tree I had seen before. It also had banana trees. I had never seen a banana tree before and was fascinated by the hanging fruit. I didn’t even know it was real at first, I was convinced it was some sort of man made attachment.

Upon exiting we somehow acquired another guy trying to lead us around, who my friends again talked to. She has since been given firm instructions not to engage people on the street who talk to her. None of these people seemed to have malicious intent, they were trying to make a few bucks or promote their stores. I get that and no shame to them for trying to make a living. All shame to idiot tourists for falling for the bait and encouraging them to continue these tactics.

Next up we wandered through some of the many tourist shops and saw some cool rugs and trinkets. Morocco has been the first place where I really like the bits and bobs in the tourist shops I’m sure I’ll pick a few up before I leave. Our night ended watching the sunset from the top of the Medina.

Here is where I would normally fade to black into day two but I had one more late night adventure. See at about 2am I was awakened by mysterious rustling on my bed. In my foggy disorientation it took me a moment t realize what this was: a cat.

Tangers is fit to bursting with cats and one lived at our hostel. Our room was weird in that it had a window that opened into the hostel rather than outside. So, although our door was shut, the cat was able to hop through the window. I tried to let him stay but as I don’t usually sleep with animals, I had to kick him out. I tried to just bring him out of the room hoping he’d get the hint. But about five minutes later he hopped back through the window and right to my bed. Take two saw me closing the shutters, which I tried to do quietly but instead ended up with a loud bang that no doubt scared my roommates. But this time when the cat was ejected he stayed out.

Day 2

Our hostel breakfast was surprisingly great, filled with Moroccan breads jams, cheese and olives. They had these awesome pancake things that I could not stop eating. We also had some good conversation with some fellow hostel goers and ended up picking up a friend to wander around with us. He was just finishing up a 7 month worldwide adventure and it was cool to have someone new to join us in our exploring.

We started our day at the American Legation museum. This museum highlighted the freindship and shared history between America and Morocco. Historic fun fact: Morocco was the first country to recognize America as an independant nation way back in the day. Unfortunately we did not return the favor when Morocco asked for help dealing with its colonizers.

The museum is also home to the so called Moroccan Mona Lisa. I can see the resemblance as she is a pretty portrait which isn’t actually all that impressive. They also had a garden, no bananas trees but they did have some live turtles. Thank goodness we noticed them; because I nearly stepped on one.

After getting a nice daily dose of American freedom, we headed out to do some more shopping and wandering. Moroccan shopkeepers can be pretty aggressive in trying to get you to enter their shops and then show off their wares, but the shops are actually very neat.

Most of them have that antique store vibe. Where everything is a bit dim and cluttered. It sort of does feel like you are looting around for hidden treasure. My one friend ended up buying a traditional Moroccan djellaba which is a robe thing that I have seen a lot of people wearing. She got the male one. But as she plans to use it as a robe/comfy loungewear in her house I think it’ll be okay,

On our way to find some lunch we came across a strange site. A huge line of caterpillars inching across the pavement. I’ve only ever seen ants act like that, so caterpillars were pretty neat. A kind Samaritan ended up scooping up the caterpillars and returning them into the pask so they wouldn’t get stepped on or run over on their current path to the road.

After a lunch of cheap and delicious tagine we took a break at our hostel and hung out on the roof overlooking the city. After our rest we went on an adventure to find the bus station and buy a ticket for the next morning to get to Chefchaoun. This brought us out of the old Medina and into the bustling city of Tangers.

To any who think of Africa as solely tribes and villages I would like to present exhibit A: downtown Tangers which looks more like Chicago than any stereotypical African ideal. My friend and I agreed that it actually looks a lot like Marseille, with white high rises and huge roundabouts.

After buying our bus tickets we headed to the beach to laze around. We stayed mostly on the pier and got some ice cream to snack on as we watched the waves and the sunset. it was lovely, just a bit chilly but nothing too bad.

On our way back to the hostel we discovered some lights up fountains that sprang up in patterns out of the ground. Like many tourists around us we reveled in the light and tried to take artsy photos. Didn’t quite succeed but had a good time and finished our night with some smiles.

We had a nice lazy morning before leaving Tangers and spent a good half an a hour lounging on the roof hammocking looking out onto the city. Tangiers was a wonderful city. I would agree with the internet and say a day in Tangers is plenty, I still enjoyed it and would recommend taking the time to explore not only the Medina but the urban city area as well. Tangers was a great start to our African adventure and I really enjoyed it.