Chefchaouen
Finally to our most highly antici
pated location: Chefchaouen! Listed by every traveler as a site we could not miss, this town in the middle Atlas Mountains would not disappoint!
Chefchaouen (or Chef as its referred to) is situated in vast rolling green mountains and all the buildings in the medina are uniformly painted in blue and white creating a stunning scene! There is a huge tree in the center of the square and the town is full of plants and foliage. There are unique goods sold in the shops and quaint restaurants at every turn. We were immediately charmed by this city and suddenly in high spirits we went shopping. Dangerous combination! We walked into our second carpet shop and this time we knew what to expect! We accepted the mint tea from Abdul and let the bargaining begin! I walked away with three carpets and Aaron bought one. Shortly after I had a panic attack realizing I had spent all my souvenir budget in one fail swoop! We headed to the post office and went through a ridiculous procedure of trying to communicate we needed a bag to ship them in, they were going to Canada and that we didn't have a return address! We left the post office deflated by the thought that we were never going to see our largest purchase in morocco again! To get over this spenders guilt, we decided to spend more money and signed up to do a three day trek!
The next day we strapped our hiking boots on, excited to see more of this landscape that had already won us over. Unlike Mount Toubkal, this time there would be no mule, no lunch
provided (awesome as the food provided wasn’t very good) and a guide that actually spoke English! We were delighted to learn that this guide not only spoke a little English but was fluently! In addition Yassine was a great guide and soon to become a great friend. He was extremely open, honest and had a great sense of humor. Over the next few days we learned a lot of the culture and religion as we finally were able to ask questions. Yassine was recently engaged with an upcoming wedding in June. If you can believe it he met his wife when she dialed the wrong phone number (she was trying to reach her dad whose phone number is only one digit different from yassine's!). They talked for hours and met the next day! After three years of dating they are now getting married. How romantic!
On the
first day we hiked about six hour to a small village of Assilane. The scenery was breathtaking and lush. I really loved the alpine flowers. Speaking of greenery there were also fields of cannabis as this area is the major supplier for all of Europe! At first we felt like we were in the movie "the Beach" where they stumbled on fields of cannabis and shortly thereafter were greeted by men with guns. We looked around nervously and didn't want to walk through the fields but soon got use to it. The whole operation was very much in the open and with the rain it smelt like we were in a hot box! For the next four days we saw so many fields of cannabis that it stopped registering. The first night we stayed with a local man named Abdul at Hotel Assilane. What a character! He was so happy and was constantly laughing. You couldn't help but feel joy to be there and laugh right along with him. Abdul proudly showed off all the articles that had been written about him from around the world as well as photos. It felt as though we were in the presence of a celebrity! And this celebrity (or more likely his wife) could cook! We were treated to chicken tagine and fried fish. As darkness descended and candles were lit we felt our eyes become heavy. With bellies full of good food we headed to bed.
The second day was even more stunning than the first and without a soul in sight. Yassine led us on hard to find trails through crops, alpine meadows, rivers, gorges and beautiful cliffs. The views were diverse and constantly changing. Besides my badly blistered feet I had not a care in the world. The owner of the next hostel was not as memorable as Abdul but was a large gruff man, wearing a sweater that said "hooker" . This threw us into fits of giggling until Yassine finally t
old him what the word meant and he took it off. The hooker jokes continued all night and we quickly learned that "hooker" had a big laugh and could cook us a great meal as well.
The final day again was unique and to its own. The hike consisted of heading along the river to a waterfall. The day was a challenge not due to physical strain but due to our allergies acting up horribly with watering itchy eyes, throat and ear and running nose. In addition I had the most severe blisters of my life and hiked the whole day in sandals! Aaron had also gotten a bad sunburn and was wearing boots that within a few river crossings were soaking wet! These factors made for a challenging day!! We crossed the river about eight times as it was high due to being spring. Most of the time it was not possible to cross without getting in the water! All efforts made were worth it as we looked in the trees and got a view of a group of monkeys! The waterfall was stunning when we finally reached it. We saw Moroccan seniors at the waterfall and wondered how on earth they had made it there through those river crossing!! On the way back, I finally fell in the river, as I had anticipated would happen all along due to my clumsy nature! Once we returned to the village we got a cab back to Chef. We were dreading leaving our new friend Yassine but on the ride home after speaking to his fiancé Fattia, they invited us to supper in the next town! We eagerly accepted the invitation as we had heard so much about her and wanted to see a Moroccan home!
We met up an hour later in Chef and caught a shared taxi to Teteuan. We arrived to Fattia's and soon realized that Yassine had married well! Not only was she beautiful and kind but the home was massive and the first room could have held 100 people easily! Fattia warmly welcomed us and Yassine translated. Pastries and delightful appetizers were laid out under the shiny chandelier and we tried to politely nibble even though we were extremely hungry! The Tutts have a hard time holding back when hunger hits! After a walk around the medina and Yassine and Fattia presenting US with gifts they picked up for our whole family, we had a large dinner at close to midnight. The meal was delicious and we soon after departed for our hotel. Talk about one long and extremely memorable day!!! The warm and lovely Moroccan people will be forever remembered!
pated location: Chefchaouen! Listed by every traveler as a site we could not miss, this town in the middle Atlas Mountains would not disappoint!
Chefchaouen (or Chef as its referred to) is situated in vast rolling green mountains and all the buildings in the medina are uniformly painted in blue and white creating a stunning scene! There is a huge tree in the center of the square and the town is full of plants and foliage. There are unique goods sold in the shops and quaint restaurants at every turn. We were immediately charmed by this city and suddenly in high spirits we went shopping. Dangerous combination! We walked into our second carpet shop and this time we knew what to expect! We accepted the mint tea from Abdul and let the bargaining begin! I walked away with three carpets and Aaron bought one. Shortly after I had a panic attack realizing I had spent all my souvenir budget in one fail swoop! We headed to the post office and went through a ridiculous procedure of trying to communicate we needed a bag to ship them in, they were going to Canada and that we didn't have a return address! We left the post office deflated by the thought that we were never going to see our largest purchase in morocco again! To get over this spenders guilt, we decided to spend more money and signed up to do a three day trek!
The next day we strapped our hiking boots on, excited to see more of this landscape that had already won us over. Unlike Mount Toubkal, this time there would be no mule, no lunch
provided (awesome as the food provided wasn’t very good) and a guide that actually spoke English! We were delighted to learn that this guide not only spoke a little English but was fluently! In addition Yassine was a great guide and soon to become a great friend. He was extremely open, honest and had a great sense of humor. Over the next few days we learned a lot of the culture and religion as we finally were able to ask questions. Yassine was recently engaged with an upcoming wedding in June. If you can believe it he met his wife when she dialed the wrong phone number (she was trying to reach her dad whose phone number is only one digit different from yassine's!). They talked for hours and met the next day! After three years of dating they are now getting married. How romantic!
On the
first day we hiked about six hour to a small village of Assilane. The scenery was breathtaking and lush. I really loved the alpine flowers. Speaking of greenery there were also fields of cannabis as this area is the major supplier for all of Europe! At first we felt like we were in the movie "the Beach" where they stumbled on fields of cannabis and shortly thereafter were greeted by men with guns. We looked around nervously and didn't want to walk through the fields but soon got use to it. The whole operation was very much in the open and with the rain it smelt like we were in a hot box! For the next four days we saw so many fields of cannabis that it stopped registering. The first night we stayed with a local man named Abdul at Hotel Assilane. What a character! He was so happy and was constantly laughing. You couldn't help but feel joy to be there and laugh right along with him. Abdul proudly showed off all the articles that had been written about him from around the world as well as photos. It felt as though we were in the presence of a celebrity! And this celebrity (or more likely his wife) could cook! We were treated to chicken tagine and fried fish. As darkness descended and candles were lit we felt our eyes become heavy. With bellies full of good food we headed to bed.
The second day was even more stunning than the first and without a soul in sight. Yassine led us on hard to find trails through crops, alpine meadows, rivers, gorges and beautiful cliffs. The views were diverse and constantly changing. Besides my badly blistered feet I had not a care in the world. The owner of the next hostel was not as memorable as Abdul but was a large gruff man, wearing a sweater that said "hooker" . This threw us into fits of giggling until Yassine finally t
old him what the word meant and he took it off. The hooker jokes continued all night and we quickly learned that "hooker" had a big laugh and could cook us a great meal as well.
The final day again was unique and to its own. The hike consisted of heading along the river to a waterfall. The day was a challenge not due to physical strain but due to our allergies acting up horribly with watering itchy eyes, throat and ear and running nose. In addition I had the most severe blisters of my life and hiked the whole day in sandals! Aaron had also gotten a bad sunburn and was wearing boots that within a few river crossings were soaking wet! These factors made for a challenging day!! We crossed the river about eight times as it was high due to being spring. Most of the time it was not possible to cross without getting in the water! All efforts made were worth it as we looked in the trees and got a view of a group of monkeys! The waterfall was stunning when we finally reached it. We saw Moroccan seniors at the waterfall and wondered how on earth they had made it there through those river crossing!! On the way back, I finally fell in the river, as I had anticipated would happen all along due to my clumsy nature! Once we returned to the village we got a cab back to Chef. We were dreading leaving our new friend Yassine but on the ride home after speaking to his fiancé Fattia, they invited us to supper in the next town! We eagerly accepted the invitation as we had heard so much about her and wanted to see a Moroccan home!
We met up an hour later in Chef and caught a shared taxi to Teteuan. We arrived to Fattia's and soon realized that Yassine had married well! Not only was she beautiful and kind but the home was massive and the first room could have held 100 people easily! Fattia warmly welcomed us and Yassine translated. Pastries and delightful appetizers were laid out under the shiny chandelier and we tried to politely nibble even though we were extremely hungry! The Tutts have a hard time holding back when hunger hits! After a walk around the medina and Yassine and Fattia presenting US with gifts they picked up for our whole family, we had a large dinner at close to midnight. The meal was delicious and we soon after departed for our hotel. Talk about one long and extremely memorable day!!! The warm and lovely Moroccan people will be forever remembered!
posted by Kels @ 2:13 AM
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