Chefchaouen

April 11, 2024

A day of walking

We woke to an interesting breakfast. The breads were not nearly as good as Tangier. But there were two kinds of soup on offer, plus olives, and leftover pizza. And a few slices of cucumber. Lots of sweet things too. We have yet to see fruit at breakfast so we buy our own.

We went for a walk with Hicham up into the hills and to see the exterior of a mosque built in the Spanish in the early 20th century but never used. There is a great view of town from the location though, including the walled Medina.

The theme around here is definitely -blue blue blue.

There is a picturesque stream running through town, and various bridges too.

We saw the central bread baking oven where people bring their dough each day. That way, people don't need an oven in their own house. We also saw a shaded outdoor place for women to to wash clothes by hand - see photo

We also learned more about Islam in Morocco. Imams in Morocco are state employees. They are forbidden from talking about politics and relationships with other countries (Morocco and Algeria seem to have an on-going spat). The topics of weekly sermons are provided by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. There is a scoring system for ending up in paradise vs hell. Men get 1 point for praying at home, and 10 for praying at the mosque. Plus extra points for walking to the mosque. Women get full points for praying at home, so there's no heavenly incentive to go to the mosque.

Hicham is what we'd call Berber - but he said that the preferable term is Amazigh, because 'Berber' is a name that means 'barbarian'. Amazigh comprise several diverse ethnic groups and languages that have been combined into one official language (the only other official language is Arabic). Hicham speaks Amazigh but doesn’t read/write. They are starting to teach it in school. Kids go to school at 6 or 7, boys and girls together. School is not mandatory. There are both state and private schools.

Near Chefchaouen, after wheat is harvested in May, they’ll plant cannabis, with permission of local authorities. It's harvested in October and processed into hashish. For the record, we weren't offered any. I have a feeling that guided groups with a Moroccan guide aren't the best customers.

We had a coffee/tea stop at top of hike - coffee drinkers said it was the best of the trip. I've not made any attempt to find decaf here, and can't even consume my Starbucks Via packages, because hot water isn't provided at breakfast. I'm enjoying the mint tea, as long as it's the unsweetened kind; it doesn't seem to have enough caffeine to bother me. Moroccan sweetened mine tea is super syrupy. The homemade cookies at the coffee stop were delicious too. It was a family affair, with a very cute kid riding a run bike through the terrace.

When we descended back to town, Hicham led us on a tour through the old town that we never would have found on our own.

From afar, it’s not ALL blue. And if you look closely, you can see the old city walls.

Poppies were in full bloom all along our walk.

The communal clothes washing area. Not being used today.

Oranges and fresh-squeezed orange juice are everywhere.

There were dogs and cats everywhere today. It was sad to see so many pregnant. Dogs that have had rabies shots have an ear tag. Most of them haven’t.

There is local goat cheese, but both shops were closed today for the continuing Eid break, so we didn't get a chance to taste it.

After our walk we had a delicious Zaazaa drink for lunch. It's a green smoothie that always had avocados, and then has a variety of fruit and other mix-ins. In this case, it was chopped pear, custard, raisins, and bananas. It sounds weird. But we all agreed that it was delicious and that we'd like to have it again.

Then we did a bit of grocery shopping, buying food for a picnic lunch tomorrow on way to Fez - veggies, oranges, canned tuna, and cheese that may or may not be edible because it's past its best-before date.

On this nice sunny afternoon, we could see towels drying on the hotel roof. No wasting electricity here.

I ran out of energy and decided to relax in the late afternoon, but ended up listening to cars honking their horns at the tricky intersection outside our hotel.

I've found the car drivers here to be pretty decent, but some people on scooters seem to be tempting fate. Hicham reports that due to a huge number of road deaths in the past, the government changed the speeding laws. There are now severe penalties, including losing your vehicle. Our driver Haleem is subject to restricted driving hours and forced breaks, all tracked by an electronic log.

Dinner was outdoors at a restaurant with a great view of our morning hiking route. It was a very nice setting and there was a guy playing guitar (Bob Marley, Eagles, etc). But the food was meh. At least the prices were quite reasonable. There is less lamb on menus than I expected. Chicken is the main protein.

Our evening entertainment was watching more traffic chaos. Cars were playing Tetris on the jam packed narrow streets and attempting to get into the tiny parking garage.

For anyone visiting Morocco, I highly recommend a stop in Chefchaouen, a stay at the funky Hotel Madrid, and if you like avocado, to drink a zaazaa.

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