Chefchaouen

After living in Fez for the past three weeks I decided it was finally time to mix it up a bit and see a bit more of Morocco. So this past weekend I went with some friends for an overnight trip to Chefchaouen, which is located in northern Morocco in the Rif Mountains.

We left Saturday Morning and made it to Chefchaouen by early-afternoon. The ride was fun as it was through the countryside and the mountains offering a very different view of Morocco then urban Fez. Chefchaouen was immediately very different as well. The enviornment was much more laid back and even the old city seemed very different (might of had something to do with the fact it was painted almosty completely blue!). Another obvious difference was that a lot of people now spoke Spanish to us. As Northern Morocco is extremely close in proximity to Spain and the two countries have mixed time and time again throughout history this is does not come as a huge surprise, still it is a big change from French and Arabic.

Country side in Morocco

All the blue in the medina

Chefchaouen

After exploring the old medina (city) and enjoying some of the local cuisine we decided to embark on a hike up a mountain. This hike was to be unique though because we decided we would hike part way, camp for the night somewhere in the woods, and then finish the hike the following morning. Most of the first evening was spent looking for a suitable camping site that would be off the main trail and suitable to sleep at (easier said then done on a slopped and rocky mountain!). Finally though we found a suitable spot and made ourselves at home. As we are all students abroad we did not have much camping supplies so basically this involved just putting down our bags, a few blankets, and finding some good dirt to sleep on (no tents!). Then we ate our meal we had carried up and hung out before sunset signaled it was time for bed. As one might expect on a mountain in a mostly desert climate it gets quite cold at night! While we had expected and somewhat planned for this we were still somewhat cold and did not get the best sleep of our lives (or maybe that had something to do with all the rocks, roots, and dirt we were sleeping on). In the morning we were up before sunrise and began climbing around on the mountain as the sun slowly crept over other distant mountains to begin warming the land back up again (and us). Shortly after we left the trail and began to hike straight up the mountain trying to avoid the random array of thistles, poky plants, rocks, uneven footing, and other mountain obstacles we encountered along the way. Eventually we made it to the "peak" we wanted to get to (there were many more higher peaks around us though) and began to go back down. Of course going down a mountain that has no trail always seems to be significantly harder then going up. None the less we eventually made it down, gathered up our stuff, tidied up our camp (it did not take long), and went back into Chefchaouen.

Chefchaouen from the Mountain

Sunrise over the mountains

Our amazing campsite

Me on the Mountain

Back in the city we mostly just relaxed and ate a bunch of food before walking over to the train station midday where we were able to catch a bus back to Fez. As always the Bus was a bit of an adventure as it took five hours to travel just 120 miles. We had to transfer buses once (something we were only told when it happened), and we later spent 30 mins hanging out in a cafe (I think the bus driver just got off and ordered a meal...) before we finally made it back to Fez. All in all though the weekend trip proved to be quite the adventure.