Dec 30 Chefchaouen

Where we are on the map: This town is in the Northeastern corner of Morocco, not far from Tangier and across the Straits of Gibraltar(which connects the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean) from Spain.  We are basically completing a circle tour of the country, having started in Marrakech in the Southeast, then going west to the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara desert, to the middle of the country at Fez and completing our tour in Rabat and Casablanca tomorrow in the mideastern Atlantic coast part of Morocco. 

The countryside: Although agriculture remains the major industry of Morocco, there has been a great exodus from the rural areas to the villages and towns.  The reasons are universal:  to find work or to advance one’s children’s prospects for a better life.  The move may also be the result of being one of 8 children and knowing the land will not come to you in the future.,  The result is overcrowding of school in towns and the need for split day sessions of school.  We saw the teenagers traipsing out of school at 11 am, having finished their half day.  It reminds me of when I was in elementary school in Atlanta, Georgia in the 1950’s, and I was part of the baby boom where we too had split day classes.  I moved North to New Jersey in 4^th grade and realized how far behind I was because of those half days.

Having moved to the city does not mean you have left the farm behind.  Our guide is typical of middle class people in Morocco who still have family land in rural areas.  He has his orchard of olive and date trees, orange and apples also.  He goes there on weekends to sit under the date trees and relax. 

In the North we have moved from a desert climate to a verdant one where there are endless olive trees, planted grains, and eucalyptus trees.  There are sellers of crates of oranges on the roadside.  In town we stop at a café.  The toilet is one of those stand up stalls where you plant your feet and hope your aim is good.  You sit with your small glass of mint tea-boiled green tea with sprigs of fresh mint and a sugar cube.  The tea is poured from a silver plated teapot that is held 2 feet above the glass with perfect aim.  The handle of the teapot is so hot it must be held with a table napkin; so too is the glass.  You sip slowly as it is very hot and look at the crowds of people who stare back at the foreigners rare in this village.

Cannabis: This area gets the most rain in Morocco and the weather is perfect for cannabis to grow naturally.  In the 1960’s hippie culture was well established here and had a high time.  However, it remains illegal to grow and harvest it.  The prison terms are quite lengthy if caught.  However, we are told that bales are transported at night on donkey to the nearby coast where they are taken to Europe-especially Holland where it is legal.

Chefchaouen: This is known as the “blue city” because of the colors of the houses.  It is tucked in a mountain valley and very picturesque.  Here Jews came to escape the civil war in Spain and the rise of Nazism in German in the 1930’s. As we climb the hills we can see the Mediterranean in the distance.