Chefchouan--Arcata's Real Sister City and Fes--36 Square Kilometers of Medina

Things are winding rapidly to a close here in Morocco, and most of us are trying to get in all the traveling we can before we head back to a world where insulated buildings and fixed price stores await. During the last couple weekends, I traveled to Chefchouan (pronounced Shefshowan), the imperial city of Fes, and the port city of Tangiers.

To get to Chefchouan, Janet, Jesse and I traveled by overcrowded bus through the Rif Mountains and around hairpin corners which took our breath away. Just so we are clear, when i say overcrowded, i mean overcrowded. Absolutely no ventilation, men pressing onto me on all sides (one was sitting against my knees on the floor), and no room to even wiggle my tush out of its perpetually numb state from sitting on the bus. Being that i am mildly claustrophobic, this really didnt sit well with me. I simply turned on my ipod to the most soothing thing i could think of (Dawn Upshaw, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and Rachmaninoff Vespers were all employed), and pretend that i was anywhere but on that bus. It worked and we arrived in Chefchouan with no hitches.

Chefchouan should really be Arcata's sister city. It is surrounded on all sides by fields of marijuana and the constant offers of hashish were reminiscent of home. Well...and all the traveling Spanish hippies didnt help my homesickness. The more interesting thing about Chefchouan is that the enitre town is painted light blue. It is very picturesque and is nestled right against the stunningly craggy Rif mountains. Chefchouan, aside from being known for hash, is also known for wool. This was a happy coincidence because it was EXTREMELY cold. We spent most of our time wandering through the medina looking for the perfect pair of mittens and hats. Basically we spent a lot of time drinking coffee and chatting with the very friendly locals as well. During the Sunday morning, we went on a small hike up to an abandoned Spanish mosque on the top of a hill overlooking the valley. On our way up, we saw a man with a string of freshly made, hot donuts. We followed our noses to a tiny shop selling only these fresh donuts. We promptly bought a string and continued on the hike. These were the best things i have ever tasted. They werent sweet, but they were still just as tasty. If you havent eaten freshly made donuts on a crisp fall morning, i highly recommend it. As the mosque was abandoned we were able to climb to the top of the minaret and practice our call to prayers (though timidly) on the surrounding valley. We hurried back down to the town to buy more donuts, but the illusive donut maker had already closed for the day. Grabbing all our baggage, we hiked down to the bus station in the nouvelle ville (a hill even more steep than Diamond Drive!) and drove to Tangiers. This time, we were wise enough to buy tickets on the bus that doesnt oversell seats.

After a short detour to the coastal town of Martil (Janet had never seen the Mediterranean sea), we rolled into Tangiers late at night. The next morning we awoke to clear blue skies (a change from the stormy weather weve been having here), and walked around the nouvelle ville and looked at the ocean and Spain across the water. There isnt a whole lot to do in Tangiers, but it is a pretty city with a modern feel and friendly people. We went to a perfumier that has been in business for 500 years! These days, they mainly make exact copies of current perfumes, but it was quite fun anyways. We all left smelling better (or worse in my case--i accidentally asked for the wrong sample number and ended up smelling nauseatingly sweet for the rest of the day) and spent the rest of the day at Cafe Halfa. Cafe Halfa was and still is a popular Beat hangout in TAngiers. It is terraced and looks over the the water. It happened to be Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsburgh, and Mick Jagger's favorite spot to take in the views. Cafe Halfa isnt very touristy as it is very difficult to reach. You must be dropped off at the beginning of the medina (there isnt room for cars) and you must walk through very narrow alleyways towards who-knows-what and then you are usually grabbed by the proprietor who knows you are looking for Cafe Halfa (there really isnt much else going on in that area of the medina). Quite the little adventure. That night, we took the night train back to Rabat and arrived at 4:00 am after watchng the new James Bond in French. I was exhausted!

Last week, we celebrated Thanksgiving. There was a little mix-up on the actual date of Thanksgiving (not thanks to yours truly insisting that thanksgiving is always the 3rd thursday of november.....whoops). We were cooked a marvelous dinner by the staff of our local TGIFridays. Now, i have never been to a TGIFridays in the US but i can tell you, there is nothng that helps homesickness like boneless wings from Fridays! It has been quite the lifesaver for CIEEers. Fridays cooked us turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, green beans, and PUMPKIN PIE! It was a wonderful night for all, and i am extremely grateful that we were able to celebrate my favorite holiday while in Rabat.

The day after Thanksgiving, we went to Fes. That evening, we watched a movie about Moroccan and American students traveling and living together, discussing rather emotional and intense topics (AMerica's role in the middle east, Islam, christianity, judaism, stereotypes etc). We were with a group of Moroccan students and afterwards we discussed the movie with them. It was interesting to watch Moroccan students react to the Moroccans in the movie. In particular, there was one young man in the movie who expressed some very liberal ideas about Islam. Islam is not generally criticized here (mostly because of the image that has been portrayed of Islam by the media, Arab culture, understandably, is extremely touchy when it comes to even the most innocent of questions). When this young man was expressing his non-mainstream Islamic ideas, many Moroccan students were infuriated and one turned around to me and told me that that man issued a fatwa (basically an order of a religious nature, or an opinion that is followed by many--only a few very important religious scholars are allowed to issue these). I replied that, no, actually he was voicing an opinion, not a fatwa, and we argued for about 5 minutes until he agreed that, okay, maybe the man wasnt expecting people to follow his opinion. There is a very fine line here between expressing your opinion and being sacrilegious. We also discussed the role of English and the "inferior" and "superior" languages. Some of the Moroccan students were upset by the fact that everyone was speaking English in the film and not Arabic. They felt that they were being put on a lower pedestal (it was in their country, and therefore their language should be spoken kind of thing). We responded that the American school system is seriously lacking languages, especially Arabic, and that speaking multiple languages (like most Moroccans) was a HUGE advantage, and that in fact, we were extremely jealous of this ability. The discussion was fascinating and gave a real look into the Moroccan classroom (wow--you really have to be on your toes and ready for debate).

The next day we took a run-of-the-mill tour of the Fes Medina (over 36 square kilometers of it), where we saw pottery workshops (Fes is known for its blue and white pottery), the tanneries (the biggest in the world), and the oldest university in the world (founded 859). This year Fes is celebrating its 1200th anniversary so there were big signs all over the place. EVerythng in Fes is way way way overpriced, so shopping wasnt really an option. To be honest, i prefer the Rabat medina, but that is probably because i know my way around. Fes is a gorgeous city, but with no maps for the entire 36 square kilometers of the medina, it s a little intimidating.

Well, three weeks to go! Happy real Thanksgiving!

Love and Peace

Magpie