Dar Mounir Chefchaouen

... nap and set out for the treacherous climb down. We thought if we followed the ridge of the mountain as opposed to the gorge that we would have better luck, and wouldn't have to take extra care with our already weak legs finding our way down on slippery boulders. Not so. After about an hour, we were saved by a young girl carrying a huge bundle of kindling on her back. She asked, "Chefchaouen?" Relieved, we replied, "YES!" and she showed us the way to ...

... an traditional earth ware bowl all served with plenty of fresh bread and a desert of fruit pastry.



On a sad note, during the day one of the girls in the group was robbed at knife point while walking alone back to the camp site. She had her video camera and photographic camera stolen. While walking around town I felt safe at all times I at no time did I fell unsafe, but I guess things can happen at any time to anybody.

True to their word when we woke at 6am there was a car still there keeping watch so in the minimal light of dawn we packed the tent and took off leaving breakfast and showers for a few hours later when we arrived at Chefchaouen. As I was still on cooking duty (groups of 3 and you do dinner, breakfast, lunch then change) Oliver set up the tent whilst I prepped our breakfast of bread and fruit. After that we wondered the 15 min down ...

... pie on our upset stomachs, so Gabrielle had only a small croissant to last her the four hour trip.   Despite Chefchaouen being a small hill town, the regular gaggle of cutthroat taxi drivers still loitered outside the bus station.  We commenced with the regular haggle over how much a taxi ride to the town square would cost, once again receiving ridiculously overpriced responses.  We eventually found one for a decent price, which we shared with ...

How I love a good breakfast!!! Breakfast at the chella is great, so we fill our tummies with moroccan pancakes, toast and all types of pastries and get on our way to Chefchaouen. First we do a small stop at Cape Espartelo where on a clear day you can see Spain... our's was not a clear day so we only saw a bit of sea :-(. We stop then at the Grotte d'Hercules. The cave is not really somethign special but the restaurants look nice ...

... on water and go to the internet. I self diagnosed on the net and I have symptoms of giardia - I am thinking it was that red bottle of water that i drank - it tasted a bit funny bit I didn't stop drinking it. Dam that red bottle!! If anyone is reading this and is traveling to Morocco stick with the Sidi Ali brand! I got my fresh water on the way back to the hotel, took some drugs and went to bed -- hoping to feel better in the morning...

... of some of the advancements diminished so many of the important things to the people of the city. For example, on our tour he took us to one of the baths, called a "Hamam". He said that there used to be many of them in the city because there was not running water in everybody's houses, so bathing was a social activity and was a real part of the culture. Now, however, the hamams are used mostly for tourism and very few Moroccans use them ...

... pont, on dort dans une cage à poule de 4m2 prévu pour 4 personnes (heureusement, nous n'étions que 2), on touve d'autres amis tout aussi vieux que les un que les autres (enfin aussi agé quemes parents en tous cas...) mais fort sympathiques ; 2 d'entres eux m'ont d'ailleurs invités dans leur résidence marocaine à Marrakech et à Agadir.. Ce matin, l'arrivée à Tanger se faisait avec un peu d'appréhension car on m'avait dit "Tu ...

... the knees, and no shoulders are bare. I would say most are in some form of traditional clothing, with women being completely covered from head to toe, and some include covering their faces and only have a hole for their eyes to see through. You can imagine that I stick out and attract attention on several accounts: blond hair, blue eyes, wearing shorts and tees and sandals and a baseball cap, and white skin for starters. Even if I dress in their garb, I ...

... and is dangling waywards like a piece of deranged metal spaghetti. Thanks that our bikes werent going up it or beneath it at the time. But a Motley collection of 12 smoking captains, 17 handwaving locals, 23 disinterested bystanders and 1 forklift truck manage to make amends and by 2AM we are on the seas heading to Africa at last. May 8th KM START = 12,809 (Trip = 2,439 ) KM END = 13,220 (Trip =2,850 ) Route: Nador > Driouch > Kassita > Al Hociema > Ketama ...