What an exciting day

First off we woke up at 3:30 am due to the howling wind and never really slept well after that.

The ship made at least two approaches to the port and had to turn back due to wind and high seas. We were all on tenderhooks and finally the Captain got us to the berth, albeit 2 hrs late. We didn’t care. We were just glad he tried as usually they give it one go and then go on to the next port.

There might have been a good reason to keep at it: we have to refuel here for the 6 days across the Atlantic after Portomao Portugal tomorrow. And Portomao does not have the capacity to refuel us.

The staff is amazing. They had already announced activities for the day assuming we could not get into the port.

We were all delighted that we were able to do our tours even if they started late. The captain was also able to get a longer time at the pier so we could have the full tours we looked forward to.

Our tour

Was to Chefchawah (sounds like chef showah) a mountain town 2 hrs into Morocco from Cueta, Spanish Morocco where we were tied up.

We had the fun of crossing the border: Spanish first and then the one into Morocco. We surrendered our passports with immigration forms for coming and going and we were off with our Jebala clad guide: Muhammad (of course). He spoke excellent English and had a strong voice.

Morocco

Wasn’t was I expected. It is very mountainous, lush and green in most places. We kept climbing higher and higher. We saw donkeys, horses, lots of goats, sheep, ducks, chickens and lots of shepherds. You see more Islamic dress here than in the more recent places we’ve been. There are several quarries visible from the bus, probably for granite, limestone blocks and probably others as well. Phosphorous is their major mineral export; tourism is the 5^th contributor to their economy.

We passed through Teotoun, one of the other tours, and this city is the so called “white city” for the white wash on the buildings and homes.

While there is some trash here and there, almost exclusively plastic bags, for the most part this is a very clean countryside. After another hour we reached our destination.

Chefchawah, the blue city.

Obviously the spelling isn’t accurate but the pronunciation is pretty close. This is a lovely old city with mostly blue wash on the old houses. It makes for a wonderful lovely change. It is an ocean blue.

We trudged up and down hills on old weathered cobblestone streets (more like alleyways they were so narrow), so worn down over the years that they were slick and would have really been a threat with rain. The whole town is like a giant maze of a souk. You can get most everything here.

Lunch

Authentic Moroccan food with local musicians in a 3 story building; we wound up on the second floor crowded into nooks much like you see in the movie Casablanca. We had a sort of pita bread, though more hearty, with olive oil and a kind of vinegar. We had water to drink. Next came a kind of bean soup with perhaps small angle hair noodles in it. Soon a salad came made with fresh tomatoes and enough on the plate for each person at our table to have about 2 tablespoons of this really tasty salad. Next came a big communal dish with meet, carrots, potatoes and other unknowns. It was quite tasty. Finally a cookie kind of dessert that I couldn’t describe. Then we were off to explore more nooks and crannies of this very picturesque hillside community. There is a creek and small waterfall and if you look up between the tall walls as you snake through the cobblestones, you can see high craggy mountains.

There were lots of cats around but not so many dogs and they looked pretty mangy.

You don’t dare get separated from your guide or you’ll never find your way out. We saw many folks in colorful clothing including the jebala (I probably spelling and pronouncing it incorrectly. It is worn by both men and women, covers the whole body with a slit in the side seam for accessing your pockets, and a monk like hood. We passed many cute older people. A smile goes a long way in connecting with people. Some small children were selling something that looked like pizza crust with paprika dust on it.

Odd hats

As we drove up  ato this city, we saw many people in the fields wearing these strange little straw hats that are peaked and have colorful yarn balls on them. That’s all I know about them but there were being sold in the souk and at least one woman on our bus bought one. What she’ll do with it is anyone’s guess.

This was such a wonderful excursion and I learned so much more. I did buy two jebalas: one iridescent blue and one purple (red hats in mind). The blue is gorgeous but a little too snug for me as they are meant to be very loose so Lisa has that souvenir. The purple one is definitely big enough. I wasn’t planning on buying anything as it takes too much time, I hate haggling, I’m not good at estimating sizes, I hate haggling (a must here), BUT this cute little man with perfect English gave me bothfor $15 USD. I was stunned. The prettier one was $5 and the purple (not so pretty) was $10. My great find of the trip. I still feel guilty. He was concerned about the currency as he has not seen the new USD with the colors and strips. Eventually he did accept them.

We arrived back at the ship with 30 min to spare. There was some discussion about the time as the time was different in Morocco. So I used my limited Spanish to accost a Spanish policeman at the ship and ask him the time. It was indeed 7 pm as I had said.

Quiet supper

Quick bite at the buffet and sitting in the sun on the back of the ship.

Pick up photos from last night, download today’s photos to iPad, and PC and then load all of these onto an SD chip for Lisa to take back with her tomorrow.

Tomorrow is another busy day. We have a half day tour and then we put Lisa in a taxi to go one hour to Faro for her flight back to Norway. It has been great fun having her with us these few days and I hope escorting the parents has been as much fun for her.