Chefsaouen, my stay, part 1

In the medina

2019-04-17

After the first night I immediately felt well in this town. I offered a (very) late breakfast to the 4 belgian students that had transported my luggage the evening before when I didn't make it uphill anymore to Chefsaouen. Without there help I don't know how where yesterday would have ended ... Very kind youngsters they are !

But they also made me feel old ... In my younger days I studied in my home town and travelled to school at a "high speed" illegally modified moped which took me about 12 minutes. These belgian students study in Madrid and hire an appartment for a break in Morocco where they travel to by plain and rental car. Times have changed ... Chefsaouen is known as the blue city because all the houses in the medina are blue. I saw beautiful weddingdresses and was allowed to take pictures. However all dresses were empty so I decided not to get married 😎. And I saw a lot of food. People are very proud of the moroc cuisin. Most of them have never been abroad but they just know their country is the best. That makes it often difficult to have a neutral chat with them.

But although it is tasty the food is not really special and there is little variation. Vegetables are not rather common but sugar is. Sugar, sugar and more sugar ... Morocco is very high on the world's list of countries having a diabetes problem. Chefsaouen has a large market area along a Very Steep street. The King of Morocco is "well known" all over the country. It is simply impossible to be anywhere inside without having a picture of him in your sight.

A lot of money is spent to improve main structural subjects on hotspots in- and outside towns. Those hotspots often bear his name and sometimes, like here in this worldfamous tourist spot, they come up with something very modern : wifi antennas in the lighting elements all along the boulevard Mohammed V.

The mobile telephone systems work flawlessly and fast everywhere. You can buy a 5GB-1month data-only simcard for 50 dirhams which is € 5. The question is whether those who try to raise there standard of living are able to afford that ... I think many moroccan people dream about emigrating to Europe. All those I spoke have a very (far to) optimistic idea about the situation in the EU. Let alone about how there own situation would end up there. Having little education and no computer skills*, not speaking english and not at all being used to more open and equal societies. The men are all (all) sitting in rows to watch football at the cafes. The women stay at home, for whatever reason ... I was looking forward to have my first real man's shaving. Once I was in that chair I realised how totally helpless I was. That knife is so sharp and has no modern extras to prevent being cut badly. So don't move nor sneeze. And turn off your phone on forehand, suikerbuik can wait. And I had some clothes repaired at the tailor shop. The idea of reusing clothes with costs of ie € 3 is nice. I had a very simple (and cheap) room in the basement of the hotel. In the basement means that it was very quiet there, I did not even hear the call for the morning prayers at 04h00. But the hotel itself was beautiful.

The owner was impressed by the photos I had taken and asked me to make a series for him to use on the booking sites. I made a deal to do that in return for (only) a (1) free night. But after I had uploaded the photos to him he did not keep his part of the deal. Be aware, in Morocco cheating is part of life. In the evening, after dinertime, the entrepeneurs are awaiting you to sell delicious fruit. Small pieces were to have for 1 dirham (€ 0,10) and bigger ones for 2 dirhams. Fruitcocktails at bars cost about 13 dirhams. One morning I met Sabah at the breakfast cafe and we discovered we both had planned to visit the Akchour waterfalls. So we decided to share a taxi to visit them.

Once we were there the first waterfall was at about 20 minutes by foot. But the second one was about 2 hours by foot. So when we walked along a nice spot with some smiling tajines we stopped to have a rest for the remaining part of the afternoon.

The taxidriver was awaiting us at the parkinglot while we had made a 50% deposit for the return trip to Chefsaouen. He therefore had gotten the telephone number of Sabah and started to sexually harass her after the trip. Unfortunately Morocco is a country that is not (at all) in a good balance.

Later I found the waterfall in Chefsaouen itself and that one was at least as nice and only 10 minutes away from the medina.

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And beyond the waterfall in Chefsaouen starts the track that brings you to the Spanish Mosque at a hill next to the town. The views from up there are beautiful ! Especially if you can first enjoy a beer. This is the only place in town that sells alcohol. Then alcohol is actually forbiden in general. Unless one has a special permit to do so. Like the supermarkets have that are actually owned by the king of Morocco ... From the mosque you can return on the same tourist way or take the goat path along the cemetery. That goat path is highly recommended (and/because you can meet Charlie there). Visiting the medina and it's main square in the evening is nice. It has all the pros and cons a tourist hotspot should have. But do not have your picture taken with a parrot on your shoulder. Birds should be free to fly, that's why ...

* : about having no computerskills : Almost nobody even knows what a browser is. If you mention a website name they type it in google to find it ... Thank you so much for sharing, google "says" ... They don't know what chrome is and can't find it on there mobile, let alone it's competitors.

I stayed quite a long time in Chefsaouen so that's why there is a part 2 about it.

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