Tangiers

Arriving in Tangiers

We caught the ferry from Algeciras to Tangiers , the gateway from Europe into Africa. As soon as we disembarked you could feel the dry heat and were immediately immersed in the smells associated with a third world country...this is my biggest hurdle when traveling, so I will be breathing deeply(metaphorically speaking!) and focusing on the other aspects of what already appears to be an exciting place.

For this part of our travels Andrew organized a driver as a tour guide throughout Morocco ...soo much easier than trying to decipher Arabic and as driving seems to be more along the lines of Fijian style- a good decision . Idriss is a Berber who lives in Fez-( this guy can fluently speak four languages...I am envious of this ability which comes from the necessity of a lifestyle, while I would have to swot endlessly to speak just ONE more!)....met us just outside the ferry terminal and we pretty quickly headed off for our stop-over for the night...Chefchaouen in the Riff Mountains. He has a total disregard for blind corners, single white lines and oncoming traffic, so tomorrow we will be sitting at the back of the van!!

For some reason Westerners aren't encouraged to stay in Tangiers for long...so there was no sight-seeing other than what we saw on the way out It's a sprawling city with lots of re- development currently going on, particularly roadworks, but buildings too. The expected white box-like houses were scattered around the landscape, not a lot of"modern" glass commercial buildings...these were kept more in line with the proven style of architecture,solid,light-colored walls.

The country is awesomely dry- a dry dusty land, some olive trees(not many), mostly subsistence agriculture, melons. prickly pear, small livestock, herbs; the river beds are are a remnant of the large flowing rivers they were, water is precious in the countryside. The women work very hard...they grow and tend crops of wheat and barley, they shepherd the goats and sheep, they use donkeys with laden-baskets astride them to transport themselves and their goods from the fields, home, street-side and markets...don't ask me what the men do!!!!

Awesome!

Chefchaouen is a little city of 45k tucked in the lower slopes of the Riff mountains. It's very pretty...lots of small blue and white houses with flat roofs, narrow lanes ( dirt not cobbled), wrought iron covered windows, a large square medina (plaza) in the centre surrounded by stalls,cafes ,a mosque. and lanes leading off into the living quarters which are tucked into the side of the hills. Apparently it is the " Fez of the Sixties" and is THE place to be if you carry a bong in your backpack... though this recreational pastime does not discriminate coz Andrew , Cathy and Tony were invited to join in several times ,while out having dinner!!! ...

Just beautiful....

Things are a little quiet on the anecdotal front this blog as we all pretty tired..a really early start that day , plus 11 hours traveling..we all zoned out!

Surprisingly we are still talking to each other!