At 9 am my allotted time in Spain had come to a close and it was back to Morocco. My next stop is a small
town called Chefchaouen located in the Rif Mountains. Getting back to
Morocco was easy, getting to Chefchaouen was another matter.
Backtracking my journey two days ago I took the bus to Tarifa. I ended up having to catch an earlier bus because I wouldn't have enough to to catch the ferry with my current
itinerary. The rout was a bit different than the bus I took coming in
and we stopped in a number of small Spanish towns along the way.
In Tarifa I headed straight for the
ferry the boat was waiting. Off we went.
There were considerably more people on
this ride than when I departed for Spain. So much so that they had a
Moroccan border control representative on the boat stamping passports
so that everyone could just walk out when we arrived in Tanger.
This is where things got tricky. I had
never set up a way to get to Chefchaouen from Tanger. According to
the online bus schedule all of the buses would have already left by the time I arrived in Tanger so my options were limited. I figured I would just grab a
grand taxi but I didn't see any at the port and I did not know
where they all congregated at. The only thing I could find were petit
taxis. In Morocco a petit taxi is what you and I would think of a
regular taxi in the states. A grand taxi is a shared taxi that goes
between cities and is a cheaper option for long
distances. I could have probably gotten to Chefchaouen for around
50-100dh on a grand taxi which is roughly $6-12 us.
Being as I only had the option of petit
taxis I decided to see what the going rate was. The first guy I
talked to quoted me at 70 Euros and I just walked away. He ran after
me asking what I wanted to pay and I told him the most I would pay is
20 Euros. He laughed at me and said he would give me the ride for
free if I could find someone who would take me for less than 70. I
immediately found a guy who would do it for 50. When I called him out
on it he backtracked and said he would need a good tip. I told him I
would tip 20 Euros. He did not think this was funny.
I started to walk away again and he
made a last ditch effort for my money. He said he had a friend at
the bus station and that he could get me on a bus to Chefchaouen
leaving today, all for the unexpected price of 20 Euros. Knowing the
bus schedule I was skeptical but agreed with the caveat that I would
only pay him when they presented me with a bus ticket. He flagged
down another cab and we both got in and were taken to the bus
station. He yelled at some guy on the street who ran in the station
and came back with a ticket. He said the bus leaves in 15 minutes and
this man will take you to the stall. He handed me the ticket and I
forked over the Euros.
The ticket was all in Arabic so I had
no idea if it was legit or not but at least I was at the bus station.
The other man took me to the bus. The ticket taker
looked at my ticked and said Chefchaouen confirming my destination. Music to
my ears.
The bus was pretty old and dirty with
flies everywhere but at this point I did not care. As we left the
station I saw the bay full of grand taxis and realized I could have
gotten a better deal had I just taken a cab to the bus station. In the end I felt I had gotten my moneys worth. I got a ride to the station, didn't have to fumble through buying a bus ticket for a bus I was not sure existed, and I was escorted to the correct bus.
The ride was kind of crazy due to the
speed the driver liked to take around small corners with no railings.
This was a large bus so it constantly felt like it was going to tip over into the ravine and my trip in not only Morocco but life would come to an abrupt end.
We were passing cars and taxis on a two lane highway having to jump into the lane of
oncoming traffic to do so. The driver had a mission and it was to get there
on time. Most of the good views were on the other side of the bus so
I don’t really have any photos of the big mountains but this is
what was on my side. The windows were dirty and scuffed so
they didn't turn out the best. Northern Morocco is way greener than
I ever expected, especially in December.
Eventually we were stopped at a Police
check point. We had gone through one just outside of Tanger with no problem but this time they instructed the bus to pull to
the side of the road. The driver got out and talked to the officers and they
demanded to see the cargo compartments on the side of the bus. I was
able to quickly snap this shot while they were looking at the goods.
Some papers exchanged hands and then
one of the officers boarded the bus. The man sitting next to me looked very
worried and kissed his left wrist. The officer looked down each row
of seats scanning everyone's face and eventually pulled a man who was seated in the rear of the bus off. Everyone on the bus was very interested in what was going on and people were fighting for window viewing space. After a 15 minute
interrogation behind a wall everyone could see over due to the height of the bus, they let us continue on our rout. No idea what exactly happened but simple conclusions can be
made. An hour later I
finally made it to Chefchaouen after 9 hours of travel.
I arrived at dusk at the bus stop which is 2 km down the hill from the median where I was staying. I
had a hike ahead of me if I wanted to get there before dark. I would
periodically ask 'Medina?' to people on the street and they would
point me in the right direction. It was nice to ask for help and not
have someone want something in return. This didn't last
for too long though as I was approached by a guy who again just
wanted to be friends. This time it was not directions he wanted to
sell me, it was hash.
Chefchaouen produces a large percentage of the hash in the world so it is a big industry around here. He gave me the hard sell as we walked
up the mountain streets to my hostel. He even offered to take me to
his processing plant 3 km over the ridge and I could even stay a night with him. What luck! It was fairly sketchy and I had to decline his offer multiple
times. He was rather friendly though and not brutish like the hustlers in
Tanger. I got to my hostel, told him I was not interested one last
time, and he let me be.
The hostel is located in the middle of
the small medina and the base of the house dates back to the 13th
century or something. I was so tired by this point that I didn't pay close enough attention. My room is small but comfortable.
The view from the rooftop terrace is
not bad either.
I settled in and grabbed a late dinner
at the restaurant around the corner. They had a 3 course dinner
special for only 40 dh.
I am now going to pass out. Its been a
long day. Goodnight.
