After Stephen made the googlings, wrote some angry emails and posted on forums, Google sorted out their goof up and the Night Owls fly again!
Thursday night before hitting the sack, Stephen and I hit the old Chaouen medina to buy some snacks for our trek. We kept it relatively Maroc: peanuts, almonds, marinated olives, bread, 3 litres of water and the elusive dates (elusive when we're actually looking for them, that is). In the morning, Mossin (our guide) met us at the hostel and we took a short petit taxi ride to the base of the mountain. Oh God this going to be a long day. We trekked for about 5-6 hours, mostly uphill, in the blazing sun, with dust rising from our feet with every step. The temperature was "24 or 25 or 26.... maybe 27" according to Mossin, but felt in the low 30s. It's always a little mind boggling for me to look back and be shown where we started hiking. Stephen described the scenery to be similar to Ridgecrest, CA where he lived as a kid in the Mojave desert, but with more vegetation. And ooooh, the vegetation (more like weedatation). I didn't realize that so much of the Moroccan mountains were used to cultivate cannibis or kif (as they call it). It was difficult to be a stones throw away from the stuff, growing taller than us. We climbed over a mountain, then down, not passing more then 5 people, a few goats and a donkey, until we reached a dusty sign that read Azilane. Out of nowhere a pretty little blue house appeared. It was like arriving at the three bear's house. Abdullah, the guesthouse owner and the guide's mother's father's brother or something, welcomed us in with Moroccan sweets and mint tea, olives, eggs, bread, fresh grapes. We cleaned up and headed to the roof terrace for panoramic views and a jam session. Dinner time! Abdullah served up a serious serving of delicious vegetable tagine, grilled peppers, salad, olives, bread, fresh olive oil and melon. Did I mention that the guest house is self sufficient, everything cultivated right there. Neat. Maybe the most amazing part of the day (maybe the trip thus far) was the star-gazing from the rooftop. You can actually see the Milky Way. So many shooting stars. Muy increible.
Day two, out and about early, but not before breakfast. Yes, more fresh churned butter on freshly baked bread for this gal, please. I'm pretty sure Stephen would have spoon fed the whole dish of honey to himself if he knew that no one was looking. After breakfast Stephen got attacked by a giant spider. It was huge (4 inches in diameter?) and it jumped on his neck, then dropped onto his pack and burrowed into it. He had to take it outside and shake that beast free and squish it for good measure. Needless to say I will have to deal with his night tremors tonight.
Even though today's hike wasn't as steep, it was hotter, rockier and lined with thorn riddled brushery.... no one told us to wear pantalones. We came across a few more people, goats, cows, and - new to the list - MONKIES! Barbary macaques, to be precise. We also met up with an Austrian and his guide hiking our same route, so we all stopped together to have a swim in the river and eat some bread and olives. Bueno. After a couple spills, bumps and scrapes we made it to God's Bridge (75 foot tall natural bridge!), over to Akchour and back to civilization... if you can call it that. Akchour has beautiful pools of mountain run-off polluted with people and garbage. Are we in South America again?
After two days with genuinely friendly people, beautiful vistas, food domination and Maroc the Kasbah up and running again, we will sleep well tonight - big time.
I'll miss you little blue city. Shukran!
Hoot.(La Negre)
Thursday night before hitting the sack, Stephen and I hit the old Chaouen medina to buy some snacks for our trek. We kept it relatively Maroc: peanuts, almonds, marinated olives, bread, 3 litres of water and the elusive dates (elusive when we're actually looking for them, that is). In the morning, Mossin (our guide) met us at the hostel and we took a short petit taxi ride to the base of the mountain. Oh God this going to be a long day. We trekked for about 5-6 hours, mostly uphill, in the blazing sun, with dust rising from our feet with every step. The temperature was "24 or 25 or 26.... maybe 27" according to Mossin, but felt in the low 30s. It's always a little mind boggling for me to look back and be shown where we started hiking. Stephen described the scenery to be similar to Ridgecrest, CA where he lived as a kid in the Mojave desert, but with more vegetation. And ooooh, the vegetation (more like weedatation). I didn't realize that so much of the Moroccan mountains were used to cultivate cannibis or kif (as they call it). It was difficult to be a stones throw away from the stuff, growing taller than us. We climbed over a mountain, then down, not passing more then 5 people, a few goats and a donkey, until we reached a dusty sign that read Azilane. Out of nowhere a pretty little blue house appeared. It was like arriving at the three bear's house. Abdullah, the guesthouse owner and the guide's mother's father's brother or something, welcomed us in with Moroccan sweets and mint tea, olives, eggs, bread, fresh grapes. We cleaned up and headed to the roof terrace for panoramic views and a jam session. Dinner time! Abdullah served up a serious serving of delicious vegetable tagine, grilled peppers, salad, olives, bread, fresh olive oil and melon. Did I mention that the guest house is self sufficient, everything cultivated right there. Neat. Maybe the most amazing part of the day (maybe the trip thus far) was the star-gazing from the rooftop. You can actually see the Milky Way. So many shooting stars. Muy increible.
Day two, out and about early, but not before breakfast. Yes, more fresh churned butter on freshly baked bread for this gal, please. I'm pretty sure Stephen would have spoon fed the whole dish of honey to himself if he knew that no one was looking. After breakfast Stephen got attacked by a giant spider. It was huge (4 inches in diameter?) and it jumped on his neck, then dropped onto his pack and burrowed into it. He had to take it outside and shake that beast free and squish it for good measure. Needless to say I will have to deal with his night tremors tonight.
Even though today's hike wasn't as steep, it was hotter, rockier and lined with thorn riddled brushery.... no one told us to wear pantalones. We came across a few more people, goats, cows, and - new to the list - MONKIES! Barbary macaques, to be precise. We also met up with an Austrian and his guide hiking our same route, so we all stopped together to have a swim in the river and eat some bread and olives. Bueno. After a couple spills, bumps and scrapes we made it to God's Bridge (75 foot tall natural bridge!), over to Akchour and back to civilization... if you can call it that. Akchour has beautiful pools of mountain run-off polluted with people and garbage. Are we in South America again?
After two days with genuinely friendly people, beautiful vistas, food domination and Maroc the Kasbah up and running again, we will sleep well tonight - big time.
I'll miss you little blue city. Shukran!
Hoot.(La Negre)
A spider and he took care of it himself? Amazing.
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